Investigating the performance of emailed apologies by Australian learners of Italian

Abstract

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.