Inverstigating students'use of politeness strategies when expressing disagreement the case of scond year licence stydents and first year master students at the university of mohammed seddik ben yahia jijel

Abstract

Therefore, it was hypothesized that the more learners are exposed to pragmatic knowledge, the more their pragmatic competence is developed, and they will be able to use various politeness strategies when expressing disagreement. Data were collected from 100 English students from two levels (second year license and first year master). When identifying disagreement expressions from responses, the taxonomy of Muntigl and Turnbull (1998) was used, and when identifying politeness strategies, Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model of politeness strategies was followed. The results showed that students from both levels used politeness strategies when expressing disagreement. Besides, the interlocutors’ social distance and power differences also found to influence the use of politeness strategies when disagreeing. The findings of this study revealed also that there was a development in the use of politeness strategies but the difference between the two levels was not significant.