Saputri, Gisa Maya. (2016). Illocutionary Acts in Relation to Politeness Strategies as Shown by the Seventh Semester English Education Students in Their Written Messages. English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
This study analyzed illocutionary acts and politeness strategies which were shown in written messages of seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program sent to their lecturers. The students had to communicate with the lecturers due to some needs and condition. In doing the communication, the students might have written communication by using some media, text message and email for instance. Moreover, the students would show the acts of doing something, which are called illocutionary acts, in their messages. In showing the acts, the students would also show their politeness, by using some strategies, to the lecturers who have higher social status than they do.
In this study, there are two problems to be answered. The first is (1) What are the types of illocutionary acts that appear in written messages of seventh semester students sent to the lecturers? The second is (2) What strategies of politeness do seventh semester students of ELESP tend to use in their written messages sent to the lecturers? Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the types of illocutionary acts and the politeness strategies which were used by the students in their written messages sent to the lecturers.
This study was a qualitative study which focused on discourse analysis. The researcher used discourse completion test in designing the questionnaire to obtain the data for this study. The data gathered was analyzed using the theory of illocutionary acts by Searle (1969) to find out the types of illocutionary acts in students’ messages and the theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) about politeness strategies.
The finding showed that illocutionary acts appeared in people’s responses to some cases or situations, such as directive (the act of requesting) and expressive (the act of apologizing). In this study, people’s responses were different from one to another even when facing the same case. However, most of the participants of this study gave the similar acts when they were facing a certain situation. In showing the acts, the participants showed politeness because they communicated with people who had higher social status than they did. They used some strategies to show their politeness. Most of the participants showed negative politeness as their politeness strategy when communicating with the lecturers. Few of them showed the strategy of bald on record in their messages sent to the lecturers.
Saputri, Gisa Maya. (2016). Illocutionary Acts in Relation to Politeness Strategies as Shown by the Seventh Semester English Education Students in Their Written Messages. Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, JPBS, FKIP, Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini meneliti tentang illocutionary acts dan strategi kesopanan yang muncul dalam pesan tertulis yang dikirimkan oleh mahasiswa semester tujuh dari Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris kepada dosen mereka. Dikarenakan beberapa kebutuhan dan kondisi tertentu, mahasiswa diharuskan untuk berkomunikasi dengan dosen. Dalam berkomunikasi, mahasiswa dapat berkomunikasi secara tertulis dengan menggunakan media, seperti pesan teks dan email. Selain itu, mahasiswa akan menunjukkan aksi berbuat sesuatu, yang dinyatakan sebagai illocutionary acts, di dalam pesan tertulis mereka. Dalam menunjukkan aksi tersebut, mahasiswa juga akan menunjukkan strategi kesopanan mereka kepada dosen yang berstatus lebih tinggi dari mereka.
Dalam penelitian ini, terdapat dua rumusan masalah yang akan dijawab. Pertama, (1) Apa macam tipe illocutionary acts yang tampak dalam pesan tertulis dari mahasiswa kepada dosen? Kedua, (2) Apa strategi kesopanan yang cenderung digunakan oleh mahasiswa dalam pesan tertulis mereka kepada dosen? Maka, penelitian ini meneliti tipe illocutionary acts dan strategi kesopanan yang digunakan oleh mahasiswa dalam pesan tertulis mereka kepada dosen.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif yang berfokus pada discourse analysis. Peneliti menggunakan discourse completion test dalam menyusun kuisioner untuk memperoleh data. Data yang terkumpul dianalisa menggunakan teori tentang illocutionary acts dari Searle (1969) dan teori dari Brown dan Levinson (1987) tentang strategi kesopanan.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa illocutionary acts muncul dalam tanggapan kita dalam suatu kasus atau situasi, sebagai contoh directive (aksi meminta) dan expressive (aksi meminta maaf). Dalam penelitian ini, tanggapan partisipan dapat berbeda satu dengan yang lain bahkan ketika menghadapi kasus yang sama. Tetapi sebagian besar partisipan menunjukkan aksi yang sama ketika mereka menghadapi kasus yang sama. Dalam menunjukkan aksi tersebut, partisipan juga menunjukkan kesopanan karena mereka berkomunikasi dengan orang yang berstatus lebih tinggi dari mereka. Mereka menggunakan beberapa strategi untuk menunjukkan kesopanan. Sebagian besar partisipan menunjukkan strategi negative politeness ketika berkomunikasi dengan dosen. Sebagian kecil partisipan menunjukkan strategi bald on record dalam pesan tertulis mereka.
ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN RELATION TO POLITENESS
STRATEGIES AS SHOWN BY THE SEVENTH SEMESTER
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS
IN THEIR WRITTEN MESSAGES
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Gisa Maya Saputri Student Number: 121214063
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
i
ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN RELATION TO POLITENESS
STRATEGIES AS SHOWN BY THE SEVENTH SEMESTER
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS
IN THEIR WRITTEN MESSAGES
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Gisa Maya Saputri Student Number: 121214063
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
vi ABSTRACT
Saputri, Gisa Maya. (2016). Illocutionary Acts in Relation to Politeness Strategies as Shown by the Seventh Semester English Education Students in Their Written Messages. English Language Education Study Program, Department of Language and Arts Education, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
This study analyzed illocutionary acts and politeness strategies which were shown in written messages of seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program sent to their lecturers. The students had to communicate with the lecturers due to some needs and condition. In doing the communication, the students might have written communication by using some media, text message and email for instance. Moreover, the students would show the acts of doing something, which are called illocutionary acts, in their messages. In showing the acts, the students would also show their politeness, by using some strategies, to the lecturers who have higher social status than they do.
In this study, there are two problems to be answered. The first is (1) What are the types of illocutionary acts that appear in written messages of seventh semester students sent to the lecturers? The second is (2) What strategies of politeness do seventh semester students of ELESP tend to use in their written messages sent to the lecturers? Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the types of illocutionary acts and the politeness strategies which were used by the students in their written messages sent to the lecturers.
This study was a qualitative study which focused on discourse analysis. The researcher used discourse completion test in designing the questionnaire to obtain the data for this study. The data gathered was analyzed using the theory of illocutionary acts by Searle (1969) to find out the types of illocutionary acts in students‟ messages and the theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) about politeness strategies.
The finding showed that illocutionary acts appeared in people‟s responses to some cases or situations, such as directive (the act of requesting) and expressive (the act of apologizing). In this study, people‟s responses were different from one to another even when facing the same case. However, most of the participants of this study gave the similar acts when they were facing a certain situation. In showing the acts, the participants showed politeness because they communicated with people who had higher social status than they did. They used some strategies to show their politeness. Most of the participants showed negative politeness as their politeness strategy when communicating with the lecturers. Few of them showed the strategy of bald on record in their messages sent to the lecturers.
vii ABSTRAK
Saputri, Gisa Maya. (2016). Illocutionary Acts in Relation to Politeness Strategies as Shown by the Seventh Semester English Education Students in Their Written Messages. Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, JPBS, FKIP, Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini meneliti tentang illocutionary acts dan strategi kesopanan yang muncul dalam pesan tertulis yang dikirimkan oleh mahasiswa semester tujuh dari Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris kepada dosen mereka. Dikarenakan beberapa kebutuhan dan kondisi tertentu, mahasiswa diharuskan untuk berkomunikasi dengan dosen. Dalam berkomunikasi, mahasiswa dapat berkomunikasi secara tertulis dengan menggunakan media, seperti pesan teks dan email. Selain itu, mahasiswa akan menunjukkan aksi berbuat sesuatu, yang dinyatakan sebagai illocutionary acts, di dalam pesan tertulis mereka. Dalam menunjukkan aksi tersebut, mahasiswa juga akan menunjukkan strategi kesopanan mereka kepada dosen yang berstatus lebih tinggi dari mereka.
Dalam penelitian ini, terdapat dua rumusan masalah yang akan dijawab. Pertama, (1) Apa macam tipe illocutionary acts yang tampak dalam pesan tertulis dari mahasiswa kepada dosen? Kedua, (2) Apa strategi kesopanan yang cenderung digunakan oleh mahasiswa dalam pesan tertulis mereka kepada dosen? Maka, penelitian ini meneliti tipe illocutionary acts dan strategi kesopanan yang digunakan oleh mahasiswa dalam pesan tertulis mereka kepada dosen.
Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif yang berfokus pada discourse analysis. Peneliti menggunakan discourse completion test dalam menyusun kuisioner untuk memperoleh data. Data yang terkumpul dianalisa menggunakan teori tentang illocutionary acts dari Searle (1969) dan teori dari Brown dan Levinson (1987) tentang strategi kesopanan.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa illocutionary acts muncul dalam tanggapan kita dalam suatu kasus atau situasi, sebagai contoh directive (aksi meminta) dan expressive (aksi meminta maaf). Dalam penelitian ini, tanggapan partisipan dapat berbeda satu dengan yang lain bahkan ketika menghadapi kasus yang sama. Tetapi sebagian besar partisipan menunjukkan aksi yang sama ketika mereka menghadapi kasus yang sama. Dalam menunjukkan aksi tersebut, partisipan juga menunjukkan kesopanan karena mereka berkomunikasi dengan orang yang berstatus lebih tinggi dari mereka. Mereka menggunakan beberapa strategi untuk menunjukkan kesopanan. Sebagian besar partisipan menunjukkan strategi negative politeness ketika berkomunikasi dengan dosen. Sebagian kecil partisipan menunjukkan strategi bald on record dalam pesan tertulis mereka.
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to send my deep gratitude to my Jesus Christ for
giving me such a challenging yet meaningful life. I thank Him for always being
patient in listening to all of my stories that I have sent through my prayers.
Second, I would like to send my sincere thankfulness to my superb university,
Sanata Dharma University, which has given me such an unforgettable experience in the last four years. I thank my campus for giving me a four-year full
scholarship so that I can have a precious chance to study in one of the best study
programs in Indonesia. I fulfill my promise to graduate exactly in four-year study.
Then, my gratitude goes to my beloved parents, Bambang Sulistijono,
who has become my role model to be a hard-working man, and Helena Nana Dwi
Astuti, who is never tired in giving me support and reminding me to pray. For my little brother, Raka Dian Saputra, I really appreciate his support through his
critical questions which make me always think hard. The next gratitude is for my
grandparents, who always give their blessing in every step that I take.
I would like to send my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Bapak Drs. Y.B.
Gunawan, M.A. for his meaningful guidance since the beginning of my thesis journey. I thank him for being such a good father who is care and patient in
looking after his children. I also thank him for always giving me positive words
that motivate me a lot. Next, I would also like to thank my academic advisor,
ix
in my college life. My special thanks go to all lecturers of English Language
Education Study Program and all of its members, especially for students in batch 2012. I thank my family in Small Class C, it is such a blessing to have them
all as my friends. I thank them for coloring my life.
I would also like to thank my best companions in my teenage life. I thank
my very best friend, Gregorius Hugo Himawan, as the one who always supports
me excluding my family. I thank God everyday that I have such a great partner
like him. I would also like to thank his family for being my second family whom I
really love. I also thank my best friends in PBI, Emilia Dyah Puspita and
Floryberta Kusuma Putri. Both of them are smart and beautiful, but I will not forget their craziness. I hope we can grow and be successful together. Then, I
would like to express my thankfulness to my loyal best friends since I was in
kindergarten, Monica Sindhi Vania Putri Damar Sari, Gregorius Dedy
Mahendra, Anna Tri Prasidhani Juniasri and Stefani Putri Moya. I thank them for staying beside me to be my friends for so many years. God has been so
good to give me friends like them all. I would also like to thank my Ganesh
group; Adit, Angga, Gratia and Mbak Dewi, for making SPD in our last
semester becomes a fun and memorable course.
In the end, I would like to thank everyone who has given me support,
guidance and prayer. I may not be able to write their name in this limited paper,
but I will always stick their name in my heart. May all human beings be good and
be happy.
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGES ... ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... iv
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... v
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 11
A. Theoretical Description ... 11
1. Speech Acts ... 12
2. Politeness ... 15
3. Written communication ... 21
4. Review of Related Studies ... 22
B. Theoretical Framework ... 24
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ... 28
xi
B. Research Setting ... 30
C. Research Participants ... 30
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ... 32
E. Data Analysis Technique ... 34
F. Research Procedures ... 37
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 40
A. Types of Illocutionary Acts Shown by the Students ... 40
B. Politeness Strategies Used by the Students ... 49
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION... 59
A. Conclusions ... 59
B. Recommendation... 61
REFERENCES ... 64
xii
LIST OF TABLES
3.1 The Types of Illocutionary Acts on Students‟ Written Messages
Based on the Scenarios ………..36
3.2 The Politeness Strategies Shown by the Students………...37
4.1 The Predicted Use of Illocutionary Acts based on the Scenarios………41
4.2 The Illocutionary Acts Shown by the Participants ……….44
xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A. The Questionnaire………67
Appendix B. The Sample Results of the Questionnaires………...70 Appendix C. Table Result: The Types of Illocutionary Acts on Student‟s
1
INTRODUCTION
In the introduction part, there are six sections which will be discussed. The
first section is research background. In this section, the researcher will discuss the
background of the research which contains the reason why the researcher chooses
the topic and a brief description about the theory of illocutionary acts and
politeness which is used in this research. The second section is the research
problem, which contains the problem formulations that have to be answered by
doing the research. The third section is problem limitation. In this section, the
researcher discusses the scope limit and focus of the research. The fourth section
of introduction part is research objectives, which explains the purpose of the
research. The fifth section is research benefits. This section identifies the benefits
or advantages of this research for some parties. The last section is definition of
terms, which gives brief explanation about the specific terms used in the research.
A. Research Background
As a human being, we live in a heterogeneous society which consists of
different types of people. In order to be able to socialize with other people, we
have to communicate in an appropriate way. Here, language plays an important
role in communication as the main tool for interacting. According to Fromkin,
when we come together, we talk to our family and relatives, we talk to strangers
in the street, we talk to our pets, even we talk to ourselves when there is no one to
answer. According to Chaer and Agustina (1995), language can be used to express
our idea, send messages and convey our meaning (p. 19). It is impossible to make
people understand what we want and feel without communicating using language.
The communication using language itself can be held in two different ways,
namely the written and spoken way. If we are communicating with others in a
written way, there must be media for helping the communication. Some of the
media that can be used to do the written communication are text message and
email. Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2013) say that by having written
communication, we mean the visual systems for representing the language (p.
546). Moreover, written communication is also said as a basic tool of civilization.
According to Searle (1969), in doing the communication, we are
performing human linguistic behavior (p. 12). It means that our communication is
done using linguistic elements, namely words, grammar, context, speech or
writing and symbols. In addition, the communication itself can be referred as
linguistic communication. Searle (1969) adds that all linguistic communication
will involve linguistic acts (p. 16). When we use a language, we perform speech
acts in terms of making statements, giving commands, asking questions, making
promises, and many more. Speech acts are defined as the basic or minimal unit of
linguistic communication. The acts can be in the form of requesting, commanding,
apologizing, questioning, and so on. Those acts are considered as complete speech
means that they do something, requesting and apologizing for instance. It means
that we do the speech acts, particularly illocutionary acts, when we are uttering
our intention to do something to people through communication, both in written
and spoken ways.
Besides the language and the media that influence our communication and
also the illocutionary acts that we perform, we also have to consider the way we
communicate and interact with other people. Politeness becomes one important
aspect that has to be considered in communication. It deals with both linguistic
factors and social-cultural values in the community. Most people may think in a
simple way regarding politeness; as long as we say please or thank you then it will
make our utterances become more polite. In fact, politeness is not only saying
please and thank you (Goffman, 1971, p. 90). We also have to deal with the intonation and tone of voice, word choice and the addressee (Holmes, 2001). This
means that if we are talking to a person who is older and has higher social status
than we do, we have to be more polite rather than if we are talking to a person
who is younger and has lower social status than us.
In order to be polite in communication, we have to pay attention to the way
we communicate with and speak to others. Some strategies can be applied to show
our politeness in communicating with others. Those strategies can be applied to
show our politeness when we are performing certain speech acts, particularly
illocutionary acts. The strategies to show politeness when we are doing some acts
in conversation will ease the conversation and build good connection between the
Based on the background knowledge about language as a communication
tool, speech acts as the main part of linguistic communication and politeness as
the important way in doing the communication, the researcher was interested in
doing a research about illocutionary acts in relation to politeness strategies as
shown in written messages by the students of English Language Education Study
Program (ELESP). Here, the students were in the seventh semester of ELESP of
Sanata Dharma University. The researcher considered the seventh semester
students were appropriate as the sample of this research because they had learned
English as a second language for around three years. They were also expected to
know the theory of speech acts and politeness and how to deal with it in everyday
communication. Moreover, students in the seventh semester, which is the last year
in the college, had to communicate with the lecturers, particularly their thesis
advisors, more than with others. In order to communicate with the lecturers, the
students might use media, text message and email for instance. Therefore, the
researcher focused on the illocutionary acts and politeness strategies which were shown in students‟ written messages when they were communicating with their
lecturers.
The issue of politeness becomes a sensitive issue, especially in the educational field. Sometimes, the lecturers comment on students‟ politeness
which can be seen from their messages. By observing around the campus, the
researcher concluded that most of the lecturers thought that some of students‟
messages were categorized as „impolite‟, particularly when the students wrote
about politeness in a research. In fact, there are some researches on politeness that
have already been conducted before. Most of the studies on politeness focus on
the spoken form which may be uttered in daily interaction. However, the
researcher would focus on the written form of students‟ utterances, as seen in their
text message and email, in doing this research.
B. Research Problems
Based on the background of the study which is explained above, the
problems which will be analyzed are formulated in the form of questions as
follows.
1. What are the types of illocutionary acts that appear in written messages of
seventh semester students sent to the lecturers?
2. What strategies of politeness do seventh semester students of ELESP tend to
use in their written messages sent to the lecturers?
C. Problem Limitation
This study will only be focused on speech acts and politeness in everyday
communication, particularly regarding the language choice of seventh semester
English Education students of Sanata Dharma University. Moreover, the analysis
will be specified on the illocutionary acts and politeness strategies that appear in
written messages, text message and email for instance. The messages were written
status than the students do. The researcher will only analyze the types of
illocutionary acts and politeness strategies which appear in students‟ written
messages sent to their lecturers.
D. Research Objectives
There are two objectives which will be analyzed in this study. The two
objectives are elaborated as follows.
1. To discover the types of illocutionary acts that appear in the written messages
of seventh semester students sent to the lecturers.
2. To analyze the politeness strategies that seventh semester students of ELESP
tend to consider in their written messages sent to the lecturers.
E. Research Benefits
The researcher intends to make this research as the contribution for some
parties in relation to language. Furthermore, there will be three parties that are
expected to take the benefits from this study. Those parties are English lecturers,
English learners and future researchers.
1. English lecturers
This research will encourage the lecturers of English Language Education
Study Program to develop the material related to politeness in the more practical
way. It is because this study will provide the written messages from the students
messages are considered as impolite, it means that the lecturers may not only
teach the students about politeness theoretically but also practically. The lecturers
may ask and encourage the students to send the messages in English rather than in
Indonesia and giving feedback related to students‟ messages. Later on, the lecturers may set an agreement with the students which says that if the students‟
messages are still considered as impolite, the lecturers will not give any responses.
It will give the real challenge for the students to be polite in communicating with
the lecturers, specifically in written ways. This research will also give information
on the way students show their politeness to the lecturers, particularly when the
students send the written messages to the lecturers. Therefore, the lecturers can give more attention to students‟ language choice when the students send the
written messages to them personally.
2. English learners
This research will enrich students‟ knowledge about speech acts and
politeness. The students can find the proper expression to express their politeness.
Moreover, this research can motivate the students to use English in their written
messages and also to be more polite to the lecturers. The students will also be
more aware of their way in sending the written messages to the lecturers so that it
will not be considered as rude or impolite.
3. Future researchers
This research can be used as a reference for future researchers in
conducting a study related to pragmatics field, specifically which focuses on
theories, knowledge and references related to speech acts and politeness in
everyday communication.
F. Definition of Terms
In order to give better understanding on some specific terms used in this
research, the terms will be explained and defined more as follows.
1. Speech acts
According to Austin (1962), speech acts are defined as the actions which
are performed in saying something. The action which is performed when an
utterance is produced can be analyzed into three different levels, namely
locutionary acts („what is said‟), illocutionary acts („what is done in uttering the words‟), and perlocutionary acts („what is done by uttering the words‟) (Cutting,
2002, p. 16). In this research, the level of speech acts which will be analyzed more
is the illocutionary acts.
2. Illocutionary acts
Illocutionary act is a kind of speech acts which performs an act of doing
something (Searle, 1969). The speaker will utter their intention to do some action
to the interlocutor. Searle (1969) categorizes illocutionary acts into some
categories, namely assertive (the act of suggesting, complaining, stating,
reporting), directive (the act of requesting, ordering, advising, commanding,
inviting), commissive (the act of promising, vowing, offering, refusing,
regretting) and declaration (the act of resigning, dismissing). In this research, the
illocutionary acts are the acts which are shown by the students when they
communicate with the lecturers.
3. Politeness
According to Watts, Ide and Ehlich (2005), politeness can be seen as the
behavioral constraints which may help people in the society to achieve “effective social living” (p. 2). Moreover, politeness also refers to a concept of “presentation
of self” in the interpersonal relationship that is important to maintain social
interaction with its individual and group goals. In this research, politeness is
related to language choice provided by the students in social interaction with the
lecturers.
4. Politeness strategies
Brown and Levinson (1987) have conducted a deep study on politeness,
specifically on the strategies of politeness. Based on their study, politeness
strategies are used to arrange the statement or utterances in order to show an
awareness of the face when face threatening acts (FTA) is likely to happen. FTA
itself is defined as the acts which may threaten the face wants of the hearer and/or
the speaker (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Brown and Levinson also define face as
public self-image which every member of society wants to claim for himself.
There are four strategies of politeness which are proposed by Brown and Levinson
(1987), namely bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness and off
choice in order to minimize the face threats in their written messages sent to the
lecturers.
5. Written communication
Communication is defined as the way in which the process of giving,
receiving or exchanging messages is understood by both the speaker and also the
hearer(s). McQuail and Windahl (1993) also describe that communication can be any of „an action on others, an interaction with others and a reaction to others‟ (p.
5). Communication itself can be held in two ways, namely spoken and written
ways. In the written form, the messages are transformed using written symbols,
via words and sentences for instance. Hence, written communication can be
defined as the way of giving, receiving or exchanging the written symbols which
happens between two people or more. Written communication may be held in the
form of letters, faxes, emails, reports, memos and even advertisements. In this
research, written communication which will be used is in the form of text message
11
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of two sections. The first section is theoretical description which will enlighten the readers about any relevant theories of this
research. The theories of speech acts, politeness and written communication will
be elaborated more in this section. The second section is theoretical framework.
This section summarizes the major theories which will be the framework to solve
the research problems.
A. Theoretical Description
This section discusses three theories which are closely relevant to the study
conducted in this research. The theories are about speech acts, politeness and
written communication. Since this study focuses on illocutionary acts, the theories
of speech acts will be focused more on the theory of illocutionary acts. The
theories of politeness will also be presented as the other main focus of this
research. In the theories of politeness, sociolinguistics is presented because
politeness is under the scope of sociolinguistics. Then, the theories about
politeness as pragmatics study are also elaborated because this study focuses on
the utterances which are used based on the context. The theory of written
communication will also be elaborated since this study focuses on the
1. Speech Acts
The term speech acts is used to describe the acts which are performed by
the speakers through their utterances. When people are speaking, they do not only
concern about grammatical structures or linguistic meaning of the utterances but
also perform the acts which will ease the hearer to convey speaker‟s meaning
(Yule, 1996). According to Searle (1969), speech acts can be differed into three
acts, namely an act of saying something, an act of doing something and an act of
affecting someone. Those three acts may appear in the utterances which are used
to understand the meaning carried out by the words.
According to Austin‟s theory (1962), there are three kinds of speech acts
which are differed one to another. The three kinds of speech acts are named as
locutionary acts, illocutionary acts and perlocutionary acts. The explanation of
each of the terms will be illustrated as follows.
a. Locutionary Acts
Locutionary acts perform the acts of saying something. It contains the
actual meaning of the utterances (Searle, 1969). These acts show what is said by
the speaker, containing the form of the words which are uttered (Cutting, 2002, p.
16). Locutionary acts also describe the literal meaning of something. When the
speaker says something, he or she is conveying the meaning literally. As the example is when the speaker says, “It is getting dark.” The sentence means that
the speaker thinks of the situation in the room which is getting dark because the
day will be over. He or she really means what he or she says literally (Searle,
b. Illocutionary Acts
According to Searle (1969), illocutionary acts perform the acts of doing
something. Speakers may communicate their intention to do something by
speaking the words. Cutting (2002) adds that illocutionary acts mean the specific
function and purpose of the words that the speakers have in mind (p. 16).
Searle (1969) categorizes the illocutionary acts based on various criteria.
The categorization consists of five types and those types are elaborated more as
follows.
1) Assertive
Assertive is an act which commits the speaker to the actual case or
something which is true. It is an act in which the words state what the speaker
believes (Cutting, 2002, p. 17). It includes the act of stating, suggesting, boasting,
complaining, claiming, reporting, etc (Leech, 1983, p. 105). As the example is the utterance, “I feel grateful.” In the utterance, the speaker wants to say or report to
the hearer(s) that he/she is grateful. The utterance is merely reporting (Austin,
1962, p. 79).
2) Directive
Directive is an act which is used to make the hearers perform some
particular action. It intends to produce some effects through action by the hearer.
Directive includes the act of ordering, commanding, requesting, advising,
recommending, etc (Searle, 1969). As the example is when the speaker says, “Please pass the salt.” By speaking that utterance, the speaker gives the request to
3) Commissive
Commissive is an act which commits the speaker to the future action. The
speaker may perform a particular action in the future by doing the act of
commissive. It includes the act of promising, vowing, offering, etc. As the example is in the utterance, “I shall do my best.” The utterance shows that the
speaker performs the act of promising (Austin, 1962, p. 77).
4) Expressive
Expressive is an act which has a function to express the feeling of the
speaker. It particularly shows attitude or emotion toward some specific things
through utterances. It includes the act of thanking, congratulating, pardoning,
apologizing, blaming, praising, condoling, etc. As the example is in the utterances, “I am willing to apologize,” and “I am sorry to have to say …” The
utterances show the act of apologizing (Austin, 1962, p. 80-81).
5) Declaration
Declaration is an act which expresses a declaration that may change a
particular matter. Searle (1969) says that this category is special since it is
performed by some institutional frameworks, judges and ministers for instance.
Declaration includes the act of resigning, dismissing, christening, naming,
excommunicating, appointing, sentencing, etc.
c. Perlocutionary Acts
Perlocutionary acts perform the acts of affecting people. These acts use
language as a tool which will give such effects to the hearer. According to Searle
intimidating, boring, imitating or inspiring the hearer(s). As the example is “Take a look at yourself. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met.” The purpose of that utterance is to give effect of amusing to the hearer (Searle, 1969).
All linguistic communication will involve linguistic acts in which
communication is not only about sentences, words or symbols but also production
of the sentences, words or symbols in the performance of speech acts (Searle,
1969, p. 16). In showing our politeness to the interlocutor, we do not only focus
on language use but also the acts that we perform. The acts can be in the form of
illocutionary acts in which we utter words and sentences in certain context and
condition in order to do something.
2. Politeness
Politeness is defined as the phenomenon which describes the way someone
puts something as the result of speaker‟s cognitive assessment of the social
context (Holtgraves, 2002, p. 38). Furthermore, according to Holmes (1992),
politeness is a behavior which expresses positive concern for others (p. 5). Being
polite here can be shown by speaking in a positive way in order to make the
conversation runs smoothly. Brown and Levinson (1987) also state their own
understanding about politeness. In their theory, politeness is related to
psychological state, something that is emotionally invested, that can be lost,
maintained or enhanced, and must be constantly attended in interaction (p. 60). In
order to control the psychological state in the interaction, Brown and Levinson
(1987) also imply some strategies of politeness. Politeness itself is studied under
a. The Role of Politeness in Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is explained as the study of the relationship between
language and society (Holmes, 2001). The study of sociolinguistics may discuss
why people tend to use different language in a certain context and the way people
convey social meaning. Politeness belongs to sociolinguistics study since it
focuses on the way language is used differently in a certain society. The study of
politeness will be more related to a search for its markers in everyday
conversations. Holmes (1992) states that being polite is a complicated business in
any language (p. 296).
However, politeness is difficult to learn because people have to understand
not only the language but also the social and cultural values of a community.
Therefore, understanding the social values, which belongs to sociolinguistics
study, is needed in order to speak politely.
b. The Role of Politeness in Pragmatics
Leech (1983) states that pragmatics deals with the meaning which is
defined to be connected with a speaker of the language (p. 6). Moreover, Leech defines pragmatics as „the study of meaning in relation to speech situations‟ (p. 6).
In pragmatics‟ theory, language cannot be separated from context and principles
of language use (Levinson, 1983). Therefore, pragmatics focuses on how
language is used by people in a certain context or situation.
This study can also be stated as pragmatics study because it analyzes the
language use and its meaning in relation to a speech context or situation. People
conversation so that their utterances will be considered as polite. The context in
pragmatics may cause people to speak explicitly and/or implicitly (Yule, 1996).
When people speak implicitly, they will talk about their intention indirectly.
According to Leech (1983), the more indirect the statement is, the more polite it
will be.
Politeness becomes an important factor in pragmatics study because it may
help people to find out why people are often so indirect in conveying their
meaning. It will also cover the reason why people give politeness a high rating in
a certain situation.
c. Negative and Positive Face in Politeness
Face is stated as public self-image which everybody wants to claim for
himself (Brown & Levinson, 1987). There are two kinds of face, namely negative
face and positive face.
1) Negative face
Brown and Levinson (1987) define negative face as the want of every
member of society that his or her action be unimpeded by others (p. 62). It is also
stated as the desire for autonomy (Holtgraves, 2002). It can be simplified that
every individual has their own want to be free from impediment or not to be
restricted by others. Hence, it focuses on freedom of action and freedom of
imposition.
2) Positive face
Positive face is defined as the want of every member of society that his or
It is stated as the desire for connection with others (Holtgraves, 2002). It means
that every individual has their own wants and desires and they want their wants
and desires to be accepted and appreciated by others.
d. Face Threatening Act (FTA) in Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), FTA is defined as the act which
may threaten or run contrary to the face wants of the addressee and/or the speaker.
The acts that may threaten or violate someone‟s face can be done by verbal or
non-verbal communication. FTA can threaten or violate negative or positive face. As the example is request may threaten the hearer‟s negative face because they
restrict autonomy. Besides, disagreement can threaten the hearer‟s positive face
because they may minimize the solidarity between the speaker and the hearer.
e. Politeness Strategies
Brown and Levinson (1987) state that politeness strategies are kinds of strategies which formulate an expression which is less threatening for the hearer‟s
face in order to save their face (p. 91). People may use politeness strategies to
arrange the statement or utterances in order to show an awareness of the face
when face threatening acts (FTA) is likely to happen. There are four strategies of
politeness based on Brown and Levinson (1987) which are classified as follows.
1) Bald on record
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), bald on record is used whenever the speaker wants to threaten hearer‟s face, by doing the FTA, in a maximum
record is said as the least polite strategy (Holtgraves, 2002). Actually, it is also
stated as the complete absence of politeness.
By doing this strategy, it means that the speaker may do the acts in the
most direct, clear and concise way. The maximum efficiency is very important in
this strategy. It can be shown in the examples which show the urgency as in “Help!” and “Look, the point is this …” When the speaker speaks as if maximum
efficiency is important, he or she will provide metaphorical urgency as can be
seen in the second example. Bald on record can also be found in advice or warning as in, “Careful! He’s a dangerous man.” The imperative sentence which
includes offer can also be bald on record as in, “Don’t bother, I’ll clean it up.”
This strategy can be used when the speaker and the hearer have close relationship
so that politeness is not really a matter for both sides.
2) Positive politeness
Based on Brown and Levinson‟s (1987) theory, positive politeness is an
action directed to the hearer‟s positive face, in which they want to be accepted and
appreciated (p. 101). This strategy is used to indicate that the speaker wants to
enclose his or her relationship with the hearer. Positive politeness‟ utterances can
be used as a kind of metaphorical extension of intimacy for the purpose of
interaction, even with strangers. Therefore, the speaker may speak with an element of exaggeration to imply that he or she sincerely wants the hearer‟s
positive face to be enhanced.
have!” People can also emphasize the utterance by using familiar address terms (honey, mate, pal, bud) as in, “Here mate, I was keeping that seat for a friend of mine.” Moreover, a direct satisfaction of others‟ desire for respect, sympathy, interest and so on is also the example of this strategy (Holtgraves, 2002).
3) Negative politeness
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), negative politeness is an action directed to the hearer‟s negative face, in which they want to have freedom of their
own action (p. 129). It is used to minimize imposition in the hearer. This strategy
is also said as „the heart of respect behavior‟ which fills the etiquette books
(Brown & Levinson, 1987). The characteristics of this strategy are specific,
focused, being indirect and often said in long sentences.
This strategy can use conventional indirect forms in the utterances as to request someone to shut a door by saying, “Will you shut the door?” “Can you
shut the door?” “Are you able to shut the door?” “I want you to shut the door,” and so on (Holtgraves, 2002). The other way to show negative politeness is by
using hedges to avoid assuming anything related to the hearer‟s belief or desire. The use of hedges can be shown in “if clause” for relevant condition as in “Close
the window, if you can.” Negative politeness can also appear when the speaker communicates implicitly that he or she does not want to impinge on the hearer. As the example is in the utterance, “I know you’re busy but could you give me a
4) Off record
Off record is stated as the prototype of indirect communication (Holtgraves, 2002). It is a communicative act in which the speaker‟s utterances
contain more than one particular intention. Therefore, the hearer needs to interpret speaker‟s utterances in order to know what the main intention is (Brown &
Levinson, 1987). The indirectness of this strategy allows the speaker to do the
FTA without taking responsibility for doing it and leave it to the hearer to decide
how to interpret it. Off record can be shown in the form of sarcastic irony as in “That’s brilliant,” where actually it is not. Another way to show this strategy is in
the form of rhetorical question as in, “Did someone leave the light on?” when the
speaker expects the light to be off.
Politeness is one of the main issues in language use that has to be
considered when we talk to others. It is a behavior which can create positive
environment in the conversation. In showing our politeness, we must pay attention to the hearer‟s face or self-image so that we may not threaten their face. The act of
threatening hearer‟s face as wellas speaker‟s face may influence the conversation
and the degree of politeness. In order to control the degree of politeness in the
conversation, some strategies of politeness can be applied by both the speaker and
the hearer.
3. Written communication
Communication is a way for a speaker to influence the hearer(s) by making
him (or them) perceive, understand, feel or do some particular things (Linell,
received and exchanged by doing communication. Besides, McQuail and Windahl (1993) describe communication as any of „an action on others, an interaction with
others and a reaction to others‟ (p. 5). Communication can be held in two
different ways, namely in spoken and written way. Written communication is the
way people give, receive or exchange the messages by using discrete symbols,
letters and words for instance (Linell, 2002). In doing written communication,
people may use some media. The media can be in the form of emails, text
messages, letters, faxes, reports, memos and even advertisements.
4. Review of Related Studies
This section contains some previous studies which are closely related to
the focus of this research which is illocutionary acts in relation to politeness
strategies as shown in written messages. There are three related studies which
have been done by Nabilah Fairuz Al-Bantany (2013), Katrina Pariera (2006) and
Elmianvari and Kheirabadi (2013).
a. Nabilah Fairuz Al-Bantany (2013)
Al-Bantany (2013) conducted a research entitled “The use of commissive
speech acts and its politeness implication: A case of Banten gubernatorial candidate debate”. The purpose of this research was to examine the use of
commissive speech acts in the debate and the realization of politeness in the use of
speech acts. This study was a qualitative study which processed the data gathered
by downloading the debate. The data were analyzed using the theory of speech
acts by Searle (1969) and the theory of politeness by Brown and Levinson (1987).
debate for 53% of the utterances. Moreover, politeness could be seen in those
utterances which were uttered by all of the candidates in relatively the same way.
b. Katrina Pariera (2006)
Pariera (2006) conducted a research entitled “The use of politeness strategies in email discussion about taboo topics”. This research aimed to analyze
the politeness strategies, based on Brown and Levinson‟s (1987) theory, which
were used in a series of email sent to close friends and to strangers. The
participants of this research were 29 university students who were on controlled
age (21-29 years old) and all of them were native speakers of American English.
The researcher used discourse completion test (DCT) proposed by Billmyer and
Varghese (1996) to gather the data. The data were gathered from online survey
program which asked the participants to write down the email about four taboo
pictures provided by the researcher. The participants had to write the email both to
their close friends and to strangers. After gathering the data, the researcher
compiled and coded those emails based on the theory of politeness strategies by
Brown and Levinson (1987). The result of this research stated that Brown and
Levinson‟s framework on politeness did not accurately predict how politeness
would be used in email. Some predictions were correct but most of them were in contrast with Brown and Levinson‟s prediction for face-to-face interaction.
Politeness strategy which was mostly used in email was negative politeness to
enclose intimacy. However, there was a decrease of negative politeness strategies
when there was a decrease in intimacy, something which people might not see in
c. Elmianvari and Kheirabadi (2013)
Elmianvari and Kheirabadi (2013) conducted a research entitled “The study of EFL students‟ requests based on politeness theory”. They analyzed
whether politeness theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) was
applicable to data elicited from EFL students attending a language institute in Iran
or not. The participants were 21 female Iranian who learned English as foreign
language. Their age ranged from 17 to 26 years old. The participants, who were
students, were asked to email their teacher as a class activity and make a request
in an appropriate and polite form. After the emails were gathered, they were analyzed based on Holtgraves and Yang‟s (1992) coding scheme. The researcher
measured the degree of politeness showed in the students‟ email request. The
finding showed that almost all of the emails could be considered as polite and only two of them located somewhere in the middle of politeness‟ scales. Based on
the finding, the researchers could conclude that most of the students expressed
their requests in a polite, formal and indirect way through long sentences in
attempt to save the negative face.
B. Theoretical Framework
This research aimed to analyze the illocutionary acts and politeness
strategies shown by the participants, who were seventh semester students of
English Language Education Study Program, in their written messages.
chapter which are to analyze illocutionary acts and politeness strategies shown in
the written messages. In order to answer those research problems, the researcher
relied on the theories proposed by Searle (1969) and Brown and Levinson (1987).
The first research problem aims to analyze the illocutionary acts which
tended to appear in the written messages of seventh semester students sent to the
lecturers. The researcher used the theory of speech acts, particularly related to
illocutionary acts, proposed by Searle (1969) to answer this research problem.
Searle (1969) proposes that speech acts can be divided into three categories,
namely locutionary acts, illocutionary acts and perlocutionary acts. This research
focused on illocutionary acts that may appear in students‟ utterances shown in
their written messages. Illocutionary act itself is divided into five categories,
namely assertive, directive, commissive, expressive and declaration. Based on the
data which were gathered through questionnaire, the researcher could classify students‟ messages into those five categories of illocutionary acts. The
classification might describe the illocutionary acts which appeared in students‟
written messages.
The second research problem is going to analyze the politeness strategies
which tended to be used by the students in their written messages sent to the
lecturers. The theory of politeness strategies by Brown and Levinson (1987) was
used as the main theory to answer this research problem. There are four kinds of
strategies on politeness based on Brown and Levinson‟s theory, namely bald on
record, positive politeness, negative politeness and off record. The researcher used
ELESP which could be seen in their written messages. Based on the classification,
the researcher analyzed the politeness strategy which was mostly used by the
students when they sent written messages to the lecturers.
The relation of illocutionary acts and politeness itself can be seen in Leech‟s (1983) theory. Leech states that politeness is often a function of both: the
standing features, such as the social distance between participants, and the
dynamic features, such as the kind of illocutionary acts which are made by the
speaker to the hearer (request, advice, command, etc) in order to produce
appropriate politeness based on certain situation. Therefore, in this research, the
focus was more on the function of politeness as dynamic features which used
illocutionary acts to produce politeness by conducting politeness strategies.
In our society, we must communicate with other people in a certain context
and situation. As the example is in the educational context, the students have to
communicate with the lecturers due to some needs and condition. Here, language
is used as the media for communication to express our meaning. When we are
communicating, especially in a written way, we have to consider the language that
we use because it may differ from one social context to another. The reason why
we use different language in different social context to express our meaning is to
show politeness. One way to be polite in communicating is by using some
strategies of politeness. Those strategies can be shown in our acts, particularly
illocutionary acts, because we have to focus on both the language use that shows
Figure 2.1 Diagram of Theoretical Framework Students
Written communication (Linell, 2002 and
McQuail & Windahl, 1993)
Speech acts (Searle, 1969)
Locutionary acts
Illocutionary acts
Perlocutionary acts Politeness Strategies
(Brown & Levinson, 1987)
Bald on record
Positive politeness
Negative politeness
28
METHODOLOGY
This chapter contains six sections. The first section is research method. The researcher discusses the type of the method which was used in this research.
The second section is research setting. The place and the time where and when the
research was conducted are described in this section. The third section is research
participant. The researcher describes the subject of the study as well as the method
of sampling which was conducted. The fourth section is instruments and data
gathering techniques. In this section, the research instruments used in this study
will be explained together with the techniques of collecting the data. The fifth
section is data analysis technique. The researcher talks about the way of analyzing
the finding in order to answer the research problems. The last section is research
procedures. The researcher describes the steps on doing this research from the
beginning until the end.
A. Research Method
The researcher used a qualitative study as the method of this study. This
research belonged to a qualitative study because the data were presented in the
form of words and sentences. According to Ary, Jacobs and Sorensen (2010),
qualitative study will apply words and images in order to provide the answers to
focusing on the understanding of concept and meaning. Therefore, the findings of
this study would rely on words and only minor use of numbers was provided.
Moreover, this research also belonged to discourse-analytic research. According
to Wood and Kroger (2001), discourse analysis is „a perspective on social life that
contains both methodological and conceptual elements‟ (p. 3). It analyses the
issue which becomes the viewpoint of our social life and the issue will be
analyzed using the appropriate methods and also the concept that we gain
theoretically. Hence, discourse analysis involves both theoretical and
methodological elements. By doing discourse-analytic research, the researcher
would not only analyze language as a tool or medium for communication but also
as a text and talk in social practices.
Discourse analysis is primarily an analysis which is carried out by using
words rather than using numbers or quantitative techniques (Wood & Kroger,
2001, p. 136-141). Wood and Kroger (2001) adds that discourse analysis is
concerned with what people are doing or not doing, how they are doing it, and
how it is connected to other things rather than with how often they are doing it, or
how much they are doing it (p. 136-137). However, quantification may be helpful
for selecting the data. In the analysis, it may help the researcher to select a
particular feature that occurs frequently or rarely. Potter and Wetherell (1987)
state that the coding of discourse data is an improvement over the use of
questionnaires in which the selection of meaning is almost neglectful of the participant‟s views (as cited in Wood & Kroger, 2001, p. 137). Therefore, this
presenting the data for analysis of what the participants were doing and how they
were doing it.
B. Research Setting
This research was conducted in December 2015. In order to collect the
appropriate data, data collection took place in the English Language Education
Study Program (ELESP) campus, Sanata Dharma University. The data collection
was done on December 10th, 2015 at 3.30 p.m. in Multimedia Laboratory of
Sanata Dharma University. It was carried out after Interpreting class, which was
taken by seventh semester students of ELESP. There were 24 students who
participated in this research. The data collection took around 20 minutes until all
of the participants finished filling in the questionnaires.
C. Research Participants
The participants of this research were the seventh semester students of
English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) of Sanata Dharma
University Yogyakarta. The students were from batch 2012. There were 24
students who were asked to fulfill the questionnaires provided by the researcher.
The number of students who were asked to participate in this study was
considered as appropriate since it was a sample of 15% from all students in
seventh semester of ELESP in batch 2012. Each of the students would provide
were 96 data which were gained from 24 participants. The seventh semester
students were chosen as the object of the study because they were English learners
who had learned English for around three years. Hence, their proficiency in
English language use was expected to be better than that of lower semester
students. These students were expected to understand the theory about speech
acts, particularly on illocutionary acts, and the theory of pragmatics, particularly
related to politeness, and also its practice in everyday life. These students also had
big chances to interact and communicate with their lecturers due to their needs of
having consultation and gaining feedback from the advisor on doing their thesis.
Most importantly, seventh semester students were prepared to graduate soon from
ELESP and face the real work field. Therefore, these students had to equip
themselves with strong knowledge about English, including the ability to show
politeness in their acts, both in spoken and written form.
In order to choose the participants, the researcher used purposeful
sampling technique. According to Lodico, Spaulding and Voegtle, purposeful
sampling is a sampling procedure which is mostly used in a qualitative research
(2006). It is because qualitative researchers choose the participants based on their
characteristics and knowledge as they relate to the research questions being
investigated. Moreover, purposeful sampling is stated as a procedure where the
researcher analyzes the people who are familiar and have specific knowledge
about the topic which is investigated (Lodico, Spaulding & Voegtle, 2006). In this
research, the researcher chose the seventh semester students who attended
for seventh semester students in ELESP. The researcher chose Interpreting class B
instead of the other classes because this class consisted of 15% of the whole
members of seventh semester students of ELESP. There were 24 seventh semester
students who became the participants of this study. The students also had already
had knowledge about pragmatics study. Moreover, the researcher also belonged to
this class, which made it easier to distribute the questionnaire and gather the data.
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
The researcher used questionnaire as the instrument employed to carry out
the study. According to Ary, Jacobs and Sorensen (2010), questionnaire is a list of
questions which are sent to all of the members of a sample group (p. 379). The
members of the sample group will give their responses to the questions written in
the questionnaire. Moreover, questionnaire can be provided in two types of
questions, namely open-ended and close-ended questions. In this research, the
type of questionnaire used was open-ended question where the participants did not
have limited choice in giving the answers (Cohen et al, 2000). Furthermore, the
questionnaire used in this research was administered using discourse completion
test (DCT) by Blum-Kulka (1982). According to Pariera (2006), DCT is the most
popular instrument in collecting the sociolinguistics data. Pariera adds that DCT uses a „constructed environment to elicit certain parts of discourse and to use the
findings to make predictions about natural language‟. DCT provides some
