An Analysis of Teachers' and Students' Politeness Strategies used in Text-Messaging

dr. santi c. djonhar, ma; herri mulyono, ph.d;

Politeness strategies were crucial while having interaction and also
communication. Not only in spoken communication, but also in written communication. In order to enhance the quality of interaction and communication, both teachers and learners need to apply the appropriate politeness strategy. The strategies which used by teachers and learners might be different. It applied based on their educational level. Therefore, this study examines politeness strategies used by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher and EFL learners to avoid misunderstanding while having interaction through Whatsapp. To this end, a qualitative and quantitative research design
was adopted to facilitate the in depth exploration of ten EFL teachers including junior and senior high school teachers and students use of politeness strategies in textmessaging. The text messages were conducted in L1 and L2. Multiple data collection methods are adopted in this study, including teachers and students‟ Whatsapp conversation and also open response questionnaires. Brown and Levinson‟s politeness strategies framework were utilised to analyze the data. Result of qualitative and quantitative data showed that the most frequent strategy used by teachers (46%) and students (56%) was negative politeness strategy. Then, the significant difference between teachers and students‟ politeness strategies. The result of the study is discussed
in reference to the existing theory and implication of the study on English language teaching practices are offered.