Patterns o f Politenes s in Teacher-Student Interaction: Investigati ng an Acad emic Cont ext

This study investigated politeness strategies used in instructor-student relationships, in an academic env ironment. To conduct the study, four university classes with differe nt instructors were random ly selected, observed, and analyzed. Brown and Levinson’s theory o f politeness was drawn on as the ana lytic model guiding the study, which focused on face-thr eatening and face-saving acts. After ob erving the classes and gatherin g the data thro ugh four classroom observ ations, it was found that the ins tructors produ ced face-threatening uttera nces less fre quently than face-saving utterances. In the case of face-saving acts, t hey used various strategies to make students feel more comfortable in the cla ssroom. The findings im plied that instructors should be aware of u sing threaten ing utterance s that could negatively affect students’ self -esteem. It also suggested that applying politeness strategies in the cla ssroom could lead to a bett er relationship between stu dents and instructors

Keywords:

Brown a nd Levinson’s Politeness T heory , Teach er-Student Interaction , Face-Threatening A cts , Face-Saving Acts , Poli teness