Politeness principle and its implication in EFL classroom in Indonesia

Abstract: This study explores the use of politeness principle by EFL teacher in term of the interaction between a teacher and students in learning process in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom at the VIII grade of SMP Negeri 23 Makassar, Indonesia based on Leech’s theory about politeness principle, consists of six maxims, namely tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim, and sympathy maxim. Thus, the objectives of this research are (1) to find out the politeness principles used by the EFL teacher during the classroom interaction, and (ii) to find out the implication of politeness principles toward English teaching-learning process. This case study appliesqualitative method, with the technique of data collection through observation and interview. Seven meetings of the classroom interaction between an EFL teacher and 38 students were observed. In the observation, the researchers used an audio recorder. The recording was transcribed and analyzed by making use of related politeness principles. Then, the EFL teacher and three randomly chosen students were interviewed. The result of observation shows that the EFL teacher used six maxims, namely tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim, and sympathy maxim. The data also show that in the classroom interaction, the teacher dominantly used tact maxim. In addition, the result of interview shows that politeness principle creates togetherness between a teacher and students, builds respect behavior of students, and helps students to have a positive attitude toward the lesson that obviously motivates them to participate more actively in the learning process