Politeness Strategies of Indonesian Students in Mediated Communication

  • Nunung Anugrawati, John Evar Strid , Haryanto , Murni Mahmud and Kisman Salija.

Abstract

In daily communication, satisfying interlocuters’ needs are one of the main basic
functions of language use. To meet these needs, all communication utilizes politeness
strategies, including interactions between lecturers and students. Student-teacher
communication in particular may evolve in terms of politeness with the use of new
communication media. For this reason, an examination of politeness strategies in studentteacher communication using new media is essential. This study’s main objective is to
determine which politeness strategies students apply in communicating with their
lecturers through text messages using Short Message Service (SMS) and WhatsApp
messenger. This study employed an ethnographic research design. The participants were
29 English Department students consisting of 16 females and 13 males, and two female
lecturers of Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar—an Islamic private university in
South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The data were collected through the documentation of the
messages sent by students to their lecturers. The findings showed that students most
frequently applied negative politeness strategies in communicating through media with
the lecturers. In text messenger communication, students mostly gave deference and used
formal greetings in order to maintain a respectful distance from their lecturers due to
power differentials.

Published
2020-04-30
How to Cite
Nunung Anugrawati, John Evar Strid , Haryanto , Murni Mahmud and Kisman Salija. (2020). Politeness Strategies of Indonesian Students in Mediated Communication. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(06), 3771 - 3785. Retrieved from http://sersc.org/journals/index.php/IJAST/article/view/15739