English Language Improvement Program

Reading One

Language is used for communication to convey one’s intention to each other in social interactions. In conveying intention, people use strategies in their communication as it is a part of the language user’s communicative competence. The speaker's communicative competence deals with pragmatics. Pragmatics determines our choices of wording and our interpretation of language in different situations. For example, the awareness of how we modify conversation when addressing different types of listeners. A speech act such as, “Mak Grace, help me bring this, ok?” is more likely to be uttered to your close friend, while “Excuse me, would you like to help me, Ma’am?”, is uttered to a person that is older than you. Such speech acts called knowledge of pragmatics. Pragmatics concerns with some fields and politeness are one of them. Politeness strategies are very important to investigate as it is used by people in their social interactions and in the specific contexts, knowing what to say, how to say, when to say and how to be with other people.

Politeness is universal and best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is defined as strategic conflict avoidance, which can be measured in terms of the degree of effort and put into the avoidance of conflict, the situation, maintenance, and establishment of comity. Avoidance is represented as a conscious effort on part of the person to be polite. Politeness strategies are more likely to be used when a speaker of relatively lower power makes a larger request in a more distant relationship than when a speaker of a relatively higher power makes a smaller request in a closer relationship. Politeness strategies are ways to convey the speech acts as politely as possible. To achieve that, there are some strategies that can be applied in a specific context used by the individual in a certain society.

Answer the following

1. What is the central issue of discussion in the above passage?

            A.    Communication           B. Pragmatics     C. Politeness Strategies      D. Speech Act

2. Do you think your answer to question number 1 is an appropriate title for it?

Oral Discussion and Reflective Writing

Based on the passage above, first, discuss with your partners being in pairs then in small groups, and write a paragraph that reflects what an effective communicator means based on your discussions you have made.