Politeness Strategies in Email Opening and Closing Moves by Saudi Female EFL Students

The current study examined 150 emails sent by Saudi female English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate students to their instructor. Greetings (opening moves) and farewells (closing moves) were investigated, exploring how social and interactional factors affected the politeness strategies and language formality employed. The study analyzed the types of opening and closing moves and the students’ ability to use formal forms, considering the formality of the context and their awareness of social distance. Most of the emails did not include opening and closing moves, suggesting a low awareness of politeness strategies. Opening moves were used more frequently than closing moves and when greetings were used in the opening moves, formal greetings were more frequent than less formal ones. Moreover, the use of greetings was affected by the students’ first language. The paper concludes with recommendations to enhance EFL students’ knowledge of politeness strategies.