The Impacts of the Politeness Principle on Foreign Language Acquisition, Geoff Leech - Term Paper Example

?Introduction Language idiosyncracies hamper foreign language acquisition. Therefore, more attention should be given to these aspects in the foreign language classroom. Language idiosyncracies tend to confuse the language learner which sometimes result in the learner using the wrong word in the wrong situation. In the English language, there are some words that can function both as a verb and as a noun. One good example is the word work. Basically, work is a verb is a verb or an action word as in sentences like “My father works in the office.” But then, work can also be used as a noun in sentences like “ I have work today.” Words that can have different points of stress also cause confusion on the part of the language learner. An example of these words is the word conduct. If the stress is placed on the first syllable, conduct means “behavior.” But if the stress is placed on the second syllable, the word means “to carry out.” Plural words also cause difficulty on the part of the learner. It is sometimes very difficult to explain to the learner why some words can be made plural by adding -s and why some cannot. For example, words like monkey can be made plural by adding -s. But the rule cannot be applied to the word money. The teacher should pay attention to these idiosyncracies to help the learner have a clear idea of when and how to use an aspect of the language being studied. As a result, the learner is able to proficiently and efficiently make use of the language and avoid being misunderstood or hurting the feelings of the person he or she is talking to. This is where the politeness principle comes in. The politeness principle which was developed by Geoff Leech is a series of maxims which help explain how politeness operates in conversational exchanges. According to Leech, “ politeness are forms of behavior that establish and maintain comity or the ability of participants in a social interaction to engage in interaction in a friendly social atmosphere(Leech, 2005). Leech uses two terms for referring to two kinds of illocutionary acts. He calls representatives “assertives” and directives “impositives” (Leech, 2005). The politeness principle is comprised of six maxims. Each maxim has a sub-maxim which has less importance (Leech, 2005). These are used to show that negative politeness or avoidance of discord is more important than positive politeness or seeking discord. Leech says that not all the maxims are equally important. He also says that speakers may adhere to more than one maxim of politeness at the same time. The Tact Maxim Theoretical Application The first of the maxims is the tact maxim. This maxim aims to minimize cost and maximize benefit to another person (Leech, 2005). Examples of the tact maxim are “Peel these potatoes”, “ Hand me the newspaper”, and “ Could you possibly answer the phone?”. According to Leech, there are two levels of politeness in the tact maxim. Commands like “Sit down”, “Get a cup of water”, and “ Close the door” are considered impolite while requests such as “Please sit down”, “Could you kindly get me a glass of water”, and “Won’t you have another drink” are considered polite. Leech explains that indirect illocutions are more polite because they give the person being addressed to an option of whether or not to obey. Reiter explains in her book Linguistic Politeness in Britain and Uruguay: A Contrastive Study of Requests and Apology that “politeness is a form of social interaction, a form that mediates between the individual and the social” (Reiter, 2000). She also adds that politeness assumes that each society has its own prescriptive social rules for different cultural contexts (Reiter 2000). Trosborg in her book Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, and Apologies that “politeness is a pragmatic mechanism in which a variety of structures work together according to the speaker’s attention to achieving smooth communication” (Trosborg, 1995). that Leech also explains that the more indirect an illocution is, its force tend to be more diminished and tentative. Reiter cites Leech as saying that the tact maxim is more powerful than the generosity maxim. She adds that Leech’s concept of politeness is more focused on the addressee than the speaker (Reiter, 2000). Practical Application in the FL Classroom In the FL classroom, the teacher may model this maxim by having the students follow simple commands like “Sit down”, “Open the window”, and “Bring me your book.” He or she could then divide the class into pairs and have their partners do things for them. The teacher later on could model to the pupils the polite way of asking people to do things for them by saying simple requests like “ Could you please open the door”, “ Please fix your tables”, and “Would you like some help with your homework?” He or she could later create situations wherein students would be able to apply what they learned about the use of the tact maxim. Learning the use of the tact maxims prepare the students for the real world where they might find themselves asking people to do things for them. The teacher should emphasize to the pupils the fact that being polite in asking people do things for them also help strengthen the relationship between two people. The more polite the expression, the better. The Generosity Maxim Theoretical Application The generosity maxim minimizes benefits and maximizes cost to the person speaking(Leech, 2005). Leech explains that an impositives can be softened or made more polite if it makes the person speaking unaware of what an act of courtesy would cost him or her. Examples of the generosity maxim are “Could I borrow this vacuum cleaner?”, “ I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee”, and “ Please lend me your pen.” Leech explains that in an offer, it is more polite to make it appear that the person making the offer makes no sacrifice so that the recipient of the offer does not feel it impolite to accept the offer. This is why there is a difference between “You could borrow my bicycle, if you like” and “I could lend you my bicycle if you like.” In the first maxim, the tendency of the person being spoken to would be to decline the offer since the speaker makes it appear that the person being spoken to has the desire to borrow the bicycle. The second maxim is considered polite since the desire to lend the bicycle comes from the speaker himself. Practical Application in the FL Classroom The teacher should first model the maxim to his or her pupils by saying “Please lend me your pencil”, “Could I borrow your ruler?”, and “Could you spare me a sheet of paper?”. He or she could then create situations where students would be able to apply what they learned about the use of the generosity maxim. For example, one student would pretend to own the car and another student might pretend to borrow it. In this way, the students learn the polite way of lending their things as well as borrowing things from other people. When students get used to using the generosity maxim in the classroom, they would find no trouble of borrowing things from and lending things to other people and still remain polite when they do so. The Approbation Maxim Theoretical Application The approbation maxim minimizes dispraise and maximizes praise of the other person. Leech says that it is impolite to say negative things about other people and that there are strategies that would help lessen the effect of criticism (Leech, 2005). Examples of the approbation maxim are “That was a great performance”, “You really made a great work of art”, and “You played well today.” Leech explains however that there are times when we don’t feel praising other people. He says that if you are not able to say anything favorable to the other person, it means that you are not able to do so. Leech adds that a lack of praise means dispraise. Practical Application in the FL Classroom The teacher could first model the approbation maxim by having one of the students dance, sing, or recite a poem in front of the class. He or she would then say to the pupil things like, “ You sing well”, “How graceful you dance”, or “That was a wonderful poem.” The teacher could then ask another student to perform in front of the class and have the other students say words of praise regarding his or her performance. This enables the students to understand why giving praise is thought of as polite in the real world. The teacher must be careful to emphasize the students the importance of looking for something good in what other people do and saying the appropriate words of praise. They then would come to understand that saying nothing is impolite. The Modesty Maxim The modesty maxim minimizes praise of oneself and it also maximizes dispraise of the self (Leech, 2005). The modesty maxim is used to compliment other people or show gratitude for the things they have done for you. Examples of the modesty maxim are “ You were so nice to us”, “How stupid of me”, and “Please accept this small gift as a token of our esteem.” Leech explains that you may downplay your generosity as when handing a gift to another person to show our gratitude but avoid exaggerating. This means that we should avoid statements like “I had that brought all the way from the United States” or “My daughter stayed up all night working on that.” It is suffice to say something like “This isn’t much but we would like you to have it” or “This is all we can give you for the so much that you have done for us.” Leech explains that culture influences the obedience of this maxim. This means that some cultures require the display of gratitude when something good is done for another person. For example in Japan, even though the person being spoken to feels that the compliment being given is true, he or she tries to downplay the effect of the compliment. In an English speaking country, it is suffice to say “Thanks” or “Thank you” for a compliment. Leech explains that in English speaking countries, one would accept a compliment graciously and thank the speaker or find a compromise between violating the modesty maxim and the agreeing maxim. Practical Application in the FL Classroom The teacher should explain to the pupils in an FL classroom that modesty or humility is important when hearing or accepting compliments from other people no matter how true or how false the compliment may be. The teacher may model the use of the modesty maxim to the students by giving them a compliment and telling them how to properly respond to such compliment. For example, the teacher may say to the student “You have such a lovely smile” and tell the student to say “Thank you.” He or she then goes to another student and say something like “ I like the way you wear your shirt” and ask the student to give the appropriate response. The teacher continues doing this until the pupils get the feel of properly responding to a compliment. The teacher may also teach the students other responses to a compliment like “It’s nothing”, “My father gave it to me”, and “Don’t mind it.” The Agreement Maxim Theoretical Application The agreement maxim helps minimize disagreement and maximizes agreement between two people (Leech, 2005). The agreement maxim can be exemplified in a conversation between two people talking about a compromise. One says, “A compromise will satisfy everybody” and the other person replies with “Yes, definitely.” Another situation could be two people talking about English. One person says “ English is a difficult language to learn” and the other person replies with “True, but the grammar is quite easy.” This is an example of partial disagreement which Leech considers better than a complete disagreement as seen in the situation where two people are talking about an exhibition. One person says “It was an interesting exhibition, wasn’t it?” to which the other person replies with “No, it was very uninteresting.” Since the purpose of the politeness principle is to ensure harmony in a conversation, expressing even just a little amount of agreement would greatly contribute to a smooth and enjoyable conversation. Practical Application in an FL Classroom The teacher may begin introducing the agreement maxim to the students by showing them a painting. He or she then may say something like “ It’s a beautiful painting, don’t you think so?”. If the students give a negative response, the teacher may begin explaining the importance of expressing agreement or some agreement to what a person says. Therefore, the teacher may tell the pupils that some of the proper ways of responding to the teacher’s comment regarding the painting are “Yes, it is truly beautiful”, “ I agree”, or “Not so much but it can still be considered a work of art.” The teacher repeats her comment about the painting and have the students respond to the comment. The teacher may comment about a student by saying something like “Isn’t she beautiful?” and have the students respond to his or her comments. The Sympathy Maxim The sympathy maxim minimizes antipathy and maximizes sympathy between self and another person (Leech, 2005). Examples of this maxim are “I’m sorry to hear about your cat” , “I’m delighted to hear about your cat”, “I’m terribly sorry to hear that your cat died”, and “I’m terribly to hear about your cat.” The sympathy maxim helps contribute to a smooth harmonious relationship between two people since it shows that one shares the grief or the joy of the other person. Leech’s politeness principles have been met with a lot of criticisms. Saeko Fukushima in his book Request and Culture: Politeness in British English and Japanese that one of the criticisms thrown at Leech is politeness was never explicitly defined (Fukushima, 2000). Practical Application in the FL Classroom The teacher must explain to the students the importance of sharing in the joy and grief of the people around them. He or she tells them that they can do this through expressions like “ I’m sorry about what happened to your homework”, “ I’m glad to hear that you pass the examination”, and “I understand how you feel.” The teacher may then give different situations to the students and have them say the appropriate sympathy maxim in response to each situation. One situation may involve a student winning the top prize in a spelling competition. Another situation could be one where a student spills his drinks on the floor. Conclusion The politeness principle which was developed by Leech ensures that there is harmony in conversation which is carried out between two persons. This is achieved with the use of six maxims which are the tact maxim, the generosity maxim, the approbation maxim, the modesty maxim, the agreement maxim, and the sympathy maxim. The tact maxim is used for making request in a very polite manner. The generosity maxim is used when asking for or lending something. The approbation maxim is used to give praise to someone who has done a particular action. The modesty maxim ensures that the speaker is humble when receiving a compliment. The agreement maxim on the other hand requires that a person express some form of agreement to ensure smoothness in communication. Finally, the sympathy maxim requires that a person express some form of sympathy to share in the joy and grief of another person. Observing these maxims would certainly guarantee peace and harmony among the members of the society. As these maxims are followed, misunderstanding and hurt feelings among those engaging in conversation will be avoided and improve communication between people. Works Cited Cook, Guy. The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routlege, 2001. Fukushima, Saeko. Request and Culture Politeness in British English and Japanese. Switzerland: P. Lang, 2000. Hewes, Dean. The Cognitive Bases of Interpersonal Communication. New Jersey:Lawrence Earlbaum Associates Publishers, 1995. Khorasani, Manouchehr Moshtagh. The Development of Controversies: From the Early Modern Period to Online Discussion Forums. Switzerland: Peter lang, 2008. Language in Use. 2011. www.putlearningfirst.com/language/11disc/pragmatics.html. Meier, Ardith. “Teaching the Universals of Politeness.” ELT Journal. Read More