This study measures the extent to which Arab EFL learners are aware of euphemistic expressions related to two areas, namely, courtesy and physical appearance and whether they are able to recognise them in context. The study also attempts to investigate whether the participants' gender and English proficiency level may play a role in their use of euphemism in their day-to-day lives. For the purposes of the study, we developed a multiple-choice test in which the participants were asked to choose the suitable answer out of four choices. The contextualized sentences used in the test were adapted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) to suit the participants' English proficiency level. Results revealed that Arab EFL learners had little awareness of euphemistic expressions in English. Also, the participants' English proficiency level had little effect on their use of euphemistic expressions. However, the participants' gender played a significant role in their performance on the test. In particular, the female participants were significantly more aware of euphemistic expressions than the males. The study concluded with some pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research.

This study examined the effect of the gender and culture of the IELTS examiner on the performance of Arab examinees on the IELTS speaking test. It relied on Communication Accommodation Theory to account for the linguistic behaviour of the examinees in reaction to the gender and the culture of the IELTS examiner. Through interviewing 15 female and 15 male IELTS examinees in Al Ain, the UAE and conducting focus group interviews with 10 IELTS teachers, the study showed that the two independent variables, i.e. the gender and culture of the IELTS examiners had different impacts on the examinees’ performance on the IELTS speaking test. The results demonstrated that the gender of the IELTS examiner affected the performance of the Arab examinees in terms of preference. It also showed that the examiners’ culture influenced the answers provided by the examinees who may not have been aware of certain cultural aspects related to the questions asked in the IELTS speaking test and vice versa. With respect to communication accommodation, the IELTS examinees’ answers demonstrated a divergence tendency rather than a convergence one, reflecting a desire to establish social distance with the interlocutor, which may exhibit their strong feelings about their identity.