Saudi and Jordanian University Student Complaining Strategies

Abstract

This study examined male Saudi and Jordanian student complaint strategies when complaining about their academic advisors, instructors, classroom environments, and exams to a friend, a person in charge, or the complainee (complaint addressee). To achieve the study goals, a discourse completion test (DCT) with 10 scenarios was developed and distributed to 100 (50 Jordanian and 50 Saudis) male university students. It was found that the students used a wide range of strategies that were both threatening and less threatening strategies, and had control in some situations, but were offensive in others. The Saudi students used a greater number of speech acts to complain than the Jordanian students. Further research suggestions are also given.