Significance of Linguistic Politeness Strategies Employed in Teacher-Student Question-and-Answer Sessions in Schools within Magadi Township, Kenya

Abstract

Linguistic politeness is an aspect that has been used in classroom interaction, although little knowledge is available on politeness expressions during question-and-answer sessions. Therefore, in this paper, the researcher investigates linguistic politeness during question-and-answer sessions to add knowledge to the existing literature on linguistic politeness during question-and-answer sessions. This study aimed to find out the strategies of politeness used by teachers during question and answer sessions in the classroom and the respective payoffs. The target population consists of six primary and secondary school teachers in a classroom engaging learners through oral questions. The study employs a descriptive design and techniques such as questionnaires, interviews and participant observation to collect authentic data. The data are analysed by coding and categorizing the politeness strategies used by the teacher. Data are explained using the principles of Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory (1987). The findings indicate that teachers used positive politeness, negative politeness and bald-on-record strategies to facilitate the learning process during question-and-answer interactions in the classroom. Further data indicate that the choice of a politeness strategy was influenced by the rank, power and social status of the teacher.