Towards better teaching of politeness with particular reference to content and methodologies

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370729
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Seijo University
• Principal Investigator: Kawamura Akihiko 成城大学, 社会イノベーション学部, 教授 (60407616)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ISHII Yasutake 成城大学, 社会イノベーション学部, 准教授 (70530103)
• Research Collaborator: COWIE Neil 岡山大学, 言語教育センター, 教授 ; COOK Melodie 新潟県立大学, 国際地域学部, 教授 ; SPENCER-OATEY Helen 英国ウォリック大学, 応用言語学研究所, 教授 ; HARRISON Tilly 英国ウォリック大学, 応用言語学研究所, プリンシパル・ティーチング・フェロー ; FUJISHIMA Naomi 岡山大学, 言語教育センター, 教授 ; RICHES Dennis 成城大学, 社会イノベーション学部, 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ポライトネス / 発話行為 / 語彙 / 英語教育

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Politeness is believed to be crucial in building a harmonious relationship with others and in achieving successful communication; however, it is not effectively taught in the EFL context. We thus began our research by analyzing teaching materials in terms of politeness, and then sought to describe the mechanisms in which politeness is realized, on the basis of our questionnaire survey. The results of our project suggest: (1) politeness always comes with other language functions or acts, and so it can be appropriately described in conjunction with other acts languages can perform; (2) it is promising to approach politeness in terms of lexis.

Free Research Field

応用言語学