Politeness Strategies of Request Used between Libyan Students and their Lecturers Using English as a Foreign Language

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to find out Firstly, the politeness strategies of request used by Libyan students and their lecturers in the classroom. Secondly, the politeness strategies of request mostly used by Libyan students and their lecturers. Thirdly, the factors that influence the use of the strategies by Libyan students and their lecturers. This study applied a descriptive qualitative approach. According to Creswell (1998:15), qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The findings of this research show: first, that the subjects utilized certain strategies which contained politeness values. Some of the nine strategies were found in their requests. The students exhibited their preference for the use of Query Preparatory that falls under conventionally indirect request to depict politeness and to avoid imposition of requests. Second, both the Libyan students and their lecturers mostly used query preparatory strategy. The strategy of query preparatory was used thirty nine times in the study more than other request strategies, followed by direct and non conventional indirect request strategies. Query preparatory is one of the request strategies identified by the Cross-Cultural Speech Act Research Project (CCSARP) (Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989). Conventional indirectness which features query preparatory and suggestory formula strategies is by far the most frequently used for making a request. Third, the social power and social distance play a significant role in influencing the use of the strategies by both groups.