Стратегии солидарности в подростковом общении

This study highlights the importance of politeness strategies in making requests, particularly for learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). While numerous studies have examined politeness strategies in teacher-student interactions within EFL classrooms, few have focused on EFL learners’ own perceptions and attitudes toward these strategies in making requests. This study aims to investigate how EFL learners perceive and apply politeness strategies in request speech acts in relation to their communication strategies and pragmatic awareness. Employing a quantitative descriptive design, the study involved nine students from the English Education study program who had completed the Semantics and Pragmatics course. Data were collected using a closed-ended questionnaire based on a Likert scale, developed in reference to Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory. Responses were gathered via Google Forms and analyzed using descriptive statistical methods to determine the frequency and percentage of politeness strategy preferences. The findings indicate that participants predominantly preferred positive politeness, negative politeness, and off-record strategies, while bald on-record strategies were generally avoided due to their perceived impoliteness. The study concludes that EFL learners demonstrate a solid level of pragmatic competence and tend to select politeness strategies that promote respectful and harmonious communication. These findings suggest the need for more explicit instruction on pragmatic aspects of language use in EFL curricula to further enhance learners’ communicative effectiveness.

For many years, Hizballah was perceived as a success story by many in Lebanon and, indeed, throughout the Middle East and the Arab and Muslim world, and even beyond. The organization seemed to succeed in whatever it attempted to achieve. It was active in several arenas at once—in the Lebanese Shiʿi community, in the Lebanese political arena in general, on the front with Israel, and even in the regional arena at large—and in each sphere, it seemed to grow ever stronger.What was the precise nature of Hizballah's success and to what in particular should it be attributed? Should the focus be on the organization's ability to defy Israel, to “needle” and “wound” it over and over again, and even to create a degree of deterrence capability such as the Arab states over the years had found it difficult or impossible to develop? Or perhaps one should focus on Hizballah's success in turning the Shiʿi community in Lebanon into a cohesive political entity striving for a leading role in the state, perhaps even the predominant role? Or perhaps the focus should be on another front altogether, that is, Hizballah's unprecedented achievements in advancing Iran's interests while serving as Tehran's vanguard in penetrating to the shores of the Mediterranean?Whatever answer one gives to these questions, one thing is clear: Hizballah's perceived success relied in no small degree on its ability to make itself seem more powerful than it really was and on its skill in creating, via the communications media, a modern “David and Goliath” story with the roles reversed. This process was greatly aided by today's modern media that blur the lines between the real and the virtual worlds. Hizballah discovered how to use digital media and communications in a sophisticated way and turned media into one of its main instruments for consolidating its standing and building its image of success.However, it is important to separate reality from fantasy; Hizballah's aura of success turned out to be fleeting, and it has shown clear signs of fading altogether. For some time now, it seems that the organization has lost its magic touch and is no longer moving from success to success. When did the damaging reversal take place?Was it the Second Lebanese War in the summer of 2006? Hizballah emerged from that conflict acting as if it were the victor, while in reality, once the fighting ended, the organization's supporters in Lebanon, if no one else, were compelled to see the difference between a virtual victory in the media and the reality on the ground. All around them, Hizballah's supporters were confronted with a reality of destruction and devastation that Hizballah had brought down upon them because of the war it carried out against Israel.Or perhaps the moment of transition began in May 2008, when Hizballah turned its weapons against its fellow Lebanese, members of the Sunni community, and thus revealed its true face, not as an organization of resistance to Israel, but as a Shiʿi political force in Lebanon seeking to advance its own narrow sectarian political agenda.March 2011, when the Syrian revolution broke out, might also be considered as marking a critical juncture for Hizballah. It now found itself on the wrong side of the political equation. In the eyes of many observers, Hizballah allowed itself to be drafted into the service of Shiʿi Iran in support of Syria's cruel dictator, who had resorted to slaughtering his own people, especially members of the Sunni majority who were seeking liberty and freedom.These developments influenced the way many people perceived Hizballah, especially those in the Arab world, but also those in the West as well. Nevertheless, for the masses of Shiʿis in Lebanon, Hizballah was and remains a significant factor in their daily lives, regardless of the state of the organization's image and media gimmicks. Hizballah won the support of the local Shiʿi communities—thanks to the financial, educational, social welfare, and other services it provides to these communities—and these services are what guarantee the continued support of the Shiʿi population in Lebanon.The book under review, The Hizbullah Phenomenon: Politics and Communication, focuses on Hizballah's pre-2011 glory days. The book appears at a difficult time for Hizballah. This difficulty is evident from Hasan Nasrallah's nervous and overwrought speeches in recent years, in which he is clearly apologetic as he strives to justify Hizballah's unpopular intervention in the Syrian civil war. Many Lebanese Shiʿi families are paying the price with the lives of their sons in that war. Nasrallah has also given speeches revealing real anxiety, not necessarily in regard to Israel, but particularly in regard to the Islamic State (is), which is perceived as the up-and-coming star in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Indeed, the is not only threatens Hizballah physically, but also, and mainly, seeks to remove the organization from its position as the media darling of the Arab and Muslim worlds.The authors of The Hizbullah Phenomenon undertake to examine the connection between politics and the media, or, in other words, the connection between the Hizballah's political activities—its policies, ideological principles, modes of action affecting the public, and so on—and its communication strategies—the clever ways it uses the media to make itself appear more powerful and promote the “Hizballah phenomenon” as something unique in the region. In the introduction to the book, “Hizbullah's Communication and Political Evolution,” the authors succinctly characterize the organization and argue: Hizbullah, the Lebanese ‘party of god’, is a late twentieth-century phenomenon, the outcome of a series of socio-historical and political junctures marked by domestic political upheaval and regional conflicts. Hizbullah is a by-product of regional geostrategic alignments: the group is ideologically and politically connected to Iran, and its capabilities, weaponry and operations are influenced by Iranian patronage. It is also has long-term strategic links with Syria, which has acted as a conduit for the supply of arms and personnel from Iran and serves as an important ally in domestic politics. In the space of thirty years, Hizbullah has established itself as the most powerful political force in Lebanon and as a dynamic actor in the broader region through its use of a sophisticated political communication strategy which blends military, social, economic and religious elements while remaining adaptive to changing socio-political contexts. This strategy, as the book will show, has been a central tool that the group has used to disseminate its image and ideology. (p. 1)And the book's central argument is stated a few pages later: This book argues that Hizbullah's communication strategy has served as the foundation for its political evolution and endurance as a movement. Ever since its inception, Hizbullah has paid constant attention to its image, seeking to manage and institutionalize it in order to achieve legitimacy, to reach out to different constituents and to implement its political goals. The starting point for this book is that Hizbullah's political evolution and its success within particular contexts cannot be appreciated without understanding the methods, tools and practices it has employed since its formation in 1982, and the relationship between agency and structure—i.e., the activism of its elites and ideologues functioning within organized and deeply rooted structural arrangements, and the relationship between this activism and political contexts. Indeed, it is Hizbullah's highly organized structure that has allowed it to develop and reproduce authority in popular culture, and to devise and implement communication strategies in line with changing political, economic and social contexts…. (Furthermore), This book argues that Hizbullah's political, economic, military and cultural mobilization and activism cannot be seen as natural or taken-for-granted responses to accumulated grievances, or as a reactionary product of a cultural essence. Rather, Hizbullah's activism and mobilization have resulted from the agency of its elites and ideologues and their implementation of a political communication strategy designed to widen its support base and increase its influence. (p. 5)Thus, in the various chapters of this collection of essays, the authors deal with the familiar story of the development of Hizballah, but they do so from unique perspectives. Among the book's chapters are “Hizbullah's Political Strategy,” by Lina Khatib; “From the Invasion to the Liberation: Communicating Hizbullah's Political Repertoire, 1982–2000,” by Dina Matar and Atef Alshaer with Lina Khatib; “Hizbullah in the Twenty-First Century: The Struggle for Political Survival, 2000–2012,” by Lina Khatib; and the particularly interesting article, “The Poetry of Hizbullah,” by Atef Alshaer; as well as Dina Matar's important article, “Hassan Nasrallah: The Central Actor in Hizbullah's Political Communication Strategies.”Matar's article focuses on Hasan Nasrallah, Hizballah's Secretary General and supreme leader. For good or for bad, for two decades now, the fate of Nasrallah and the fate of Hizballah have been intimately bound together. This close connection between the identity of the leader and his organization enables scholars to analyze them through the prism of charisma. True, charisma is usually thought of as an attribute of a political personality, but it can also carry over to his (or her) organization insofar as the latter has a life of its own.It will be recalled that “charisma,” from the Greek meaning “gift of the gods,” refers to a personal quality or charm that gives an individual exceptional interpersonal communication skills and the ability to influence or exert authority over people. The charismatic person is able to use his charm, which includes more than the ability to speak persuasively and think rationally, to reach people's hearts and influence their opinions, and sometimes he is able to attract the masses to his cause and organization. The modern use of the word “charisma” was introduced by the German sociologist Max Weber. He used the term to describe the influence of a leader whose followers attribute his influence to his supernatural or divinely conferred traits. Weber thus defined “charisma” as “a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.” The most significant point is the recognition of these traits. “This recognition is a matter of total personal devotion resulting from enthusiasm or despair and hope…. Charisma can be bound up with subjective or internal redirection that emerges from suffering, conflict, or enthusiasm,” a process that can occur at times of “spiritual, physical, economic, ethical, or political crisis.”However, as is well known, charisma also depends on success and fades away when political, economic, military, or any kind of failure takes place. Charisma cannot be preserved without success.The successes achieved by Nasrallah's charisma, and consequently his organization, depended on the ability of both of them to maximize their achievements under favorable circumstances. At home, these circumstances included the weakness of Hizballah's rivals in both the Shiʿi community and the Lebanese social and political system in general. On the regional level, Hizballah's power inside Lebanon was limited by the restrictions forced upon it by both Israel and Syria. At the same time, Hizballah enjoyed the unlimited and disproportionate support of Iran, in the form of billions of dollars supplied annually and weaponry enough to satisfy a whole state.However, these circumstances, with regard to both Iran and the region in general, were destined to change, and not necessarily in Hizballah's favor. In Iran, the changes taking place were made manifest when Hassan Rouhani was elected president in June 2013. Dina Matar alludes to this in her chapter entitled, “Hizbullah in the Twenty-First Century: The Struggle for Political Survival.” This chapter deals with the organization in the shadow of the “Arab Spring,” and in face of the revolutions spawned by that phenomenon throughout the Arab world. Matar argues that, “With dignity and heroism having come within the reach of the average Arab citizen as a result of the Arab Spring, the narrative of victimization was the only way in which Hizbullah would now be able to stand out in a region that was witnessing a rise in individual agency beyond the umbrella of political organizations, a factor that Hizbullah's communication strategy had never had to address before. The Arab Spring, then, put Hizbullah at a crossroads, not only stealing its limelight but also testing its credibility in the Arab world, and consequently, its longevity. Thirty years after Hizbullah came into existence, the group's communication strategy appears to have come full circle” (p. 118).The summation presented in the final chapter of the book, “Conclusion: Hizbullah at a Crossroads,” makes the following three points: The trajectory of Hizbullah's communication strategy offers a number of important lessons for scholars of social movements, activism and political communication: first, communication strategy succeeds when a group can bridge the gap between the way it perceives itself and the way others perceive it, rather than remaining focused on the validity of its ideologies vis-à-vis those of others—the smaller the distance between these perceptions, the higher the degree of the communication strategy's success. Second, no communication strategy can succeed if it lacks credibility. Hizbullah has consistently relied on notions of justice and liberty to prove its legitimacy to its audiences, claiming to represent the voices of the people, to speak for the oppressed and to seek “justice” for victims of Israeli aggression while branding itself as a “liberator” and “defender” of land and people. But this image was threatened when the Assad regime in Syria turned its weapons on its own people during the Arab Spring, as opposed to directing them towards the Israeli “enemy” in the occupied Golan Heights. Finally, in order to be successful, there is a need for a dynamic relationship between communication strategy and changing political contexts. Hizbullah's evolving communication strategy is part of the party's place within a larger political opportunity structure where “fixed or permanent institutional features combine with more short-term, volatile, or conjectural factors to produce an overall particular opportunity structure. (p. 189)Before the Arab uprisings, and particularly before the Syrian rebellion, Hizballah had been largely successful at taking advantage of changes in the political environment to carve a favorable image, and simultaneously, to adapt its image according to changes in the environment. This highlights the fine balance that exists between political adaptability and reliability and between structure and agency. However, the uprisings, coupled with a significant shift in the visible performance of politics by ordinary citizens in the Arab world, thus far constitute the main obstacles to maintaining the credibility of Hizballah's familiar communication framework, and consequently its ability to capture the imagination of its intended audiences.However, with all due respect to communications, publicity, and propaganda, it should be noted that Hizballah's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, observed in March 2011 that the glorious aura of the struggle with Israel, and even the halo of an Arab “David” fighting the Israeli “Goliath,” were not enough to save one at the moment of truth brought about by a broad-based popular uprising. At this point, we should also recall that for the masses of Shiʿis in Lebanon, Hizballah is not merely a virtual entity, but rather a very tangible and important factor in their daily lives. At every step it is there, beginning in kindergarten, then in school, and on to the health clinic and hospital, including all aspects of economic life and social relations. Thus, it would seem that as long as Hizballah continues to meet the practical needs of the Lebanese Shiʿis and fulfills their political desires and aspirations, its continued existence is assured.

For many years, Hizballah was perceived as a success story by many in Lebanon and, indeed, throughout the Middle East and the Arab and Muslim world, and even beyond. The organization seemed to succeed in whatever it attempted to achieve. It was active in several arenas at once—in the Lebanese Shiʿi community, in the Lebanese political arena in general, on the front with Israel, and even in the regional arena at large—and in each sphere, it seemed to grow ever stronger.What was the precise nature of Hizballah's success and to what in particular should it be attributed? Should the focus be on the organization's ability to defy Israel, to “needle” and “wound” it over and over again, and even to create a degree of deterrence capability such as the Arab states over the years had found it difficult or impossible to develop? Or perhaps one should focus on Hizballah's success in turning the Shiʿi community in Lebanon into a cohesive political entity striving for a leading role in the state, perhaps even the predominant role? Or perhaps the focus should be on another front altogether, that is, Hizballah's unprecedented achievements in advancing Iran's interests while serving as Tehran's vanguard in penetrating to the shores of the Mediterranean?Whatever answer one gives to these questions, one thing is clear: Hizballah's perceived success relied in no small degree on its ability to make itself seem more powerful than it really was and on its skill in creating, via the communications media, a modern “David and Goliath” story with the roles reversed. This process was greatly aided by today's modern media that blur the lines between the real and the virtual worlds. Hizballah discovered how to use digital media and communications in a sophisticated way and turned media into one of its main instruments for consolidating its standing and building its image of success.However, it is important to separate reality from fantasy; Hizballah's aura of success turned out to be fleeting, and it has shown clear signs of fading altogether. For some time now, it seems that the organization has lost its magic touch and is no longer moving from success to success. When did the damaging reversal take place?Was it the Second Lebanese War in the summer of 2006? Hizballah emerged from that conflict acting as if it were the victor, while in reality, once the fighting ended, the organization's supporters in Lebanon, if no one else, were compelled to see the difference between a virtual victory in the media and the reality on the ground. All around them, Hizballah's supporters were confronted with a reality of destruction and devastation that Hizballah had brought down upon them because of the war it carried out against Israel.Or perhaps the moment of transition began in May 2008, when Hizballah turned its weapons against its fellow Lebanese, members of the Sunni community, and thus revealed its true face, not as an organization of resistance to Israel, but as a Shiʿi political force in Lebanon seeking to advance its own narrow sectarian political agenda.March 2011, when the Syrian revolution broke out, might also be considered as marking a critical juncture for Hizballah. It now found itself on the wrong side of the political equation. In the eyes of many observers, Hizballah allowed itself to be drafted into the service of Shiʿi Iran in support of Syria's cruel dictator, who had resorted to slaughtering his own people, especially members of the Sunni majority who were seeking liberty and freedom.These developments influenced the way many people perceived Hizballah, especially those in the Arab world, but also those in the West as well. Nevertheless, for the masses of Shiʿis in Lebanon, Hizballah was and remains a significant factor in their daily lives, regardless of the state of the organization's image and media gimmicks. Hizballah won the support of the local Shiʿi communities—thanks to the financial, educational, social welfare, and other services it provides to these communities—and these services are what guarantee the continued support of the Shiʿi population in Lebanon.The book under review, The Hizbullah Phenomenon: Politics and Communication, focuses on Hizballah's pre-2011 glory days. The book appears at a difficult time for Hizballah. This difficulty is evident from Hasan Nasrallah's nervous and overwrought speeches in recent years, in which he is clearly apologetic as he strives to justify Hizballah's unpopular intervention in the Syrian civil war. Many Lebanese Shiʿi families are paying the price with the lives of their sons in that war. Nasrallah has also given speeches revealing real anxiety, not necessarily in regard to Israel, but particularly in regard to the Islamic State (is), which is perceived as the up-and-coming star in the Arab and Muslim worlds. Indeed, the is not only threatens Hizballah physically, but also, and mainly, seeks to remove the organization from its position as the media darling of the Arab and Muslim worlds.The authors of The Hizbullah Phenomenon undertake to examine the connection between politics and the media, or, in other words, the connection between the Hizballah's political activities—its policies, ideological principles, modes of action affecting the public, and so on—and its communication strategies—the clever ways it uses the media to make itself appear more powerful and promote the “Hizballah phenomenon” as something unique in the region. In the introduction to the book, “Hizbullah's Communication and Political Evolution,” the authors succinctly characterize the organization and argue: Hizbullah, the Lebanese ‘party of god’, is a late twentieth-century phenomenon, the outcome of a series of socio-historical and political junctures marked by domestic political upheaval and regional conflicts. Hizbullah is a by-product of regional geostrategic alignments: the group is ideologically and politically connected to Iran, and its capabilities, weaponry and operations are influenced by Iranian patronage. It is also has long-term strategic links with Syria, which has acted as a conduit for the supply of arms and personnel from Iran and serves as an important ally in domestic politics. In the space of thirty years, Hizbullah has established itself as the most powerful political force in Lebanon and as a dynamic actor in the broader region through its use of a sophisticated political communication strategy which blends military, social, economic and religious elements while remaining adaptive to changing socio-political contexts. This strategy, as the book will show, has been a central tool that the group has used to disseminate its image and ideology. (p. 1)And the book's central argument is stated a few pages later: This book argues that Hizbullah's communication strategy has served as the foundation for its political evolution and endurance as a movement. Ever since its inception, Hizbullah has paid constant attention to its image, seeking to manage and institutionalize it in order to achieve legitimacy, to reach out to different constituents and to implement its political goals. The starting point for this book is that Hizbullah's political evolution and its success within particular contexts cannot be appreciated without understanding the methods, tools and practices it has employed since its formation in 1982, and the relationship between agency and structure—i.e., the activism of its elites and ideologues functioning within organized and deeply rooted structural arrangements, and the relationship between this activism and political contexts. Indeed, it is Hizbullah's highly organized structure that has allowed it to develop and reproduce authority in popular culture, and to devise and implement communication strategies in line with changing political, economic and social contexts…. (Furthermore), This book argues that Hizbullah's political, economic, military and cultural mobilization and activism cannot be seen as natural or taken-for-granted responses to accumulated grievances, or as a reactionary product of a cultural essence. Rather, Hizbullah's activism and mobilization have resulted from the agency of its elites and ideologues and their implementation of a political communication strategy designed to widen its support base and increase its influence. (p. 5)Thus, in the various chapters of this collection of essays, the authors deal with the familiar story of the development of Hizballah, but they do so from unique perspectives. Among the book's chapters are “Hizbullah's Political Strategy,” by Lina Khatib; “From the Invasion to the Liberation: Communicating Hizbullah's Political Repertoire, 1982–2000,” by Dina Matar and Atef Alshaer with Lina Khatib; “Hizbullah in the Twenty-First Century: The Struggle for Political Survival, 2000–2012,” by Lina Khatib; and the particularly interesting article, “The Poetry of Hizbullah,” by Atef Alshaer; as well as Dina Matar's important article, “Hassan Nasrallah: The Central Actor in Hizbullah's Political Communication Strategies.”Matar's article focuses on Hasan Nasrallah, Hizballah's Secretary General and supreme leader. For good or for bad, for two decades now, the fate of Nasrallah and the fate of Hizballah have been intimately bound together. This close connection between the identity of the leader and his organization enables scholars to analyze them through the prism of charisma. True, charisma is usually thought of as an attribute of a political personality, but it can also carry over to his (or her) organization insofar as the latter has a life of its own.It will be recalled that “charisma,” from the Greek meaning “gift of the gods,” refers to a personal quality or charm that gives an individual exceptional interpersonal communication skills and the ability to influence or exert authority over people. The charismatic person is able to use his charm, which includes more than the ability to speak persuasively and think rationally, to reach people's hearts and influence their opinions, and sometimes he is able to attract the masses to his cause and organization. The modern use of the word “charisma” was introduced by the German sociologist Max Weber. He used the term to describe the influence of a leader whose followers attribute his influence to his supernatural or divinely conferred traits. Weber thus defined “charisma” as “a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities.” The most significant point is the recognition of these traits. “This recognition is a matter of total personal devotion resulting from enthusiasm or despair and hope…. Charisma can be bound up with subjective or internal redirection that emerges from suffering, conflict, or enthusiasm,” a process that can occur at times of “spiritual, physical, economic, ethical, or political crisis.”However, as is well known, charisma also depends on success and fades away when political, economic, military, or any kind of failure takes place. Charisma cannot be preserved without success.The successes achieved by Nasrallah's charisma, and consequently his organization, depended on the ability of both of them to maximize their achievements under favorable circumstances. At home, these circumstances included the weakness of Hizballah's rivals in both the Shiʿi community and the Lebanese social and political system in general. On the regional level, Hizballah's power inside Lebanon was limited by the restrictions forced upon it by both Israel and Syria. At the same time, Hizballah enjoyed the unlimited and disproportionate support of Iran, in the form of billions of dollars supplied annually and weaponry enough to satisfy a whole state.However, these circumstances, with regard to both Iran and the region in general, were destined to change, and not necessarily in Hizballah's favor. In Iran, the changes taking place were made manifest when Hassan Rouhani was elected president in June 2013. Dina Matar alludes to this in her chapter entitled, “Hizbullah in the Twenty-First Century: The Struggle for Political Survival.” This chapter deals with the organization in the shadow of the “Arab Spring,” and in face of the revolutions spawned by that phenomenon throughout the Arab world. Matar argues that, “With dignity and heroism having come within the reach of the average Arab citizen as a result of the Arab Spring, the narrative of victimization was the only way in which Hizbullah would now be able to stand out in a region that was witnessing a rise in individual agency beyond the umbrella of political organizations, a factor that Hizbullah's communication strategy had never had to address before. The Arab Spring, then, put Hizbullah at a crossroads, not only stealing its limelight but also testing its credibility in the Arab world, and consequently, its longevity. Thirty years after Hizbullah came into existence, the group's communication strategy appears to have come full circle” (p. 118).The summation presented in the final chapter of the book, “Conclusion: Hizbullah at a Crossroads,” makes the following three points: The trajectory of Hizbullah's communication strategy offers a number of important lessons for scholars of social movements, activism and political communication: first, communication strategy succeeds when a group can bridge the gap between the way it perceives itself and the way others perceive it, rather than remaining focused on the validity of its ideologies vis-à-vis those of others—the smaller the distance between these perceptions, the higher the degree of the communication strategy's success. Second, no communication strategy can succeed if it lacks credibility. Hizbullah has consistently relied on notions of justice and liberty to prove its legitimacy to its audiences, claiming to represent the voices of the people, to speak for the oppressed and to seek “justice” for victims of Israeli aggression while branding itself as a “liberator” and “defender” of land and people. But this image was threatened when the Assad regime in Syria turned its weapons on its own people during the Arab Spring, as opposed to directing them towards the Israeli “enemy” in the occupied Golan Heights. Finally, in order to be successful, there is a need for a dynamic relationship between communication strategy and changing political contexts. Hizbullah's evolving communication strategy is part of the party's place within a larger political opportunity structure where “fixed or permanent institutional features combine with more short-term, volatile, or conjectural factors to produce an overall particular opportunity structure. (p. 189)Before the Arab uprisings, and particularly before the Syrian rebellion, Hizballah had been largely successful at taking advantage of changes in the political environment to carve a favorable image, and simultaneously, to adapt its image according to changes in the environment. This highlights the fine balance that exists between political adaptability and reliability and between structure and agency. However, the uprisings, coupled with a significant shift in the visible performance of politics by ordinary citizens in the Arab world, thus far constitute the main obstacles to maintaining the credibility of Hizballah's familiar communication framework, and consequently its ability to capture the imagination of its intended audiences.However, with all due respect to communications, publicity, and propaganda, it should be noted that Hizballah's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, observed in March 2011 that the glorious aura of the struggle with Israel, and even the halo of an Arab “David” fighting the Israeli “Goliath,” were not enough to save one at the moment of truth brought about by a broad-based popular uprising. At this point, we should also recall that for the masses of Shiʿis in Lebanon, Hizballah is not merely a virtual entity, but rather a very tangible and important factor in their daily lives. At every step it is there, beginning in kindergarten, then in school, and on to the health clinic and hospital, including all aspects of economic life and social relations. Thus, it would seem that as long as Hizballah continues to meet the practical needs of the Lebanese Shiʿis and fulfills their political desires and aspirations, its continued existence is assured.

Linguistic politeness in Mexico: Refusal strategies among male speakers of Mexican Spanish

Purpose This paper examines how politeness strategies are used in Omani schools and professional development classrooms. It is a qualitative study following an interactional sociolinguistic analysis approach. The study adopts Brown and Levinson (1987) model to analyse the use of politeness and the notion of face in two different contexts. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study because it includes descriptive findings. It will follow an interactional sociolinguistic analysis approach and adopts Brown and Levinson (1987) model to analyse the use of politeness and the notion of face in two different contexts. It aims at studying student–teacher interaction in two different groups: Omani private school and Professional development Academy. Two classes will be attended in the school and two classes in the Academy. A mix of female and male teachers from both groups will be observed. The first age group is young learners of grades 7 and 9 and the age range of the second group is adult learners aged between 25 and 40 years old. Findings The results are as follows: young learners want to be perceived with their positive face while adult learners with negative face. More face saving acts (FSA) are performed by teachers than face threatening acts (FTAs). More FTAs are performed by young students than adult students. More FSAs are performed than FTAs by female teachers than their counterparts. All teachers agreed that when their face is put into threat, they will save it even if it meant putting the student's face in threat. These results imply that there is a big awareness of politeness and face in the modern day Omani classroom in different contexts and that teachers are actually using it and trying to help students to be aware of it. Originality/value The findings of this study will reverberate throughout the field of education and pedagogical techniques since before this study, there has not been sufficient investigation exploring politeness strategies or FSAs of adults in this age group in Oman. In fact, there have not been sufficient studies conducted in this area in Oman within all age groups. To this purpose, this paper will contribute to the existing literature in this field by examining how politeness strategies are used and factors that directly affect their use in the classroom in a new context, Oman. Moreover, the analysis that is presented in this study conveys valuable information for future research exploring this topic but within a broader age range and a bigger sample.

This paper re-examines aspects of the relationship between Erving Goffman’s writings and conversation analysis (CA) with a focus on his conception of the interaction order and his notion of face. It is argued, first, that Goffman’s conception of the interaction order, and the associated notion that there is a ‘syntax’ of action independent of personality and social structure traditionally conceived, was a foundational insight for the development of CA and, when applied to bodily conduct, was a stimulus for the research of Charles Goodwin and the subsequent multimodal movement. Second, Goffman’s notion of face– in particular the conceptual distinction between positive and negative face – is reconsidered as a basis from which to understand and reconcile the distinctive views of preference presented in the work of Emanuel Schegloff and Anita Pomerantz, and to resolve them into an integrated whole.

Political communication strategy is very important in elections, both regional and national elections. Political communication strategies carried out by political parties or candidates include several things such as campaigns and collaboration with community groups. This was done to gain votes from the public. This study aims to determine the political communication strategy of a single candidate in the Wonosobo regional election. This research is qualitative research. The main subjects of this research are the main actors in the 2020 Wonosobo regional elections. The results show that a single candidate continues to carry out political communication strategies. The communication strategy is carried out in several ways including campaigning and also establishing cooperation with community groups. The campaigns carried out are generally in the form of installing banners or billboards, interviews with offline media and electronic media, and also visits to the public area. Meanwhile, collaborating with community groups is carried out by communicating between prospective leaders and group administrators, before finally withdrawing the votes of their members. This strategy success to bring the victory of single candidate on regional election in Wonosobo.

Politeness and Face in Caribbean Creoles is the first collection to focus on socio-pragmatic issues in the Caribbean context, including the socio-cultural rules and principles underlying strategic language use. While the Caribbean has long been recognized as a rich and interesting site where cultural continuities meet with new "creolized" or innovative practices, questions of politeness practices, constructions of personhood, or the notion of face have so far been neglected in linguistic research on Caribbean Creoles. Drawing on linguistic politeness theory and Goffman's concept of face, eleven mostly fieldwork-based innovative contributions critically examine a range of topics, such as ritual insults, strategic use of "bad language", kiss-teeth, the performance of homophobic threats, greetings, address forms, advice-giving, socialization and discourse, parent-child discourse, register choice and communicative repertoire in the Caribbean context.

This study investigates the effects of the Differentiated Speaking Instruction using Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Project Work (DCP) on Thai undergraduate students' English speaking proficiency. It also compares their perceived use of communication strategies before and after the intervention. The participants were 9 undergraduate students majoring in English. During the 10-week intervention, students design a multimedia project work using asynchronous (audioblogs) and synchronous (voice chats) CMC. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed in order to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention as well as the perceived use of students’ communication strategies. Students’ pre-test and post-test English Speaking Proficiency test scores were compared using the Wilcoxon Matched-Paired Signed Ranks Tests. Communication Strategy Inventory was designed to compare their perceived use of communication strategies. Conversation analysis was employed to examine students' use of communication strategies via CMC. Finally, a semi-structured interview was conducted to elicit their opinions about the intervention. The findings from the quantitative data show that students gain significantly higher scores after participating in this intervention (p < .05). However, there is no significant difference between their mean scores on the Communication Strategy Inventory before and after the intervention. The findings from the qualitative data reveal five major categories of CMC communication strategies. They are compensatory, time-gaining, emphasis, avoidance, and interactional strategies. Patterns of communication strategies emerging from the data are the use of multiple strategies for one target, multiple functions of one strategy, forms of message abandonment, and negotiated interaction. Students reflect in the semi-structured interview that DCP creates a positive learning environment that stimulates their participation and contributes to improvement in their English speaking ability.

Among the many facets of Silvio Berlusconi’s extensive political career, his communication strategies and techniques stand out as particularly significant. This prominence is largely due to his dual role as a media tycoon and a flamboyant, narcissistic figure, both of which heavily influenced his public communication style. This article delves into Berlusconi’s communication approach as a critical element of his leadership. It examines how Berlusconi shaped his leadership image over the decades, focusing on his personality, storytelling, and the media and political marketing tools he employed to project his persona. Furthermore, in its concluding part, it investigates whether recent Italian leaders, particularly those who emerged in the 2010s after Berlusconi’s tenure, exhibit traits traceable to Berlusconi’s innovations. The article’s initial sections explore Berlusconi’s personality profile, his narrative techniques, and the media and political marketing strategies he used. The penultimate section highlights the interplay of these elements, showing how they created a distinctive, innovative leadership style linked to various facets of celebrity politics, sometimes in extreme forms. This section also addresses the legacy of Berlusconi’s leadership style, proposing that it served as a model for later Italian leaders, influencing their communication and image-building strategies. The article concludes by noting how, as a consequence, Berlusconi’s leadership model has been a transformative factor in Italian politics.

What explains the choice of corporate political strategy in environmental politics? Drawing on recent models of actor strategy formation in political economy, this article argues that basic material interests of firms are translated into strategies in the context of institutional environments. I advance a typological model that posits how distributional effects—positive versus negative—and perceived regulatory pressure—low versus high—interact in leading firms to adopt one of four ideal-type strategies: opposition, hedging, support, and non-participation. This article examines the model through the case of corporate strategies in the making of the European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme. The article contributes to theory-building on business strategy in environmental politics by offering a probabilistic explanatory model, and it flags hedging strategies as an increasingly prevalent form of business behavior.

The ease of online communication in the current era seems to still leave issue that really need to be considered. Politeness in communicating between educators and students in carrying out message activities is one of the essential issues to be discussed. The lack of politeness between teachers in communicating, the large possibility of free communication when carrying out online communication, and the low awareness of teachers in emphasizing the importance of politeness in communication are some of the main problems that need to be resolved. This study aims to analyze the use of politeness strategies in communication between educators and students in EFL and try to analyze deeper what types of strategies are used by teachers and students in communicating, the steps they take to online communication, and get to know deeper regarding to the importance of politeness in communication. This research uses library research method and case study method to analyze the data. In addition to obtaining data from previous research sources, the authors also obtained data from ELE Undiksha lecturers and students. The theory expressed by Brown and Levinson in 1987 is the theory that underlies the analysis of this data which is the analysis of politeness strategy in communicating. From the literature study and also the case study method used to analyze the findings, it was found that the politeness strategy was more widely used by students than teachers, this was related to social position and age. The strategies used are positive politeness and bald on-record which are mostly used by students. On the other hand, negative politeness and off-record strategies are mostly used by teachers. It was also found that students used politeness more than their teachers and from a cultural point of view, the social status that separates teachers and students in Indonesia demands being able to give respect to the educators.Keywords: Politeness strategies, online communication, EFL context

Populism has captured the world's attention, especially during election campaigns where the starkness of populist messages comes into sharper focus. While most research focuses either on the content that actors communicate or their delivery of that content, I situate my research among the few studies that do both. I refer to this combination as a communication strategy. I evaluate two research questions: how is the populist communication strategy used and how do the communication strategies of populist and non-populist actors differ? To assess these questions, I collect original data during five national elections that occurred between 2018 and 2019: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, and Spain ( N = 1,577). I measure different elements of communication strategies, including both content and style, in the Tweets of national-level candidates. I find stark differences in communication styles in both what actors talk about and how they convey their messages. This finding suggests that how actors convey their ideas is critical to advancing our understanding of actors’ overall communication strategies.

This research aims to analyze bibliometrically related discourse analysis and communication strategies in sports, especially physical education, sports, and health. The research uses a literature review. The literature review aims to find the latest literature and build a foundation for academic inquiry related to sports learning in communication and discourse, as well as build a foundation for scholarly inquiry regarding student communication strategies based on the latest articles reviewed. The articles used were selected according to the topic by eliminating irrelevant keywords in the VOSviewer application. The most relevant keywords are "physical activity," " teach*," "communication strategy," "discourse analysis," and "learn*" which are directly related to the main focus of the research. The result showed effective communication strategies in sports have a major impact on motivation, skill acquisition, performance, and overall athlete satisfaction. The use of various communication styles, including nonverbal communication, plays an important role in forming athletes' self-confidence, motivation, and learning process. These findings underscore the importance of communication skills and strategies in optimizing athlete performance and overall well-being. Keywords: Discourse Analysis, Communication Strategy, Sport Learning, VOSviewer

Abstract: As opposed to informational purposes, phatic utterances hold a bigger role in human communication that is to keep social relations among people. Though people hardly ever notice the importance of phatic utterances, these are the utterances that indispensable in their daily basis communication used to avoid the sense of impoliteness, especially when meeting people they are familiar with. In uttering phatic, people use a variety of ways including raising humor. The humourous phatic utterances are interesting to be analyzed in order to investigate the implementation of politeness strategies used along with the production of phatic utterances. To the researcher's best knowledge, the link between humorous phatic utterances and politeness strategies has not become the concern of previous researches. Therefore, this research was conducted to describe phatic utterances conveyed by the characters of a widely known situation comedy (sitcom) Friends and also to find out the politeness strategies applied when uttering the phatic utterances. The researcher used solidarity and deference of politeness strategies as proposed by Yule (1996) to analyze each phatic utterance found. The design of this research was descriptive qualitative. The data were documented from the sitcom episode 21-24. The data were analyzed by describing the context used and giving the explanation of each datum that was included in phatic utterances. After conducting the analysis, it is found that there are 37 phatic utterances used in the sitcom. Politeness strategies are always applied in any phatic utterances found and the most frequently used politeness strategy is solidarity strategy.