Intercultural politeness: the case of first encounter interactions between international postgraduate students

Despite the importance of the successful management of intercultural interactions, intercultural politeness remains a relatively understudied area in politeness research.In line with second wave politeness research, this thesis explores politeness in first encounter interactions between international postgraduate students in the UK higher education setting following a discursive approach. It also examines the notions of culture and identity from the point of view of international postgraduate students who study at an English university. The thesis addresses the following research questions:1. What are the politeness markers and strategies used by international postgraduate students which are representative of the relational work established?2.A. What do the concepts of culture and politeness represent to international postgraduate students?2.B. To what extent is culture perceived to affect their interactions?3. (How) Do international postgraduate students accommodate their linguistic style in first encounter interactions in order to construct and re-define their identities in intercultural interactions?The participants in the study were 12 international postgraduate students who spoke English as a second language and were aged between 20 and 39. Three types of data were collected: written conversations where the participants interacted via MS Teams, online questionnaires, and online interviews. The findings show that international postgraduate students predominantly use politeness strategies of involvement in intercultural interactions with strangers. The findings also show that international postgraduate students consider culture to be affecting their interactions to some extent. Moreover, the study adds to research on identity by indicating that international postgraduate students accommodate their linguistic style in first encounters.Finally, this study contributes to our knowledge on politeness in English as a lingua franca interactions between international postgraduate students in the UK higher education context by demonstrating the use of politeness strategies and expressions while getting acquainted.