Politeness in Thesis Consultation by WhatsApp: Do Lecturers and Students Apply Different Strategies?

Abstract

The study of politeness in education setting interaction has increased in last decades. However, the investigation of politeness strategies in lecturer-student interaction using WhatsApp is relatively unexplored. Therefore, this study aims to explore politeness strategies used by a lecturer and students in virtual communication using WhatsApp during thesis consultation. The researcher applied a mixed method: qualitative and quantitative research to discover the politeness phenomena in WhatsApp interaction. The participants of the study were 10 undergraduate students of English Department, University of HKBP Nommensen, and a lecturer as their thesis consultant. The data of the study consist of 50 screenshots of WhatsApp chats thesis consultation. The results show that all four types of politeness strategies were found in lecture-students interaction. The politeness strategies used by the lecturer and students differ greatly. The lecturer dominantly employed bald on-record (30. 93%) with the most imperative sentences realization; on the other hand, the students tend to use positive politeness strategy (23.20%) with the most greetings realization. This demonstrates that lecturers keep their distance when communicating, whereas students attempt to “get closer” during the interaction. The different politeness strategy choices are caused by the different power and social status (position) factors between lecturers and students. The findings of this study also show that the politeness strategies chosen by lecturers and students are not always consistent with previous similar studies.

Politeness Strategies Used by Lecturers and Students in Thesis Guidance Through Virtual Communications

“…The result of this study confirms that the lecturer used the bald on record strategy more frequently than students. This is in line with the results of research conducted by Pasaribu et al (2021) who found that lecturers are sometimes higher than students 109The Journal of English Literacy Education, Vol. 9, No.01, May 2022, pp.101-114 P-ISSN 2355-7486, E-ISSN 2621 in terms of affirmative expressions.…”

“…9, No.01, May 2022, pp.101-114 P-ISSN 2355-7486, E-ISSN 2621 in terms of affirmative expressions. They also utilize politeness strategies to make students feel satisfied reconsidering students' thesis (Pasaribu et al, 2021). It can be proven that all politeness strategies are used by both lecturers and students.…”

“…Another study revealed that politeness strategies used by lecturers and students appear to be somewhat different from previous similar studies. Furthermore, the use of nonverbal language in interaction, such as emoticons, is part of politeness strategies to maintain positive interactions between students and lecturers during thesis consultation via WhatsApp (Pasaribu, Saragih, & Gea, 2021).…”

Teachers’ Linguistic Politeness in Classroom Interaction: A Pragmatic Analysis

“…In this case, teachers have more power and have higher status than the students (Khusnia, 2017), and they perform so by using imperatives. Lastly, teachers used off-record strategy to maintain students' negative face by allowing students to interpret several meanings from their utterances which are rather vague or ambiguous (Pasaribu, Saragih, & Gea, 2021). In addition, compared to other strategies employed, politeness strategies were frequently used by the teachers, which is consistent with the result of the study of Rahayunigsih et al (2020).…”

“…Further, negative politeness strategies are what is often used to consider age difference, institutional postion, power, and social distance which is evident in the case of teacher and students in the classroom (Fitriyani and Andriyanti, 2020). Thirdly, bald-on record strategy, although the teachers did not try to minimize face threats to the students' face, it is considered as polite as this strategy works if the speaker has more power and position than the hearer in the situation (Pasaribu, Saragih & Gea, 2021). In this case, teachers have more power and have higher status than the students (Khusnia, 2017), and they perform so by using imperatives.…”