Author/s:
Tavakoli Gheinani, Majid*
English Department, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran (majidtavakoli.edu93@yahoo.com)
Abstract:
The present study was conducted to investigate the impolite strategies employed by Iranian advanced EFL learners to express their complaints. To this end, 20 female and 20 male Iranian advanced EFL learners who were studying English at a language institute in Isfahan participated in the study. Their level of proficiency was estimated by Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). The participants were assigned to two equal groups based on their genders. A questionnaire was administered to the participants to say how they express their complaints in different situations. The results revealed that the least common strategy used by two groups was bald-on-record. However, there was a significant difference between the most common strategies used by them. The most common strategy used by female participants was sarcasm while the most common strategy used by male participants was negative impoliteness. The results of the study may offer some implications for the fields TEFL and sociolinguistics.
Keywords: complaint; impoliteness; impolite strategy; speech act; gender difference
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrsp.2017.2007
*Corresponding Author