JESSEMAR J.

WAO
ELT 201 (Introductory Linguistics for Teachers)
Midterm Exam

Karapetjana, I. & Rozina, G. 2012, “Politeness Strategies in Electronic Communication: The

Speech Act of Request’, vol.2,pp.63-71

The speedy development of technology nowadays cannot be ignored. The transmission

of messages to anybody around the world is very simple this time and that is through our
fingertips thanks to technology. However, with the advancement of the technology nowadays
it should also level the normal ways in which people interact each other. The way we talk to
someone we do not know defines what kind of person we are. The way we deliver messages
through writing or speaking reflects what kind of behavior we have or it even gives a simple
hint to the kind of education we have, though not all the time.

The prevalent issues concerning social media networking sites, internet and all online
communication have been one of the subjects of numerous studies locally and abroad. At
school, the integration of computer and technology is called computer mediated
communication (CMC). There are also theories and methods of teaching in which technology
was integrated like Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching with Technology (TBLT). The
concept of TBLT in an electronic literacy framework that considers how people use computers
to interpret and express meaning (Shetzer & Waschauer, 2000, p. 173).

Electronic communication have been widely used in business, academe, and many other
aspects of social activities, thus, proper care should be made. In the linguistics facets, which
speaking and writing involves, electronic communication should be properly dealt. English in
the Philippines is considered the L2 this means that Filipinos must consider various rules of
grammar and syntax. The ability of every Filipino student in learning English must be
strengthened along with the use of technology specifically on electronic communication.
Because it greatly affects their manner of writing. Politeness is one of the basic requirements
for the students, especially in the academic context.

The study of Karapetjana and Rozina (2012) described the politeness strategies in
electronic communication specifically on the speech act of request. Their theoretical
foundations and belief were the research of Brown & Levinson, 1987; Thomas, 1995; Yule
1996 & Scahuer, 2009. For the methods of the study, the research question posed at the
beginning of the research wherein the researcher analyzed the stored email account of the
students as part of their study. Their study conducted ran for a year. They conducted an
analysis of a corpus of the 45 emails written by the first year undergraduate students majoring
English. They use Shauer’s taxonomy of requests strategies (2009) and Brown and Levison
(1987) linguistic strategies of negative politeness. They also integrated the framework of Biber
and Conrad (2009) for analyzing the situational characteristics of the corpus of emails.

As for the result of the aforementioned research, the respondents which are the first
year students started communicating using English with their professors with the knowledge
gained from their previous experience about appropriateness and inappropriateness of
linguistic behavior in email account. The students’ knowledge in using polite English emails as
found out in the research was constructed through their own personal experience which they
gained through time and also learned from their mother tongue (Latvian). Though the English
language in different contexts were used, but they may lack the experience of communicating
in English in the academic context.

Karapetjana and Rozina (2012) concluded that politeness in email communication are
taking into account the effect of the linguistic forms used on the addressees, it is showing
respect and consideration to the addressees, acknowledging the and not imposing
unnecessary for them. The researchers also have drawn specific conclusions that students are
; being conventionally indirect , hedging, minimizing the imposition and apologizing are the
negative politeness strategies employed in the corpus, apologizing being the most popular
polite strategy; the students tend to be linguistically polite when they maintain relationships
with their professors who enjoy social power over their students , thus ensuring the
perlucutionary success of the speech act; direct request are employed by the students ,
however, they prefer hedge performatives to unhedged performatives, using the strategies
with the lower illocutionary force thus, politeness is achievable through the selection of the
verb in the locution ; the availability strategy used in the request shows the students’
awareness of their high imposition status; the use of conventionally indirect request in the
corpus is generally consistent with Brown and Levenson’s (1987) claim that language users
select increasingly indirect request strategies, as the perceived threat to the addressee’s face
increases.

Politeness in communication is very important in speaking everyday, however it is much

needed in electronic communication because technology has a big influence in the
development of language of human being.