Abstract:
The study explores how Grade 10 learners use the speech act of apology in an
educational environment. Apologies are viewed in this study as a kind of remedial
work; action taken to change what may be regarded as an offensive act into an
acceptable one. Eight different strategies for complaining and twenty-one for
apologising are presented with examples to illustrate each. Data was gathered using
questionnaires in order to gain insight in the total number of complaint and apology
strategies used. Analysis of the answered questionnaires showed that while there
are strategies which are commonly used by both male and female learners, some
strategies are used mostly by male learners and some mostly by female learners.
