The level of directness in Turkish apology forms in relation to the level of education
Year: 2010
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This study aims at investigating the directness level of the apology strategies used by adult Turkish native speakers having different educational backgrounds in different apology situations. Thus, the educational level of the speakers is taken as the variable in this study. It is hypothesized that subjects having high and low educational backgrounds behave differently in different apology situations. It is also hypothesized in this study that high education group subjects use more direct apology strategies whereas low education group subjects prefer to use the more indirect formulas. In order to uncover the norms of apologizing in both low education and high education groups, 80 native speakers of Turkish, who were delivered a discourse completion test with different apology situations, were used. 40 of this population constituted the low education group whose education level varied between primary and junior high school whereas the other 40 constituted the high education group with the education level that varied between university graduation and PhD. The discourse completion test, which was a written role-play questionnaire consisted of eight apology situations, which were designed to elicit appropriate strategies to apologize. Relative status, familiarity and severity of offence were considered to be the factors affecting the choice of apology strategies. The data obtained from the discourse completion tests of both groups are compared and contrasted in terms of a directness scale developed for this purpose. Data analysis is carried out in terms of Pearson Chi-Square and Mann Whitney U tests. All the formulas in the scale emerged from the data and are represented hierarchically from the most direct to the indirect. The scale is also tested by 40 Turkish native speakers who were interviewed about the hierarchy of the apology strategies. The results of this study indicate that the responses of the low education and high education groups differ in terms of the directness level in different apology situations. It is found out in this study that direct apology strategies are preferred by the high education group subjects. Conversely, the indirect apology strategies are used more by the low education group subjects. * Assoc. Prof. Dr., Hacettepe University, Faculty of Letters, Department of English Linguistics, isiloz@ hacettepe.edu.tr © 2010, Hacettepe University Faculty of Letters, All Rights Reserved The Level of Directness in Turkish Apology Forms in Relation to the Level of Education 180 Thus, the analysis of the data clearly show us that the level of education is an important factor that influence the level of directness in apologies in Turkish.
Source: DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Author: Özyıldırım, İşıl
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1535659250