POLITENESS STRATEGIES BETWEEN LECTURER AND

STUDENTS COMMUNICATION IN WHATSAPP GROUP

Aprilia Gunadi
Jambi University Drs. Adrefiza, M.A. Ph.D.
English Education Study Program
aprliagunadi28@gmail.com

Abstrack
In online communication, politeness strategies must be taken into consideration so that you
no longer offend the other person. Currently, a well-known platform for online
communication related to education is WhatsApp. Through online communication, lecturers
and students must pay attention to how they communicate with each other politely. Based on
students 'experiences, they sometimes experience difficulties and are overwhelmed with how
to speak and reply to lecturers' messages that are polite. Then another consideration of the
problem is that students are language users who are not polite when sending texts to their
lecturers. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the politeness strategies used by the two
groups. In particular, the difference between lecturers and students in the use of politeness
strategies in sending text messages to each other. This study was aimed at sixth semester
English students at Jambi University and was based on Brown and Levinson's politeness
framework. The results showed that students applied more politeness strategies, especially
positive and negative politeness to lecturers due to social status owned by lecturers.
Keyword: politeness strategies, text message, WhatssApp

1. Introduction
In online communication or digital verbal exchange, one issue that should be taken
into consideration is the politeness strategy in order now no longer offends the opposite
person. Brown and Levinson in Yulia (2016) said that politeness strategies are
advanced to save the hearer's “face .” Face refers to the honor that a man or woman has
for him or herself, and “esteem” the retaining of self in public or non-public situations. In
this case, the utterances commonly try to keep away from embarrassing a different person
or making him feel uncomfortable. Nowadays, the famous digital verbal exchange used

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 for gaining knowledge of is the textual content message with WhatsApp, particularly
withinside the English Education Program of the University of Jambi.
Based on the phenomenon, digital verbal exchange impacts college students' style in
verbal exchange in the direction of lecturer, approximately factors of politeness strategy.
Even thru textual content messages, politeness strategies ought to know no longer be
neglected and should nevertheless be implemented. Based on college students'
experiences, they now and again experience hard and burdened approximately a way to
talk and to reply to the message by lecturer which can be suitable and polite. Therefore,
the writer desires to look at how lecturer and college student uses politeness strategies thru
textual content messages by WhatsApp group for the sixth semester English Education
Program students class R002. The WhatsApp group studied has been the Class Action
Researchgroup; a group has been the active group of many of the WhatsApp groups of
different subjects.
The objective of this mini-research is to perceive what type of politeness strategies are
carried out with the aid of using college students in speaking with academics and vice
versa withinside the WhatsApp group primarily based totally on Brown and Levinson's
theory. This mini-research will best contain one WhatsApp group which can be taken into
consideration to be the liveliest group in the course of the lecture period in semester 6 in
class R002.This research will use Brown and Levinson's concept of politeness strategy.
This mini-research method will use qualitative, the device to gather the records thru
remark or observation to the textual content message in the WhatsApp group. Textual
content messages that are observed are taken from 31 January 2021 to 28 February 2021.

Based on the explanation above, the question in this mini-research is what are
politeness strategies employed by lecturers and students in the Class Action Research
WhatsApp group based on Brown and Levinson ‘s theory?

2. Literature Review
2.1. Politeness
Politeness is one of the most important characteristics for a good verbal exchange.
People prefer to be respectful because they are worried with preserving two distinct types
of faces, according to Brown and Levinson (1987:61). There are positive face, such as
every member's desire for his desires to be attractive to at least some others and negative
face as a desire for any 'competent adult member' to be able to behave without

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 interference from others. Face is an emotional investment that can be lost, maintained, or
improved, and it must be attended to constantly in interactions.People in general cooperate
(and expect each other's cooperation) in preserving face in interactions, and this
cooperation is focused on the reciprocal weakness of the face.

2.2. Politeness Strategies

According to Brown and Levinson's Politeness Strategies, there are a number of laws
and standards that govern how people talk and act in every society. Brown and Levinson
provide a detailed overview of the participants' techniques for maintaining their respective
faces during social contact. Brown and Levinson classified human politeness into four
categories: bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off record.

2.2.1 Bald on record

This strategy typically does not attempt to minimize the danger to the hearer's face,
while there are ways that bald on-record strategy can be used and try to reduce FTAs
indirectly. The speaker may perform an act without remorse, involving, and performing
in the most direct, simple, unambiguous, and succinct manner possible. If the speaker and
the interlocutor have a close partnership, this technique is used. Bald on-record involves
sub strategies such as urgency, channel noise, disagreement, warning/advice, and
imperative form.

2.2.2 Positive Politeness Strategies

According to Brown and Levinson in Ani (2007), positive politeness strategy means
the speaker recognizes that the listener wishes to be respected, which is his or her
optimistic face, and it also confirms that the relationship is friendly and expresses
community reciprocity. The speaker and interlocutor are on an equal footing in this
approach. The aim of a positive politeness approach is to keep the listener's positive face
secure.
Positive politeness strategy involves fifteen strategies, namely: intensify interest to the
hearer; use in-group identity markers; notice, attend to the hearer (his interest, wants,
needs, goods); exaggerate (interest, approval, sympathy with the hearer); seek agreement;
offer / promise; be optimistic; include both the speaker and the hearer in the activity;
avoid disagreement; presuppose / raise / assert common ground; joke; assert or
presuppose the speaker’s knowledge and concern for the hearer’s wants; give (or ask for)

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 reasons; assume or assert reciprocity; and give gifts to the hearer (goods, sympathy,
understanding, cooperation).

2.2.3 Negative Strategies

Negative politeness is a regressive gesture directed at the negative face of the listener.
People who are believed to have some social distance or awkwardness toward the
interlocutors are more likely to use the negative politeness strategy. The indirect,
question/hedge, be pessimistic, diminish the imposition, offer deference, apologize, and
nominalize strategies are all part of the negative politeness strategy.

2.2.4 Off record

The indirect approach is another name for this strategy, it employs indirect language
to shield the speaker from the risk of improvising. The off-record politeness strategy
describes a situation in which the speaker lets the interlocutor interpret the context of any
utterances made during the FTA. Giving hints, giving relation clues, presupposing,
understating, overstating, tautologies, be ironic, and other sub techniques are used to
carry out the off-record politeness technique.

3. Research Methodology
This research uses a descriptive qualitative technique that explains the info or data and
therefore the analysis is often subjective rather than objective as a result of it does not get to
be associated with enumeration and tally. This technique in the research aims to produce a
whole and careful rationalization or description of the results as accurately and factually as
they are.
The data of this research was WhatsApp texts of the English department Students the
University of Jambi in the sixth semester. During this analysis, the information as text or
message sent by the students to their lecturer and vice versa. The participant was the lecturer
and the students in Classroom Action Research course. This research used purposive
technique sampling. The participants elect within the analysis square measure the information
will offer the knowledge researcher desires that cannot be taken from others. The method of
collecting data used an empirical method to the text message within the group. The
information was analyzed in three steps; reading and observing all the text messages in the
group, categorizing the information based on the Brown and Levinson (1987) theory, and
contextualized the information supported their class.
4. Results and Discussion
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 The results and discussion are listed below:

4.1 Results of bald-on record politeness strategy

Based on the analysis this strategy is used only by the lecturer to the students because of
the higher status. The lecturer employed the bald on-record strategy mostly to show
disagreement and imperative form includes request and instruction.
a. Disagreement
It suggests that somebody refuses to consider one thing or statement.
Examples: “Bukan untuk enroll, tetapi untuk mengumpulkan tugas.”, “Sejak kapan
coba enroll?”
b. Imperative form
Imperative may be a verb that is employed to grant command, warning, advice,
instruction, or request.
Examples: “Silahkan buat nama di WA sesuai nama di siakad. (Instruction)”.
“Tolong buat list, yang hadir kuliah tapi tidak presensi di siakad. (Request)”. “Next
time, perhatikan batasan absen waktu untuk presensi di siakad!!! (command)”.

4.2 Results of positive politeness strategy

Each the lecturer and students utilized this strategy. But, largely this strategy is
employed by the students to the lecturer as a result of their lower status and take a look at to
possess a decent relationship with the lecturer. This strategy is shown through the use of in-
group identity marker (address form), notice or attends to the receiver's needs, seek
agreement, avoid conflict, offer or promise, and exaggerate (interest, approval, and sympathy
with the hearer).
a. Use in-group identity marker
In a cluster establish markers consist of address forms and a contraction and
ellipses as sub methods. The address type aims to respect the receiver.
Examples: “Assalamualaikum, Mam…”, “Baik, Bu.”
b. Notice or attend to the receiver needs
Notice/attend to the receiver's desires means that the author should notice the
receiver s condition. The receiver would need the author to note and approve of it.
Examples: “Welcome guys, you may then join the class in e-learning” , “berikut
adalah ppt kami tentang…”
c. Seek agreement

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 Seek agreement means that safe topic to accept as true with the receiver.
Example: “Assamualaikum, apakah betul ini kelasnya, Bu?”
d. Avoid conflict
This means that the statement is employed for avoiding the conflict between the
speaker and beholder then one in every one of them ought to ensure they neglected
action.
Example: “Baik Bu. Tadi saya salah milih kelas.”
e. Offer or promise
The writer is ready to satisfy the receiver s positive face needs by mistreatment
offer/promise strategy, even it is false.
Example: “We gonna send it ASAP mam.”
f. Exaggerate (interest, approval, and sympathy with the hearer).
This strategy is usually conducted by exaggerating intonation, stress, and
alternative aspects of speech, besides like heightening modifier. Supported this case of
analysis, the exaggerated strategy utilized by the lecturer to understand students'
statements or answers.
Examples: “Ok, Kevin and Dicky ( thumbs emoticon)” , “(Many smile emoticon.)”

4.3 Results of negative politeness strategy

Supported the analysis, the foremost often user of this strategy is that the students. It
happens largely as a result of the students recognize that they will disturb the lecturer so that
they use this type of strategy to cut back the negative impact such as the lecturer are angry.
This strategy is showed in apologize, give deference, and be pessimistic.
a. Apologize
This strategy expresses the regret of one thing that the scholar has done wrong or
will FTA.
Example: “Maaf mam, kemarin sudah enroll die-learning namun sekarang
semuanya unenroll.”

b. Give deference
This strategy suggests that respect and esteem because of a superior or an elder
conjointly affected or ingratiating regard for another’s needs.
Example: “Mohon maaf mam, kami kelompok I (presentasi minggu depan).”
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 c. Be pessimistic
The speaker redresses the attendee’s negative face by explicitly expressing doubt
whether or not the hearer will acquire what the speakers would like or not.
Example: “Saya juga mengalami hal yang sama bu, tidak bisa enroll. Yang ada
hanya kelas Psycholinguistics.”

4.4 Results of the off record politeness strategy

Supported the analysis, this strategy is principally employed by the lecturer however in
precisely a couple of text messages. The lecturer most likely needs the students to interpret
which means of the message as a result of the lecturer thinks the students' square measure will
not to her instruction or data. This strategy is showed in offer association clues and provides a
hint to the students.
a. Give association clues
This strategy leads the speaker to violate the maxim of connexion by mentioning
one thing that is expounded to the hearer’s action.
Example: “Waduh! (There is an error to access e-learning than the lecturer
response to make the students wait for a minute while the lecture tries to look for the
problem.)”
b. Giving hints
The speaker might state vocalization or typewriting message that is implicitly
relevant and makes the auditor interpret the connexion by himself/herself.
Example: (*send the QR code and link zoom (it means that the students should
scan the QR code soon and immediately join in zoom meeting.))

5. Conclusion
Based on the analysis, both the students and lecturer used and apply politeness strategies
even their social status is different. All politeness strategies that are stated by Brown and
Levinson can be found. There are bald on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and
off-record politeness strategies. Based on the observation and analysis,the first strategy that is
frequently applied is the positive politeness strategy. Largely this strategy is employed by the
students to the lecturer as a result of their lower status and take a look at to possess a decent
relationship with the lecturer. This strategy is showed the utilization in cluster identity marker
(address form), notice or attend to the receiver, provides or raise a reason, obtain agreement,

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avoid conflict, provide or promise, and exaggerate (interest, approval, and sympathy with the
hearer).
The second is the bald on-record politeness strategy, this strategy is used only by the
lecturer to the students because of the higher status. The lecturer employed the bald on-record
strategy mostly to show disagreement and imperative form includes request and instruction.
The third is the negative politeness strategy, which happens largely as a result of the students
recognize that they will disturb the lecturer so that they use this type of strategy to cut back
the negative impact such the lecturer are angry. This strategy is showed in apologize, give
deference, and be pessimistic. The last strategy that is applied by lecturer and students is off
the record to avoid misunderstanding because the receivers mostly should interpret the
message by themselves. This strategy is employed by the lecturer however in precisely a
couple of text messages. The lecturer most likely needs the scholars to interpret which means
of the message as a result of the lecturer thinks the scholar's square measure will not to her
instruction or data. This strategy is showed in offer association clues and provides a hint to the
scholars.
From this outcome, the researcher recommends to the reader that language politeness
ought to be applied in correspondence to maintain a strategic distance from debate, appreciate
others, boosting liberality, and feels what other feel. Language politeness can make great
correspondence in our everyday life. Ideally, this outcome can give an advantage or as
references to the readers, particularly for the following researcher who interest to lead other
research related to politeness strategy in online chatting.

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