Turkish EFL learners' preference for apology strategies across different social variables

The objective of this study is to examine how Turkish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) utilize apology strategies. Specifically, the present study aims to describe the apology strategies preferred by English preparatory school students in specific situations that involve social factors like power imbalance, social distance, and the weight of the action. The data was gathered through two separate discourse completion tests (DCTs): (a) the written discourse completion test (WDCT) and (b) the multiple-choice discourse completion test (MDCT). WDCT presents six and MDCT presents ten distinct situations that necessitate an apology act. Each situation in the tests incorporates diverse social variables to enable users to provide a reaction or describe how they would apologize in real-life scenarios. Through these tests, the study compares the use of apology strategies of Turkish EFL learners with that of native English speakers. The study's findings revealed that Turkish EFL learners had a higher frequency of employing indirect apologies, as opposed to native speakers. The study revealed that Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speakers at the B1 and B1+ proficiency levels employed similar strategies to express apologies to native speakers, as evidenced by the data collected via Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs). Considering these social factors, Turkish individuals learning English as a second language displayed apology speech acts that closely resembled those of native English speakers. However, Turkish EFL learners employed more indirect strategies than native speakers. The study found that whereas B1 and B1+ non-native speakers used similar methods in broad expressions of apology, they employed negative L1 transfer while apologizing such as the placement of "I am sorry". Keywords: Apology Strategies, Power Differences, Social Distance, EFL