Journal of Applied Linguistics and Applied Literature: Dynamics and Advances

JALDA

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

About Journal

Aims and Scope

Editorial Board

Publication Ethics

Indexing and Abstracting

Related Links

FAQ

Peer Review Process

Journal Metrics

News

Patterns of Politeness in Teacher-Student Interaction: Investigating an Academic Context

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Fasa Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran.

2 PhD Candidate of TEFL, Torbat-e-Heydarieh-Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran.

Abstract

Patterns of Politeness in Teacher-Student Interaction: Investigating an Academic Context
Abstract
This study investigated politeness strategies used in instructor-student relationships, in an academic environment. To conduct the study, four university classes with different instructors were randomly selected, observed and analyzed. Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness was drawn on as the analytic model guiding the study, which focused on face-threatening and face-saving acts. After observing the classes and gathering the data through four classroom observations, it was found that the instructors produced face-threatening utterances less frequently than face-saving utterances. In the case of face-saving acts, they used various strategies to make students feel more comfortable in the classroom. The findings implied that instructors should be aware of using threatening utterances that could negatively affect students’ self-esteem. It also suggested that applying politeness strategies in the classroom could lead to a better relationship between students and instructors.
Keywords: Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, teacher-student interaction, face-threatening acts, face-saving acts

Keywords

Main Subjects

Article Title [Persian]

الگوهای ادب در رابطه استاد- دانشجو: بررسی یک محیط دانشگاهی

Abstract [Persian]

این تحقیق  به بررسی استراتژی های ادب و نزاکت بکار برده شده در رابطه بین استاد و دانشجوها در یک محیط دانشگاهی پرداخته است.  برای انجام این مطالعه، چهار کلاس دانشگاه با اساتید مختلف به صورت تصادفی انتخاب ، مشاهده و تجزیه و تحلیل شدند. از نظریه ادب براون و لوینسون (Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory) به عنوان مدل تحلیلی در این تحقیق استفاده شده است که بیشتر روی اقدامات تهدید کننده (face-threatening acts) واقدامات  محافظتی چهره(face-saving acts)   افراد تمرکز دارد. بعد از مشاهده چهار کلاس و جمع آوری و تحلیل داده ها مشخص شد که اساتید جملات و سخنانی که حالت تهدید کننده داشته باشند را نسبت به جملاتی که جهت حفظ چهره و شخصیت افراد بکار می روند کمتر استفاده می کنند. در مورد اقداماتی که جنبه حفاظتی از شخصیت و چهره افراد دارند، اساتید از استراتژی های مختلفی استفاده می کنند تا دانشجویان در کلاس احساس راحتی داشته باشند. یافته های این پژوهش نیز  نشان می دهد که اساتید باید از استفاده از سخنان تهدید کننده ای که می تواند اعتماد به نفس دانشجویان را تحت تاثیر قرار دهد، آگاه باشند. همچنین این نکته پیشنهاد می شود که استفاده از استراتژی های ادب و نزاکت در کلاس درس می تواند منجر به برقراری ارتباط بهتر بین دانشجویان و اساتید شود.

Keywords [Persian]

  • نظریه ادب براون و لوینسون
  • ارتباط استاد-دانشجو
  • اقدامات تهدیدکننده چهره
  • اقدامات محافظتی چهره
  • ادب
References
Arndt, H., & Janney, R. W. (1985). Politeness revisited: Cross modal supportive strategies. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 23(4), 281-300.
Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Beebe, L., & Takahashi, T. (1989). Do you have a bag? Social status and patterned variation in second language acquisition’, In S. Gass, C. Madden, D. Preston, & L. Selinker (Eds.), Variation in Second Language Acquisition: Discourse and Pragmatics, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 103-25.
Behnam, B., & Niroomand, M. (2011). An Investigation of Iranian EFL learners’ use of politeness strategies and power relations in disagreement across different proficiency levels. English Language Teaching, 4(4), 204-220.
Bishop, R., & Glynn, T. (1999). Culture counts: Changing power relations in education. Palmerston North: Dunmore.
Bloome, D., Carter, S. P., Christian, B. M., Otto, S. & Shuart-Faris, N. (2005). Discourse analysis and the study of classroom language and literacy events: A micro ethnographic perspective. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Blum-Kulka, S. (1992). The meta-pragmatics of politeness in Israeli society. In R. Watts, S. Ide, & K. Ehlich (Eds.), Politeness in language: Studies its history, theory and practice (pp. 255-280). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. New York: Pearson Education.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Celce-Murcia, M. (2007). Rethinking the role of communicative competence in language teaching. In E. Alcón Soler, & M.P. Safont Jordà (Eds.), Intercultural language use and language learning (pp. 41–57).
Consolo, D. A. (2006). Classroom oral interaction in foreign language lessons and implications for teacher development. Linguagem & Ensino, 9(2), 33- 55.
Culpeper, J. (1998). (Im)politeness in drama. In J. Culpeper, M. Short, & P. Verdonk (Eds.), Studying drama: From text to context (pp. 83-95). London: Routledge.
Dörnyei, Z., & Murphey, T. (2003). Group dynamics in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Eshghinejad, S., & Moini, M. R. (2016). Politeness strategies used in text messaging: Pragmatic competence in an asymmetrical power relation of teacher–student. SAGE Open, 6(1), 2158244016632288.
Foley, W. (1997). Anthropological linguistics: An introduction. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (2006). How to design and evaluate research in education. New York City: McGraw-Hill.
Fraser, B. (1983). The domain of pragmatics. In: J. Richards and R. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and Communication. New York: Longman, 29-59.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face to face behavior. New York: Anchor Books.
Grossi, V. (2009). Teaching pragmatic competence: Compliments and compliment responses in the ESL classroom. Prospect: An Australian Journal of TESOL, 24(2), 53-62.
Grundy, P. (2000). Doing pragmatics. London: Arnold.
Gu, Y. (1990). Politeness phenomenon in modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 237-257.
Guodong, L., & Jing, H. (2005). A contrastive study on disagreement strategies for politeness between American English & Mandarin Chinese. Asian EFL Journal, 10(1), 1-12.
Hariyano. (2013). Strategies of politeness in classroom interaction at English department of STKIP PGRI Sumbar. Unpublished thesis. Padang: STKIP PGRI Sumbar.
Hymes, D. (1986). Discourse: Scope without depth.  International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 57, 49-89.
Ide, S. (1989). Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of linguistic politeness. Multilingua, 8, 223-248.
Karimnia, A., & Afghari, A.  (2012). On apologizing in Persian: A sociocultural inquiry. Jezikoslovlje, 13(3), 697-734.
Karimnia, A., & Afghari, A.  (2010). On the applicability of cultural scripts in teaching L2 compliments. English Language Teaching, 3, 71-80.
Krasner, I. (1999). The role of culture in language teaching. Dialog on Language Instruction, 13(1), 79-89.
Kurdghelashvili, T. (2015). Speech acts and politeness strategies in an EFL classroom in Georgia. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering. 9(1), 306-309.
Mills, S., (2003). Gender and Politeness. England, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Monsefi, M., & Hadidi, Y. (2015). Male and Female EFL Teachers’ Politeness Strategies in Oral Discourse and their Effects on the Learning Process and Teacher-Student Interaction. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL), 3(2), 1-13.
Peng, L., Xie, F. & Cai, L. (2014). A case study of college teacher's politeness strategy in EFL classroom. Theory and practice in language studies, 4(1), pp. 110-115, retrieved January 9, 2015 from http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/tpls/article/view/tpls0401110115.
Senowarsito, S. (2013). Politeness strategies in teacher-student interaction in an EFL classroom context. TEFLIN Journal, 24(1), 82-96.
Song, S. (2012). Politeness and culture in second language acquisition. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Takahashi, T., & Beebe, L. M. (1993). Cross linguistic influence in the speech act of correction. In G. Kasper, & S. Bulm-Kulka (Eds.). (1996). Interlanguage Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tanck, S. (2002). Speech acts sets of refusal and complaints: A comparison of native and non native English speakers’ production. http://www.american.edu/tesol/wptanck.pdf#search.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in interaction: An introduction to pragmatics. New York: Longman.
Watts, R. J. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Yule, G. (2010). The study of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University.
Zaire, G. R., & Mohammadi, M. (2012). E-politeness in Iranian English electronic requests to the faculty. Journal of Research in Applied Linguistic Studies, 3, 3-24.
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Applied Literature: Dynamics and Advances
Volume 5, Issue 1
March 2017
Pages 69-87
Files
History
  • Receive Date: 14 April 2018
  • Revise Date: 20 October 2018
  • Accept Date: 10 August 2018
Share
How to cite
Statistics