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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to analyze and to find out the application of politeness
strategies by the primary school teachers in controlling pupils in Nyamagana and
Misungwi districts in the selected primary schools which were; Nyakato, Nyamalango,
Nyakato B, Usagara and Mzigu Primary School. Specifically the study aimed at;
assessing whether politeness strategies are practically applied in controlling the pupils or
not, finding out words that used by the teachers to control pupils, identifying the
difficulties that the teachers face to apply politeness strategies and providing possible
ways that facilitate the better communication between pupils and teachers during
controlling acts.
Politeness Theory and Maxims of Politeness was also reviewed as the guideline of the
application of politeness strategies. The Theory states that; People are motivated by their
need to maintain their face, they need to be approved by others and to maintain sense of
self worth (Brown and Levinson’s 1978). The theory is related to the study due to the fact
that it stresses the need of preserving the face of others in the conversation and the study
wanted to analyze how the teacher preserve the face of the pupils by applying politeness
strategies which are Bald on Record, Positive, Negative and Off-Record in the controlling
acts which are Warning, Prohibiting and Directing.
The study used teachers and pupils as the population whereby a total of 124 people were
used as a sample. To get the reliable information the researcher used four tools to collect
the data. The tools used were self administered questionnaire as a quantitatively method
which helps to get the view of the majority. Qualitatively, the tools used were
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observation, unstructured interview and focus group discussion that aid the researcher to
get the information in a natural form and the perspective of an individual about the study.
The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative data are analyzed
by using Microsoft Excel and SPSS then summarize in form of tables and graph that
present numbers and percentage while qualitative data are presented in words with short
description.
The findings reveal that politeness strategies were not practically applied by the primary
school teachers to control pupils, there were no specific words that used by the teachers
as politeness strategies. The age of the pupils, their experience, and the position of the
teachers make the application of politeness strategies to be difficult. The respondents
suggested the use of polite and impolite language in order to facilitate better
communication.
The study recommends the use of suggestion in prohibiting, sophisticated words in giving
the warning and casual command in directing. The study conclude that, it is challenging
to apply politeness strategies to that level of pupils but due to the need of preserving face
of others the recommended politeness strategies should be applied in order to facilitate
communication between teachers and pupils. Further studies suggested on; application of
politeness strategies by the parents and the analysis of verbal conduct of the primary
school teachers. |
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