Developing Politeness Strategy Awareness to Improve English Presentation Competence among Indonesian University Students
Keywords:
Politeness Strategies Awareness, Pragmatic Competence, English Academic Presentations, Indonesian EFL University StudentsAbstract
This qualitative study investigates how Indonesian university students develop awareness of Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies in English academic presentations. Five English Education undergraduates at a state university in Eastern Indonesia were purposively selected and interviewed using semi-structured protocols, and the data were analyzed thematically following Braun and Clarke’s framework. The findings show that all four strategies—Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness, Bald-on Record, and Off-Record—are used with varying frequencies and levels of awareness, with Positive Politeness emerging as the most dominant resource for building rapport, maintaining harmony, and sustaining audience engagement. Students’ reflections indicate a growing metapragmatic awareness, as they consciously adjust greetings, apologies, indirect comments, and direct clarifications to manage face-threatening acts and balance clarity with respectfulness. These results highlight politeness strategy awareness as a key component of socio-pragmatic competence in academic English and suggest that explicit attention to politeness in speaking and presentation courses can enhance learners’ communicative effectiveness, confidence, and intercultural appropriateness.
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