Politeness Principles Used by EFL Teacher in Classroom Interaction and Its Implication toward Teaching-Learning Process

Politeness generates an effective interaction among human beings. In the context of language teaching, it is believed to enhance learning by providing a friendly atmosphere in classroom. This study investigates the use of politeness principles by an EFL teacher in terms of interaction between the teacher and the students in teaching and learning process at the VIII grade of SMPN 23 Makassar. This study employed Leech’s theory about politeness principle, which consists of six maxims, namely tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim, and sympathy maxim. Therefore, the research questions for this study are (i) what politeness principles are used by the EFL teacher in classroom interaction? (ii) what is the implication of the politeness principles toward teaching-learning process? The aims of the study are (1) to find out the politeness principles used by the EFL teacher during the classroom interaction; (ii) to find out the implication of politeness principles toward teaching-learning process. This research is a case study on the EFL teacher's politeness principle in classroom interaction, which applies qualitative methods, with data collection techniques through observation and interview. Six meetings on classroom interaction between an EFL teacher and 35 students were observed. In the observation, the researcher used an audio-recorder. The recordings were transcribed and analyzed by making use of related politeness principles. Besides that, the EFL teacher and nine randomly chosen students were interviewed. The result of the observation showed that the EFL teacher used five maxims, namely tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, agreement maxim, and sympathy maxim. The teacher did not use modesty maxim. The data also indicated that in classroom interaction, the teacher used tact maxim most dominantly. Furthermore, the result of the interview showed that politeness principle can create togetherness between the teacher and the students, builds respect behavior of the students, and creates cooperating interaction between the teacher and the students. It also helps students to have positive feelings toward the lesson and motivate them to participate actively in the class