THE ANALYSIS OF THE FUNCTIONS OF SPEECH AND
POLITENESS STRATEGY IN CLASSROOM
INTERACTION AT SMK NEGERI 1 DRIYOREJO,
GRESIK
THESIS
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan (S. Pd) in Teaching English
By:
Riris Hidiyawati
NIM D35209005
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTYOFEDUCATIONAND TEACHERS TRAINING
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SUNAN AMPEL
ABSTRACT
Hidiyawati, Riris.(2016). The Analysis of the Functions of Speech and Politeness Strategy in Classroom Interaction at SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo, Gresik. A thesis. English Lecturer Education Department Faculty of Tarbiyah and Lecturer Training, Sunan Ampel State Islamic University, Surabaya. Advisor: Rakhmawati, M. Pd.
Key Words : Classroom Interaction, The Functions of Speech, and Politeness Strategy.
The application of character education in the materials’ of students’
activities at school was occurred when the qualities of three aspects of education changed. Three aspects here are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor which look to the knowledge improvement, behavior, and skill based on education pillars consequently with the realization of knowledgeable and characterized person. These categories of the functions of speech and politeness strategy always used by the teacher inleading the student to do their activities through the teaching learning process in the classroom. This study was conducted to find out the kind of functions of speech applied and politeness strategy used by the English teacher in the classroom interaction. The setting of the study was class XII and class X of SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo, Gresik. The subject of this study was an English teacher. The data were collected by observation, and documentation. The data
taken from three meetings of the teacher’s teaching schedules. The analysis of the functions of speech and politeness strategy in the classroom interaction is an
analysis of the transcription of teacher’s speech in the class. This is similar with the way people analyze other transcription in general. Based on the findings, the teacher gives positive results toward this research. Teacher applied all those categories of the functions of speech needed by students to be knowledgeable person. And the teacher almost used positive politeness strategy in his teaching to shape up a politer characterized person. For the next researchers who are interested in the same topic, it is suggested to conduct a research about the
analysis of the functions of speech and politeness strategy of the teacher’s speech
applied in different school. The result of such studies can help the teacher leads
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE...……….i
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN……… ii
ADVISOR APPROVAL SHEET……….iii
APPROVAL SHEET……….iv
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN TULISAN……….v
ABSTRAK……….…vi
DAFTAR ISI……….………vii
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION………1
A. Background of The Study………...1
B. Statement of The Problem……….7
C. Objectives of The Study………...8
D. Significance of The Study………8
E. Scope and Limitation of The Study……….……….9
F. Definition of Key Terms………...9
CHAPTER II : REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………..11 A. Review of Related Literature………11 1. Definitions of The Classroom Interactions a. The Theory of the Classroom Interactions………..11 b. The Classroom Interaction Related to the Classroom Instructions………..13
2. Definition of The Function of Speech a. The Notion of Speech……….15
b. The Theories of The Functions of Speech Related to The Classroom Instruction………...16
c. The Functions of Speech by Jiang………..18
3. Definition of Politeness Strategies a. The Notion of Politeness………21
b. Brown and Levinson’s Politeness………..22 c. Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Strategy Related to The Classroom Interaction………...26
B. Review of Previous Study………31
CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHOD……….35
A. Research Design……….35
B. Source of Data………...36
D. Data Collection Technique………...38
E. Data Analysis Technique………39
CHAPTER IV : FINDING AND DISCUSSION………...42
A. Research Findings……….42
1. The Kind of The Functions of Speech Applied by the English Teacher in Classroom Interaction………...43
2. The Kind of Politeness Strategy Used by the English Teacher in Classroom Interaction……….………...57
B. Discussion ……….72
1. The Kind of The Functions of Speech Applied by the English Teacher in Classroom Interaction………...73
2. The Kind of Politeness Strategy Used by the English Teacher in Classroom Interaction………...76
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION………80
A. Conclusion ……….80
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
In interaction, language is a tool for communicate between people.
People generally learn the language in order to be able to communicate, and
their goal is to be able to express their feeling to other through language.It is
important to know how the way communicate nicely to other people. People
need to consider what the purpose of their speech before they express it. So
that is way the others can understand what the message on the conversation.
This case includes to the functions of speech. Beside that, in having
interaction or communcation we need to consider about politeness. The goal
of politeness is to get good relation with other,being polite is also can make
more respecting each other.
According to Glaser, language is used to convey one’s intention to each other.In conveying intention, people use strategies in their
communication, and it is a part of the language user’s communicative competence.The speaker communicative competence deals with pragmatics.1
Yule states,Pragmatics determines our choices of wording and our
interpretation of language in different situation. Pragmatics concerns with
some fields and politeness is one of them. Politeness strategies are very
important to investigate as it is used by people in their social interactions and
1
in the specific contexts, knowing what to say, how to say, when to say and
how to be with other people.2
Therefore, we need to classify the utterance not only according to their grammatical form that involved to the functions of speech, but we need also to examine then to match with context and the situation in which it is made. Related to this study, there is politeness strategy that used to communicate with other. As stated by Leech, it as strategic conflict avoidance, which can be measured in
terms of degree of effort and put into the avoidance of conflict, situation,
maintenance and establishment of comity. The avoidance is represented as a
conscious effort on part of the person to be polite.3Politeness strategies are
ways to convey the speech acts as polite as possible. To achieve that, there
are some strategies that can be applied in specific context used by an
individual in certain society.
According to Zhang, professional teacher role endows them with right
to evaluate students' behaviors, constrain their freedom of actions, control
resources and give critical feedback, which unavoidably poses threat to
students' positive and negative face.4In addition, teacher is as the model in the
class and the students will imitate the way the teacher teaches them.
This study comes from a phenomena, latest, just this May, Indonesia
was saddened by the tragic news of the death of 14 years old junior high
school students, Yuyun, a victim of rape committed by 14 perpetrators, until
2
George Yule, Pragmatik. .(Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar. 1996) cited from Canadian Center of Science and Education Journal by Sondang Manik and Juniati Hutagaol .
3
Geoffrey N Leech, Principles of pragmatics. (England: Longman Group Limited. 1983).
4
causing the young woman to lose her life. Marwati showed in her article
about the disscussion attended by psychologists, teachers, school leaders,
school committees, and education officials in Yogyakarta, Kesbangpol
Agency, and Yogyakarta Police Office, and led by Head of the Centre, Dr.
HeriSantoso. Marwati said that the participants of the discussion agreed that
presently schools are heavily burdened with the stereotyping arising among
society that school is the only institution responsible if acts of violence are
committed by a teenager. In fact, “problematic” students have family and
environment backgrounds that always “reproduce” violence. Based on these
issues, they recommended the need to develop program and curriculum for
family and society in order to preventing and resolving acts of violence.
Parents do not know what to do to their teenage children. They seemed to get
released from the responsibility of taking care of their children if the children
are already educated at school.5
The other phenomenon which happened at school because of character
education such as a news comes from Balongbendo, Sidoarjo, last June, a
parent reported a teacher to the police office because a teacher pinched his
son at school. And the other news comes from Makassar on the middle of this
August, a perent hit a teacher until bleeding and breaking his nose because of
a punishment gave by the teacher to the student, and then makes a parent
angry and hit a teacher.
Related to this phenomenon, we know how important character
building in our life. And we got almost of characters building from the
education environment such as school, and university. So, here the writer
touched her heart by those cases which happened in our country. And the
writer relating those case to the teachers who do not applied the functions of
speech and do not use politeness strategy on their teaching in the classroom
will impact to the students’ behaviour in communication. It can be observed from such as the teacher’s evaluations and instructions. Harmer argued when
teachers give instructions, it is important for them to check that the students
have understood what they are being asked to do. This case is not good for
the students’ improvement in linguistics and also in social.
Furthermore, lately, a term of character talked by various backgrounds,
range from state institutions to the ordinary people. This is due to the number
of aberrant behavior or unlawful ranging from government officials to the
community, ranging from the issue of corruption to violence. In addition, the
application of character education as character builder of the students at
school has integrated with the subjects, which called integrated learning. But,
the result of this work is still did not bring a change of students’ character.
Moreover, school is the biggest environment that can influence the character
of the person.
The functions of speech and the politeness strategy have relationship.
In fact, an interaction between teacher and students happens in the classroom,
knowledge of the materials which explained by the teacherwill be delivered
and will be received by students well. By applying the functions of speech
and politeness strategy through the teachers instructions, the teacher will give
the examples of the kinds of speech functions and the values of politeness at
the school through classroom activities that gave by the teacher.
Vocational high school as school which more focused on the skill
programmes of their students, the ability of communication in English should
be considered and should be improved. The one of the solutions to make the
improvement of the communication ability in English is through the way of
the teachers teach the students. Because, when the taecher teach their students
he/she can make decision how the way the whole of the materials and the
knowledges in it can be received by the students optimally.
Nevertheless, it is important for the teachers who teach English in
vocational high school to apply the functions of speech and politeness
strategy in teaching and learning process. For the reason that one of the
purposes of vocational high school is to prepare the students to be a
productive person who can work autonomously, add the vacancy to the
industrial and bussiness as the intermediate employee. Here, one of the goal
of apllying the functions of speech and politeness strategy in English
classroom interaction is to build new better characters of every students and
to develop the communicative ability in English. As vocational high school,
SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo includes in a school which often send their students
Vocational High Schools is on skill programs. It was made the application of
the functions of speech and politeness strategy in teaching and learning
proccess very necessary to support this skill programs to be better.
Here, the function of speech and politeness strategy is one term in the
application. Because both of these term is purpose to success the students in
communicative skills and repair the characters of students. Here, the teachers
take many roles to achieve these purposes. Almost of the other previous
research that the researcher found are only explain the kind of the functions of
speech, and the others only explain politeness strategy. Both of these term be
separated and it is what makes the other previous research still have weakness
in their research. So that is way the writer will do the research of the analysis
of the functions of speech and politeness strategy in classroom interaction.
Moreover, important function of talk is the main tool to control the
classroom, and understanding the kind of the functions of speech and
politeness strategy in classroom interaction will make the classroom activities
more effective and efficient. The teacher can applied the functions of speech
and politeness strategy when their students found a problems or getting
mistakes in their study. Harmer states to be a good teachers should be able to
correct people without offending them.6
Beside that, in applying the functions of speech and politeness strategy in
the classroom interaction, the students and the teacher will more respect each
other in the classroom. Because, it includes intonation and gesture, that will
6
make the language in teaching much more accepted and memorable by the
students. Harmer in his book said: “Apart from adapting their language,
experienced teachersalso use physical movement:gestures, expressions,
mime”.7
So that is way the writer considers it is important to analyze thefunctios
of speech and also the politeness strategy that the teacher used in classroom
interaction, because the language that used by the teacher in the classroom is
able to influence the students’ characters in life.
B. Statement of The Problem
Based on the background above, the research problems of the study are:
1. What kind of the functions of speech applied by the English teacher in
classroom interaction at SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo?
2. What are the politeness strategies used by the English teachers through the
use of the functions of speech in classroom interaction at SMK Negeri 1
Driyorejo?
C. Objectives of the Study
Based on the research questions above, the study is aimed:
1. To find out what kind of the functions of speech used by the English
teacher in classroom interaction.
2. To find out the politeness strategyused by the English teachers through the
use of the functions of speech on the classroom activities.
D. Significance of the Study
7
The comprehension about the functions of speech and politeness strategieshave many advantages for many elements of society.One of the advantages is for teachers, since these term concern with teacher’s instructions,
teacher’s motivation, teacher’s evaluation, and classroom management by the
teacher. This studypurposes to give contribution for English teachers in teaching materials in the classroom politely, effectively and efficiently. To
give an information about the important of giving values of politeness to the
students in order to improve the grade of students attitudes.
This study isexpected to be new information that delivers the contribution for English academic workers or lecturers, especially for linguistic lecturers in developing the material related to linguistic fields. Beside that, this study is expected to inspire the readers about the urgency of character
education in the school envirounment for better living in society.At last, this
study is also hoped for the readers to learn and help to provide information
about the functions of speech and politeness strategies.
E. Scope and Limits of the Study
This researchconducted in classes of SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo. The
researcher takes oneteacher in three times of teaching and learning process.
And the class chosen random by the researcher, they are class X and class XII.
Thisresearch is limited forfinding out the functions of speech in classroom
interaction based on Jiang theory of the functions of speech, they are
instructional, motivational, evaluation, and managerial. Meanwhile, the
theory of politeness strategies, there are negative politeness strategy and
positive politeness strategy.
The researcher analyzed and identified the functions of speechand strategy of politeness that found in teacher’s interaction in the classroom. The utterance that will be interpreted concern with all of languages that used by the English teachers, there are include English and Indonesian. Moreover, it can be representation by other utterances that has similarity for the meaning or context.
F. Definitions of Key Terms
There are several key terms of the study refer to certain concept. The
terms are defined to avoid any ambiguous and misinterpretation. Thus, the
researcher tries to break down and give clear definition about the terms.
Those terms are presented as follows:
1. The Functions of Speech : The term of the fuctions of speech in this research
is closed to the theory of Jiang about the functions
of teacher’s speech in the classroom, they are
instructional, motivational, evaluative, and
managerial. In addition, the functions of speech
refers to a form of language which aimed to find
out exactly what we are doing with language when
we speak.
2. Politeness Strategies :The strategies are used to formulate messages in
threatening acts are inevitable or desired.8 So it can
be concludes the politeness strategies are the
strategies that used to communicate with other
people by considering the meaning of the word,
sentence, and clause to be much Kingdombetter
heared by people to avoid conflict in an interaction.
It is involved gesture and intonation.
3. Classroom Interaction : refers to the interaction between the teacher and
the learners, and amongst the learners, in the
classroom.9 The interaction here refers to the
teacher’s instructions, teacher’s motivation,
teacher’s evaluation, and teacher’s management of
the class.
8
Brown Penelope – Stephen, C. Levinson, Politeness:Some Universals in Language Usage. (United Kingdom:Cambridge University Press. 1987). cited from Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research.
9
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Literature
There are some literatures which related to this research, it includes
definition of the classroom interaction, the definition of the functions of
speech, and the definition of politeness strategies. The descriptions are as
follow:
1. Definition of The Classroom Interaction
a. The Theory of Classroom Interaction
L2 classroom interaction research began in the 1960s with the
aim of evaluating of effectiveness of different methods in foreign
language teaching in the hope that the findings would show the „best‟
method and its characteristics. The methodology adopted was strongly
influenced by firstlanguage (LI) classroom teaching research which
was motivated by the need to assess objectivelythe teaching
performance of student-teachers during practical teaching.1
According to Tsui about Classroom Interaction, in the book of
David Nunan and Ronald Carter, the term classroom interaction refers
to the interaction between the teacher and learners, and amongst the
learners, in the classroom. Descriptions of classroom interaction
focused initially on the language used by the teacher, especially
1Amy, B.M, Tsui,Chapter 17 - Classroom Interaction. The Cambridge Guide to TESOL by David Nunan and Ronald Carter.
teacher questions and the learner responses elicited, teachers‟ feedback
and turn-allocation behaviour.
Language classroom can be seen as sociolinguistic
environment and discourse communities in which interlocutors use
various functions of language to establish a communication system,
and the teacher-student interaction is believed to contribute on
students‟ language development.2 Therefore, the teacher-student
interaction in class is influenced by their pragmatic knowledge, how to
behave and respond in different situations and contexts. Pragmatic
competence is defined as the ability to communicate effectively and
involves knowledge beyond the level of grammar. Bardovi-Harlig
argues that the classroom is a place where pragmatic instruction can
occur.3
In analyzing classroom interaction research, it is important to
consider what is observable in the research. It can be the teacher talk or
student talk. It is supported by Tsui in the book of classroom
interaction by Nunan and Carter, as quoted below:
“For more than two decades, the focus of classroom interaction research, be it teacher or student talk, had been on what is observable; more recently researchers have begun to question analyses of classroom processes based only the observable. It was felt that the 'unobservables'in the classroom - such as teachers' and learners' psychological states, including beliefs, attitudes,motivations, self perception and anxiety, learning
2Douglas Altamiro Consolo,Classroom Oral Interaction in Foreign Language Lessons and Implications for Teacher Development. (2006). p.34
styles and cultural norms - play an importantpart in shaping classroom interaction. Approaches to analyzing classroom interaction also movedfrom solely an observer's perspective to include a participant's perspective and using a variety ofsources of data apart from classroom discourse data.” Lier states research on the observable aspects of classroom
interaction pertains to three main aspects: input,interaction and output.
Input refers to the language used by the teacher, output refers to
languageproduced by learners and interaction refers to the
interrelationship between input and output withno assumption of a
linear cause and effect relationship between the two.4
b. The Classroom Interaction Related to the Classroom Instructions
In the classroom interaction may occur interpersonal
communication. Larry states that interpersonal communication may
occur in any face to face encounter and it is important medium of
instruction in the classroom.5 There are three forms of interpersonal
communication in the classroom, they are: teacher to student ( T-S),
student to teacher ( S-T) and student to student ( S-S).At this level of
communication, the message is transmitted to a single student by
teacher, to the teacher by a particular student, or from one student to
another student.
Teacher – student interactions such as teacher‟s instructions,
teacher‟s motivation, and teacher‟s evaluation in the classroom are the
4Nunan David – Ronald Carter, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 2001)
important parts of classroom interaction. However, those parts can
enhance the comprehension and the attention of the students. Tsui said
that an important dimension of classroom interaction is teacher
questions, which has received much attention in both L1 and L2
classroom studies. Both turn-allocation by the teacher and turn-taking
by learners contribute to learners‟ opportunities to participate in the
interaction.
Kasper states classroom instructions with awareness in
pragmatic aspects of social interaction can be very useful for learners.
It can be challenging to find useful teaching materials and to integrate
pragmatics into an existing syllabus. The challenge for foreign
language teaching is how to arrange learning opportunities in such a
way that they benefit the development of pragamtic competence in
foreign language.6
In this research, the researcher will be focuses only onteacher to
students interaction in classroom. The teacher - students interactions in
classroom includes the instructions used by the teacher to the students,
the motivations that gave by the teacher to the students, the teacher‟s
evaluation about the students responses in the class, and classroom
management of the teacher.
2. Definition of The Functions of Speech
a. The Notion of Speech
6Gabriele Kasper, Second Language teaching and Curriculum Center, University of Hawaii.
Language is the system of communication used by a particular
community or country.Language is a method of human
communication. Language in wider sense refers to speaking, writing,
and gesturing. In study of linguistics, linguistics deals with spoken
language (speech) and written language. It is the relationship between
language and speech, either spoken and written consisting of the use of
words in a structured and convensional way.
In linguistics, writing related to sentences, while speaking
related to utterances. The features of spoken language defined as
utterances or speech. Sapir states that speech is so familiar a feature of
daily life that we rarely pause to define it. It seems as natural to man as
waking, and only less so than breathing. In speaking to one another,
we make use of sentences, or, to be more precise, utterances.7 Brazil
defines speech as the following,
“Speech is charasteristiccally use in pursuit of a purpose... The practice of inventing a sentence... is a practice of the sentence grammarian, not the user”.8
According to Schiffer, he states with the speech speakers uttering
sentences.
7Ronald Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics.(Fifth Edition. Blackwell Publishing.
2006)
b. The Theories of the Functions of Speech Related to the Classroom
Interaction
Janet Holmes in her book states that she considers the range of
functions language may serve, and the variety of ways in which the
„same‟ message may be expressed. In addition to distinguish a great
variety of different functions which language serves, she classified six
different categories for functions of speech, they are expressive,
directive, referential, metalinguistic, poetic and phatic utterances.
Nevertheless, in this research the researcher does not use the theory of
the functions of speech from Janet Holmes, because the categories of
the functions of speech by Janet Holmes are relate to Sociolinguistics,
it means it closed to the way people use language in different social
contexts provides a wealth of information about the way language
works, as well as about the social relationships in a community, and
the way people convey and construct aspects of their social identity
through their language.9 In other words, it means the object must be
related to language and social or society.
The study that taken by the researcher here is about classroom
interaction. It is different context with Sociolinguistics. Though, in the
point of view of Sociolinguistics, the teacher‟s speech can be analyzed
with the functions of speech by Janet Holmes, but it will be found the
teacher used directive functions more than any other functions of
speech. Thus the theory about the functions of speech above is not
used in this research. This agreement supported by Janet Holmes in her
book, she states that researchers have analysed the ways that particular
speech functions are expressed in a variety of contexts, identifying the
range of linguistic forms they take. The categories are useful as guides
for analysis, but they are not mutually exclusive.
The classroom interaction refers to the interaction between the
teacher and the students, and amongst the students, in the classroom.
The interaction between the teacher and the students in the classroom
is different from the common interaction in daily life or daily
activities, and thus needs to be investigated under different functions
of speech. According to Sulu, each utterances have different functions
in speech; however, it is important toremember that the meaning of
language depends on its actual use, and may not exactly coincide with
an utterance.10
Jiang states that teachers have different roles in the class.11
Based on her teaching experiences, she suggests the following
functions for analyzing the classroom speech of teachers. Where the
functions of speech based on Jiang are related to the teacher‟s roles in
the class, they are: instructional, motivational, evaluative, and
managerial. Jiang said that all classroom speech acts of the teacher can
10Ayfer Sulu, “Teacher‟s Politeness in EFL Class”. Inonu University. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching. 2015. 2(4). 216-221
11 Xiaoqing Jiang, “A Case Study of Teacher‟s Politeness in EFL Class”. Journal of Language
be categorized according to these functions. Since traditionally, the
teacher controls learning and behavior in the classroom with these
kinds of speech acts. So, the control speech acts of the teacher can be
referred to these acts.
In this research, the researcher prefers use these functions of
speech to analyze the teacher‟s speech in the class, because these
functions are more appropiate to be use in analyzing the teacher‟s
speech in the classroom interaction context.
c. The Functions of Speech by Jiang
As the researcher puts above, the classroom speech functions
suggests by Jiang can be analyzed under four categories: instructions,
motivation, evaluation, and classroom management.
1) Academic Instructions
This refers to the teacher's academic presentation,
answering students' academic questions, and supportive and
corrective feedback. Look at the following sentences:
a) Let‟s begin today‟s class.
b) We will learn a moving story today, it‟s about a widow.
c) I‟d like you to read the new words after me, please.
d) So much for the new words, stop here, please.
e) Please find a word which means “satisfactory”.
f) Please tell me what the author tell us in paragraph two.
h) Who would like to come to the blackboard?
i) Can you show me the difference between the two
words?
j) Turn to page 115, look at the first line.
k) Next time, we will study unit 9, preview it and hand in
your homework as soon as possible.
2) Motivation
Motivation refers to various acts aimed at activating
students such as their participation, academic questions, and
initiative feedback. The following are the examples:
a) Hey, guys, what are you doing? Why are you so sleepy?
b) Wang Qun, you give us a presentation, ok?
c) Chen Shuo, tell us the story “The yellow ribbon around
the old oak tree”, all right?
d) Just say it in your own words, I know you can, have a
try, will you?
e) It‟s quite necessary to request English learners to speak
English. Don‟t keep silent!
f) It‟s not a good habit to memorize the new words from
the word list. Get help from the text!
Evaluation is indispensable in English class. It refers to
teacher‟s positive and negative feedback which is very important to
students. It can encourage as well as discourage the students.
The examples of Evaluations:
a) Good! You are right!
b) Exactly!
c) Well done!
d) Perfect! Sit down please!
e) Maybe first you should read the directions carefully.
f) I am sorry, I mean translate this sentence into Chinese.
g) Maybe it‟s my fault, I didn‟t emphasize that in the
previous class.
4) Classroom Management
This refers to discipline instructions, discipline directives
(orders, requests, questions, and calls), procedural instructions, and
procedural directives. Examples:
a) Be quite, please!
b) Stop talking, please!
c) Now talk with your partner about this problem.
d) Divide into groups, please.
e) Why don‟t you sit closer?
g) Please stop here; we don‟t have enough time for you to
remember all these new words in class.
These roles of classroom teacher‟s speech investigated in a
linewith the politeness strategies used by the teacher in classroom
interaction. In addition, teacher is as the model in theclass and the
students will imitate the way the teacher teaches them.Therefore, in
creating good interaction in theclassroom, teachers and students
should make the good interaction.
3. Definition of Politeness Strategies
a. The Notion of Politeness
Politeness is a universal and best expressed as the practical
application of good manners or ettiquette. In standard meaning of the
word „polite‟, at least three dimensions cvan be identified: 1) polite as
civil or socially correct; 2) polite as kind or friendly; and 3) polite as
tactful or diplomatic.12
Geoffrey Leech states in his book that politeness in broad
sense, is a form of communicative behaviour found very generally in
human languages and among human cultures. Leech defines it as
“strategic conflict avoidance, which can be measured in terms of
degree of effort and put into the avoidance of conflict, situation,
maintenance and establishment of comity. The avoidance is
represented as a conscious effort on part of the person to be polite.
Sum up from the literatures, that shows that different
researchers have different senses. Richard, J Watts in his book states
from a socio – psychological point of view, politeness is not a static
logical concept, but a dynamic interpersonal activity that can be
observed, described, and explained in functional interactional terms.13
The knowledge of politeness is important in classroom
teaching of a foreign language. Politeness strategies that used by the
teacher and the studentds in the class can play an important role in
learning and teaching process. Moreover, politeness can have an
instrumental role in the social interaction. Brown and Levinson‟s
theory places politeness as a universal face-threatening strategy.
b. Brown and Levinson’s Politeness
Classroom is a place of the interaction process which happens
between a teacher and students. It must beeffective and polite. If in the
classroom interaction runs well, the knowledge that will be delivered
by the teacherwill be received by students well. Teacher professional
role endows them with right to evaluate students‟behaviors, constrain
their freedom of actions, control resources and give critical feedback,
13Richard J Watts, Politeness in Language – Studies in Its History, Theory and Practice. (New
which unavoidablyposes threat to students‟ positive and negative
face.14
Politeness strategies are more likely to be used when a
speakerof relatively lower power makes a larger request in a more
distant relationship than when a speaker of relativelyhigher power
makes a smaller request in a closer relationship.15Politeness strategies
are ways to convey the speech acts as polite as possible. To achieve
that, there are somestrategies that can be applied in specific context
used by an individual in certain society.
According to Brown and Levinson, politeness is defined as
redressive action taken to counter-balance the disruptive effect of
face-threatening acts (FTAs). He describes“face” as “the public self-image
that every member wants to claim for himself, consisting in two related
aspects: negative face and positive face. Negative face is the want of
every „competent adult member‟ that his actions be unimpeded by
others. Positive face is the want of every member that his wants be
desirable to at least some others.
Brown and Levinson also states that in human communication,
either spoken or written, people tend to maintain one another's face
continuously, and this tendency adds up to politeness. Ifthe hearers‟
14Qin Zhang, Teacher Request Politeness: Effect on Students’ Positive Emotions and Compliance Intention.(Fairfield University: Mexico. 2009)
15Brown Penelope – Stephen, C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage.
need to maintain his/her self-esteem, and be respected is violated by an
act during conversation, they call these acts as “Face Threating Acts”
(FTAs). And in order to deal with these FTAs, Brown and Levinson
outline four main types of politeness strategies, they are: bald on
record, positive politeness, negative politeness and off-record indirect.
Bald on record strategies usually do not attempt to minimize the
threat to the hearer‟s face, although there are ways that bald on record
politeness can be used in trying to minimize FTAs implicity. Often
using such a strategy will shock or embarass the addressee, and so this
strategy is most often utilized in situations where the speaker has a
close relationship with the audience, such as family or close friends.16
Positive politeness usually seen in groups or friends, or where
people in the given social situation know each other fairly well. It
usually try to minimize the distance between them by expressing
friendlines and solid interest in the hearer‟s need to be respected
(minimize the FTA). In addition to hedging and attempts to avoid
conflict, some strategies of positive politeness include statement of
friendships, solidarity, and compliments. Positive politeness
techniques are usable not only for FTA redress, but in general as a kind
of social accelerator, where speaker, in using them, indicates he wants
to „come closer‟ to hearer.17
16Brown Penelope - Stephen, C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage.
(United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 1987). p. 69.
17Brown Penelope - Stephen, C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage.
Negative politeness strategies are oriented towards the hearer‟s
negative face and emphasize avoidance of imposition on the hearer.
These strategies presume that the speaker will be imposing on the
listener and there is a higher potential for awkwardness or
embarassment than in bald on record strategies and positive politeness
strategies. Negative face is the desire to remain autonomous so the
speaker is more apt to include to include an out for the listener,
through distancing styles like apologies.18
Off record strategies can be done where the speaker wants to do
an FTA, but wants to avoid the responsibility for doing it. After doing
off record, the speaker can leave it up to the addressee to decide how to
intrepet it. Such off record utterances are essentially indirect uses of
language. To construct an off record utterance one says something that
is either more general or actually different from what one means.
Therefore, the hearer must make some inference to recover what was
in fact intended.19
c. Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Strategy Related to the
Classroom Interaction.
Based on the Brown and Levinson‟s theory of politeness
strategy as stated above, there are four types of politeness strategies.
But, four types of those strategies are too general to be applied all in
18Foley Wiliam, Anthropological Linguistics: An Introduction. (Indiana: Wiley-Blackwell
Publishing. 1997) p. 77
19Brown Penelope - Stephen, C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage.
the classroom interaction. And there are two strategies that more
appropiate than other strategies to the classroom interaction context;
they are positive politeness strategy and negative politeness strategy.
Because both of these strategies are most frequently used by the
teachers in the classroom and most related to the classroom interaction
context.
In addition, it is supported by Peng, Cai, and Tan that conducted
the other research about teacher‟s politeness strategies in EFL
classroom which claims that teachers in EFL classroom are highly
aware of politeness strategies and often used negative politeness and
positive politeness as their strategies in classroom.20 So that is why the
researcher prefer used two types strategies in this research; they are
positive politeness strategy and negative politeness strategy. And the
descriptions of positive politeness and negative politeness strategies by
Brown and Levinson are as follow:
Brown and Levinson’s Positive and Negative Politeness
Strategies
1) Positive Politeness Strategies
Positive politeness strategies are used to reduce the threat to the
hearer‟s positive face. Positive politeness usually seen in groups or
friends, or where people in the given social situation know each other
20Liu Peng, Lingling Cai, and Xianjun Tan, “Teacher‟s Politeness Strategies in EFL Classrooms”.
fairly well. It usually try to minimize the distance between them by
expressing friendlines and solid interest in the hearer‟s need to be
respected (minimize the FTA). In addition to hedging and attempts to
avoid conflict, some strategies of positive politeness include statement
of friendships, solidarity, and compliments. It is used as a kind of
metaphorical extension of intimacy, to imply common ground or
sharing of wants, including goals and values.
Positive politeness techniques are usable not only for FTA
redress, but in general as a kind of social accelerator, where speaker, in
using them, indicates he wants to „come closer‟ to hearer.21Fifteen
strategies can be used to indicate positive politeness as is expressed by
the theory of Brown and Levinson. These strategies include the
following ones:
a) Noticing and attending to the hearers (their intersts, wants,
needs, and goods)
E.g.: What a beautiful case this is! Where did it come
from?
Goodness,you cut your hair! By the way, I came to
borrow some flour.
b) Exaggerating by giving different intonation, tone and other
prosodic features or exaggerating by using intensifying
modifiers.
21Brown Penelope - Stephen, C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage.
(interests, approval, sympathy with the hearer)
E.g.: How absolutely incredible!
What a fantastic garden you have!
c) Intensifying interest to hearer.
E.g.: You always do the dishes! I‟ll do them this time.
d) Using in-group identity markers.
E.g.: Come here, buddy!
e) Seeking agreement by the addressee‟s statements through
using specific statements or repetition.
E.g.: A: She had an accident last night.
B: Oh My Gog, an accident!
f) Avoiding disagreement by using false agreement, by
expressing pseudo-agreement, by using hedge or by making
white lies.
E.g.: (1) It‟s really beautiful in a way!
(2) A: You had your Mom and Dad.
B: Oh, sometimes.
g) Showing common ground.
E.g.: (1) Personal center switch. “Yes, dear. It hurts
terribly, I know.”
(2) Time switch. “John says do you want to come
to?”
h) Joking.
i) Showing the speaker‟s concern for the hearer‟s wants.
j) Offering and promising.
E.g.: I‟ll drop by sometime nextweek.
k) Being optimistic.
l) Including both the speaker and the hearer in the activity.
E.g.: T: Now, are we all sitting comfortably?
Let’s see who is here.22
m) Telling or asking the reason.
n) Assuming reciprocity.
o) Giving gift to the hearer in the form of sympathy,
understanding and cooperation in the conversation.
2) Negative Politeness
Negative politeness strategies are oriented towards the
hearer‟s negative face and emphasize avoidance of imposition on
the hearer. These strategies presume that the speaker will be
imposing on the listener and there is a higher potential for
awkwardness or embarassment than in bald on record strategies
and positive politeness strategies. Negative face is the desire to
remain autonomous so the speaker is more apt to include to include
an out for the listener, through distancing styles like apologies.23
22Jane J. White, “The Power of Politeness in The Classroom”. University of Maryland Baltimore County. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision. Summer 1989. Vol. 4. No. 4. 298 – 321.
23Foley Wiliam, Anthropological Linguistics: An Introduction. (Indiana: Wiley-Blackwell
Negative politeness strategies refer to the avoidance of
imposition on the hearer and can be considered as is the desire to
remain autonomous using distancing styles like using modal verbs
or hesitation, apologizing for imposition, asking questions or
asking for permission to ask a question. Koikedefined negative
politeness as “consideration of the listener‟s wish to be unimpeded
in taking action and having attention”.
Based on Brown and Levinson‟s theory of politeness, ten
strategies which can be used to show negative politeness including
the following ones:
a) Being indirect.
E.g.: Could you pass the salt?
b) Using questions and hedges.
c) Being pessimistic (i.e. being pessimistic whether the hearer
wants to do what we ask or not).
E.g.: Perhaps, You‟d care to help me.
d) Minimizing the imposition.
E.g.: I just want ask you if you could lend me a single
sheet of paper.
e) Giving deference and being deferent to the hearer.
E.g.: Yes, Sir!
f) Apologizing.
g) Impersonalizing speaker and hearer by making your
addressee unmentioned.
h) Generalizing expression rather than mentioning addressee
directly.
i) Nominalizing.
j) Going on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting the
hearer.
B. Review of Previous Studies
There are several studies that has been conducted by researchers
concerning to the speech functions and politeness strategy.The first one
has been done by Luh Putu Ayu Adhika Putri, with her thesis entitled
“Analysis of Politeness StrategiesUsed in Oprah Winfrey‟s Talk Show
with Ricky Martinas Guest Star”. She has presented the analysis of the
script of Oprah Winfrey‟sTalk Show with her guest star use the theory of
politeness strategy by Brown and Levinson.And she concludes that the
politeness strategy which dominant in her study is positive politeness
strategy. It can be seen from the use of jokingto break the formal
conversation in term of a small distance between speaker and hearer.24
The secondis “Teachers Politeness in EFL Class” by Ayfer Sulu.
The findings of his study is politeness exists in the EFL class and it
promotes the mutual understanding and harmonious relationship between
teacher and students, and he said that cultural or contextual differences do
not make any change in the effects of politeness in class.25
The third comes from Nur Hidayah with a thesis “The Analysisof
Speech Function Used By English Teachers‟ InstructionsatSMPN 6
Salatigainthe academic yearof 2011/2012”. She analyze the instruction of
teachers using Janet Holmes theory about speech functions in Senior High
School at Salatiga. She foundsthe dominant types of speech functions in
the class are four types. They are expressive, directive, referential, and
phatic.26
The fourth study comes from Seyyed Mohammad Reza Adel,
Mohammad Davoudi, Akram Ramezanzadeh, entitled “A Qualitative
Study of Politeness Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners in A Class
Blog”. Based on the findings of the study, the participants primarily used
indirectness strategies. Students also frequently (in 60% of their posts)
used emoticons when they were interacting with their peers. According to
Skovholt, Grønning and Kankaanranta, the word „„emoticon,‟‟ a
construction of the words „„emotion‟‟ and „„icon,‟‟ means graphic
representations of facial expressions, which often follow utterances in
written Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC).They also added that
25Ayfer Sulu, “Teacher‟s Politeness in EFL Class”. Inonu University. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching. 2015. 2(4). 216-221
emoticons reflect sincerity of users in their expression and are used for the
purpose of collaboration.27
The fifth study is “The Power of Politeness in The Classroom” by
Jane J. White. In the findings of her analysis, she claims that the form of
communication used in the classroom affects the content of the knowledge
that the teacher and students mutually construct.28
The sixth study comes from Liu Peng, Lingling Cai, and Xianjun
Tan with a study about “Teacher‟s Politeness Strategies in EFL
Classrooms”. They claims that teachers in EFL classroom are highly aware
of politeness strategies and often used negative politeness and positive
politeness as their strategies in classroom.29
27Seyyed Mohammad Reza Adel, Mohammad Davoudi, Akram Ramezanzadeh, “A Qualitative
Study of Politeness Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners in A Class Blog”. Urmia University. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research. Jan 2016. 4(1). 47 – 62.
28Jane J. White, “The Power of Politeness in The Classroom”. University of Maryland Baltimore County. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision. Summer 1989. Vol. 4. No. 4. 298 – 321.
29Liu Peng, Lingling Cai, and Xianjun Tan, “Teacher‟s Politeness Strategies in EFL Classrooms”.
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
In this research the researcher used descriptive qualitative method.
The description is about the functions of speech and politeness strategy
that used by English teacher to the students in the classroom interaction.
Arikunto states that descriptive research is not meant to test a certain
hypothesis, but it only describes the phenomena, situation, and condition
that occur during the study. The method of qualitative research usually
use observation, recording and documentation.1
The researcher chooses descriptive qualitative method because
itpresents the description of the teacher’s speech in classroom interaction,
and gives the explanation about the kind of functions of speech and
politeness strategy that used by the teacher to the students in classroom
interaction. Where the theory which used by the researcher about the
functions of speech is based on the theory of the functions of teacher’s speech in the classroom by Jiang, and the theory of politeness strategy by
Brown and Levinson. Since the English teacher’s goal is to develop the
communicative ability in English especially in speaking.One way is
throughcommunication and interaction between the teacher and the
students in the class with considers politeness and the function of speech
in it.
1
This research conducted at SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo, which is
located on Jl. Mirah Delima, KBD, Driyorejo, Gresik. SMK Negeri 1
Driyorejo is chosen as the field of study because of the following reasons.
One of the purposes of the vocational high school is to prepare the
students to be a productive person who can work autonomously, add the
vacancy to the industrial and business as the intermediate employee. So,
for this reasons how the way the teacher teaches the students is very
important thing that have to considered. SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo is the
only one of Vocational High School that build in Driyorejo, and it means
this school is as a scales to measure the progress of a school which will be
better in the future. Especially as the measurement of better character
education with the other Vocational High School in Driyorejo.
B. Data and Source of Data
The data that the researcher has collectedin the research is the
teacher’s speech in the class. And, it includes observation, field notes, documentation or recorder of teaching learning process in the class, and
transcript of the teacher’s speech in the recorder or documentation of
teaching learning process in the class.
The subject of theresearchis the English teacher in SMKN 1 Driyorejo.
The researcher focused on one teacher to this research, he is Mr. Anwar.
This teacher was choosen by several reason, one of them is the teacher is
expert in his teaching, the second is the teacher teaches English in many
teacher in that school. The researcher takes one teacher because the
researcher though that the needs of analyzing the functions of speech and
politeness strategy in classroom interaction is on how many meetings we
do in this research.
And the researcher taken the data from 3 (three) meetings in different
classes. And the classes that the researcher used in this research are class
X TPM 2, class X MM 1, and class XII TPM 2. These classes have
chosenrandom by the researcher to search or see how far the functions of
speech and politeness strategy applied by the English teacher in the
classroom.
C.Research Instrument
In this research the researcherhas arranged the instruments of the
research that used to collect the data. The instruments are used to help the
researcher to gets the data which needed in the research more accurate.The
research instruments that used by the researcher are observation and
documentation.
1. Observation
The writer observes the teaching learning process in the
class, especially the teacher’s speech when interacts with the
students. The teacher who observed by the writer s Mr. Anwar. And
the classes were obseved by the writer are X TPM-2, XII TPM-2,
and the interactions which occured between the teacher and the
students in the class.
2. Documentation
The writer makes documentation about the interaction
between the teacher and the students while teaching learning
process in the class. The teacher who observed by the writer is an
English teacher, his name Mr. Anwar. And the classes were
obseved by the writer are X TPM-2, XII TPM-2, and X MM-1. The
documentation used to get the data transcription of the teacher and
the studentsinteraction in the class. The documentation done by
using video recorder.
D. Data Collection Technique
The researcher used the data collection techniques to make the
process of searching data more clearly. And the data collection techniques
that used in this research are as follow:
1. In the first step, the researcher has observed about the condition of
the class, and the way to communicated in the classroom while
teaching learning process.
2. The researcher has made notes to described the situation or activity
in the class.
3. The researcher has recorded the interaction between the teacher
and the students during the teaching learning process in the class
4. Then, the researcher has made the transcript of the teacher’s speech through classroom interaction based on the recorder.
5. The last, the researcher has analyzed the transcript of teacher ‘s speech.
E. Data Analysis Technique
The researcher used descriptive qualitative in the data analysis
technique. In this research, the researcher hasanalyzed the transcript of
teacher’s speechuses theory of Jiang about functions of speech and Brown and Levinson theory about politeness strategy.
Table of data analysis technique
1. Observation
The writer has observed the teaching learning process in the class.
The teacher who observed by the writer is Mr. Anwar. The classes which
observerved by the writer are X TPM-2, XII TPM-2, and X MM-1. The Observation
Record
Conclusion Classification
writer have made notes about the classroom activities and the interactions
which occured between the teacher and the students in the class.
2. Record
The writer recorded the classroom interaction between Mr. Anwar
and the students in each class. It’s about what the teacher speaks to the
students through classroom activity, and what mades up the functions of
speech and politeness strategy.
3. Transcription
The writer made the transcription of the teacher – students interactions in the class based on the recorder which got from the recorder
in the class through teaching learning process. Then, it used as the data for
this research.
4. Analysis
The writer analyzed the data of the research, that are the
transcription of teacher’s speech and the results of the observation in the
class.
5. Classification
The writer classified the data of the research that have done be
analyzed. The classification are include the kind of functions of speech and
6. Conclusion
The writer made the conclusion of the research about the analysis
of the functions of speech and politeness strategy in classroom interaction
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This chapter reports about the research findings and discussion
of the analysis of the functions of speech and politeness strategy of
teacher‟s speech through classroom interaction.It is intended to answer
the research questions. These include the analysis of the kind of the
functions of speech and the politeness strategies are used by the
English teacher in the teacher‟s speech through classroom interaction.
A. Research Finding
The research was conducted from 26th – 30th July2016. Using
instrument for analyzing the data, it was set to answer the research
question in this research. Those research questions arewhat kind of the
functions of speech applied by the English teacher in classroom
interaction at SMK Negeri 1 Driyorejo, andwhat are the politeness
strategies used by the English teachers through the use of the
functions of speech in classroom interaction at SMK Negeri 1
Driyorejo.The data was collected from the record of the English
teacher‟s speech in the classroom interaction. Thus, this study
analyzed the transcription of the English teacher‟s speech in the
classroom interaction based on the record. The results of the findings
areclassifiedbased on the research question of the study.
1. The Kind of The Functions of SpeechApplied by the English
43
a. Observation 1
This is the observation session, in observation session the
writer became a nonparticipant observer and the teacher became
the object who was observed.And the results of the first
observation arranged by the writer in the tables of the observation.
Observation 1
Topic : Headline of Units and Unit 1 “General Greetings” Class : X TPM-2
Day : Tuesday, July‟26 , 2016 Time : 7. 00 am
Table 4.1
The Kind of the Functions of Speech Applied by the Teacher in the Classroom
No Functions of Speech The Kind of the Teacher – Students Interactions
berapa topik di unit 1?
S : -
AS : di tujuan pembelajaran.
T : Le, ada berapa topik Le?
S : 4
3 Evaluations 1. T Sudah selesai..? : Oke, Have you finish?
AS : Belum..
45
4 Classroom
Management
-
(see full the data transcription in the appendix)
In the first observation, the writer found academic
instructions applied by the teacher, this function applied by the
teacher frequently in giving instructions about what the students do
in the class, such as “Ok, Now open your book!” or “Ok, Now you
do task 1, 2, and 3, page 9!”. Then, the writer found the teacher
applied motivations in the classroom interactions. This function
applied by the teacher in giving academic questions to the students
or giving a various act aimed to activating the student to participate
in the class, such as “Ok, kamu, Le! What is your name? Ada
berapatopik di Unit 1?”.
Beside that, the writer also found evaluation, the teacher
applied this function in giving feedback to the students‟ about their
work. As an example, “Ok, have you finish? Sudahselesai?”. But,
in the first observation, the writer has no found a function
“classroom management” in the classroom interaction.
b. Observation 2
In the second observation, the writer has done the
observation in different class. Same as the previous session, the
46
the object who was observed.And the results of the second
observation arranged by the writer in the table of the observation
below.
Observation 2
Topic : Headline of Units and Unit 1 “General Information” Class : XII TPM-2
Day : Wednesday, July‟27 , 2016 Time : 10. 30 am
Table 4.2
The Kind of the Functions of Speech Applied by the Teacher in the Classroom
No Functions of Speech The Kind of the Teacher – Students Interactions
1 Academic Instructions
1. T:Please, look together table of content first!Lihatlah..?
topics in its units, Ok?
