A Comparison of Politeness Strategies Used in English Novels Versus ESL Textbooks

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the politeness strategies that were utilized in English novels and the English textbooks. To reach the objectives of the study, the Novel of the Lovely Bones and The Text Book of Family and Fronds 4 were selected as the materials of the study. The content of the mentioned-books was carefully and precisely analyzed and the obtained data were categorized according to Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory of politeness. The categories were the bald on-record strategy, positive strategy of politeness, negative strategy of politeness, and off-record strategy. The results obtained from data analysis indicated that bald-on record strategies of politeness were most frequently used strategies in both books. Additionally, positive strategies were equally included in both books. Moreover, after content analysis, it was understood that the text book of Family and Friends 4 employed no negative strategy while only 2 strategies were discovered in the English novel. Moreover, the results also indicated that the frequency of off-record strategies of the English text book was 16 whereas it was 15 in the English novel. Furthermore, the researcher found that both the English novel and English text book utilized 64.3 percent of the whole strategies and positive politeness strategies with the frequency of 21.1 were the most frequently used strategy in the both mentioned books. Generally, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the number of politeness strategies of the English novel and English textbook. The results of the study provide valuable implications for EFL teacher, learners, and material developers.