Influence of social power on perception of speech act of apology by Jordanian second language speakers
Abstract
The present study aimed to investigate the influence of social power, as a social hierarchy, on perception of speech act of apology by 40 Jordanian second language speakers (JL2Ss) compared to that of 40 Jordanian non-English speakers (JNESs) and 40 English native speakers (ENSs).  Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and Scaled Response Questionnaire (SRQ) were used to elicit data from the three groups of participants. For data analysis, one way ANOVA, post hoc pair comparisons statistical tests were employed. Similarities and differences between Jordanian Arabic and British English cultures were detected. Social power found to have an impact on Jordanian participants perception significantly higher than ENSs. Moreover, significant mean differences among the three groups regarding their perception of the four context-internal variables were also found. Further, results showed that although JL2Ss are high proficient in English they still lack the required sociopragmatic competence which consequently led to negative sociopragmatic transfer. The study concludes with some pedagogical implications, findings could benefit EFL course designers and teachers to develop EFL curricula and teaching materials in Jordan which may remedy the JL2Ss lack of pragmatic knowledge of the target language and reduce pragmatic failure across cultures.
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