Politeness Strategies in Teacher-Student Interaction in EFL Classes

Abstract

Since first proposed by Brown and Levinson in 1987, there have been many studies taking politeness strategies as their primary concern. Some of them were under an academic setting, which is understood as formal classroom basis research. On the other hand, since the formal classroom basis is stuck with the curriculum by the government, politeness strategies in an nformal classroom basis is worth-considering. Specifically, this study investigates politeness strategies in teacher-student interaction in an informal classroom basis of EFL classes. Through mixed-method research design, the manually transcribed data were analyzed based on Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies, all from bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record strategies. The findings revealed the employment of four types of politeness strategies, with positive politeness becomes the most frequently employed, followed consecutively by bald on record, negative politeness, and off-record strategy. Teacher employed positive politeness the most often while students chose to use negative politeness the most frequently. Teacher’s dominance in language production, students’ passiveness in getting involved within the interaction, lack of vocabulary, and the unawareness of the existence of politeness strategies in the communication have contributed to the choice of politeness strategies in their interaction.

Keywords: politeness, politeness strategies, teacher-student interaction, Brown and Levinson