Exploring the politeness strategies used by EFL : case of LMD students at University of Setif 2

Abstract EN

This paper aims to explore the politeness strategies used by EFL learners at the University of Mohamed Lamine Debaghine Setif 2 through the implementation of the quantitative approach by applying the Multiple-Choice Questions to 429 of Master One Students of English Language specialized in language science as the study population.

The sample consisted 86 participants, included 8 males and 78 females aged between 20-40 years, 82 from Setif and 4 out of state.

It has revealed a variation degree in the use of politeness strategies by EFL in different contexts have proposed in the politeness theory of Brown and Levinson (1978,1987).

At the same time, the paper has explored that the most used ones are Negative and Positive Politeness where the females tend to use the first kind to be more polite and avoid Face Threatening Acts in contrast to the males who perform the latter one that shows less politeness than female.

From this one, there is a need for investigation for the gender role on politeness strategies.