Expressions of Gratitude: A Case of EFL Learners

This study investigates the strategies Iranian English learners employ for expressing gratitude in different situations. To this end, 180 students from the English language institutes and universities in Mashhad were asked to take an open-ended Discourse Completion Task. The results showed that Iranian learners feel obliged to show gratitude to others in every form possible for the favor they receive, and they use mainly thanking and positive feeling strategies. The findings of Chi-square test also suggested that female Persian speakers use gratitude strategies more often than male ones. Finally, the results were discussed in the context of foreign language learning.