Investigating the performance of emailed apologies by Australian learners of Italian

Abstract

EN This paper explores the strategies chosen by Australian learners of Italian when performing emailed apologies in Italian. Through a modified discourse completion task, 42 participants produced a total of 317 emails. This paper presents an adapted typology of these emailed apologies in Italian which, while drawing on previous literature, has been tailored to be more specific to and therefore more effective in the analysis of the data collected in this project. It was found that the apology act as performed by Australian learners of Italian consists of two principal components, the apology and the repair, the latter of which is optional but is usually included. In addition, supportive strategies can be included prior to or following either of these components to strengthen the illocutionary force of the apology act. The analysis also evidenced that while a broad speech act structure can be identified, the apology act is a complex phenomenon which can be performed with great variation. Key words: APOLOGIES, APOLOGY STRATEGIES, APOLOGY TYPOLOGY, AUSTRALIAN LEARNERS OF ITALIAN, EMAILED APOLOGIES ES Este estudio examina las estrategias elegidas por discentes australianos de italiano en las disculpas enviadas por e-mail. A través de un Discourse Completion Task modificado (actividad de finalización del discurso), 42 participantes produjeron un total de 317 e-mails. Este artículo presenta una tipología adaptada de disculpas en italiano enviadas por e-mail que, aunque tomada de la literatura precedente, se ha adecuado para que fuera más pertinente al proyecto. Se observa que el acto de disculpa del alumnado australiano de italiano se constituye de dos elementos principales: la disculpa y la reparación; este último es facultativo, pero se suele incluir. Además, se pueden utilizar estrategias de soporte antes o después de uno de los dos componentes para consolidar la fuerza ilocutiva del acto de disculpa. El análisis también ha demostrado que, por un lado, es posible identificar una estructura amplia del acto lingüístico, y por otro, el acto de disculpa es un fenómeno complejo cuya realización es altamente variable. Palabras claves: DISCULPAS, ESTRATEGIAS PARA DISCULPARSE, TIPOLOGÍA DE DISCULPAS, DISCENTES AUSTRALIANOS DE ITALIANO, DISCULPAS POR E-MAIL IT Questo studio esamina le strategie usate da apprendenti australiani di italiano per la formulazione di scuse in italiano inviate via e-mail. Attraverso un Discourse Completion Task modificato (attività di completamento del discorso), 42 partecipanti hanno prodotto un totale di 317 email. Questo articolo presenta una tipologia adattata di scuse in italiano inviate via e-mail che, pur attingendo dalla letteratura precedente, è stata adeguata per essere più attinente al presente progetto. Emerge che l’atto di scusarsi prodotto dagli studenti australiani di italiano è costituito da due elementi principali: la scusa e la riparazione; nonostante quest’ultimo sia facoltativo, viene di solito incluso. Inoltre, strategie di supporto possono essere impiegate prima o dopo una delle due componenti per consolidare la forza illocutoria dell’atto di scuse. L’analisi ha anche dimostrato che, se da un lato, è possibile identificare un’ampia struttura dell’atto linguistico, dall’altro, l’atto di scusarsi è un fenomeno complesso la cui realizzazione è altamente variabile. Parole chiave: SCUSE, STRATEGIE PER SCUSARSI, TIPOLOGIA DI SCUSE, APPRENDENTI AUSTRALIANI DI ITALIANO, SCUSE VIA EMAIL

Apologies and Compliment Responses: A Case of Pre-service EFL Teachers

“…In sum, "[w]hen we make a mistake or hurt others unintentionally or deliberately, we will do apologetic actions to express repentance as well as take responsibility for hurting the listener" (Ngo & Luu, 2022). The studies on apologies to date have various perspectives, some of the recent examples might exemplify this situation: comparison of non-native speakers' apology strategies to native speakers (Tabatabaei et al, 2018;Yalçınkaya, 2021), investigation of e-mailed apologies (Chen et al, 2022;Walker, 2022), investigation of the interplay of emotional intelligence and interlanguage pragmatic competence (Derakhshan, Eslami, & Ghandhari, 2021), examination of politeness in apologies (Nephawe & Lambani, 2022), discourse analysis of official apologies (Rezaei, 2021), and analysis of gender differences in the use of apology strategies (Bibi et al, 2022;Irawan & Hardjanto, 2021). In addition to apologies, the current study also focuses on compliments, and a compliment is a speech act "which explicitly or implicitly attributes credit to someone other than the speaker ... which is positively valued by the speaker and the hearer" (Holmes, 1986, p. 485).…”