LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY

THE POLITENESS ANALYSIS ON LANGUAGE USE BETWEEN

OFFICE EMPLOYEE AND TEACHER

GROUP 3
Winona Dhelila (2223190008)
Henny Prabowo (2223190035)
Rama Nur Faidzin (2223190038)
Wahyu Widhi Atmoko (2223190056)
Haidar Falih Haya (2223190069)
Arsi syahid yusuf miraj (2223190080)
Yosafat Samuel Pieter (2223190092)
Sisi Tania (2223190098)
Dentamira Rafi Kumala Sari (2223190107)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
SULTAN AGENG TIRTAYASA UNIVERSITY
2021
 PREFACE
Praise be to God Almighty for all the blessings and help that has been given to the
author to complete this paper. Thanks to the guidance and grace, the author was able to
complete the paper entitled "THE POLITENESS ANALYSIS ON LANGUAGE USE
BETWEEN OFFICE EMPLOYEE AND TEACHER" on time. This paper was prepared for
the purpose of the assignment Language, Culture, and Society at the Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa
University.
The author hopes that this paper can be useful for the readers. The author would like
to thank for all the assistance that has been given by various parties who directly or indirectly
in compiling this paper.
The author realizes that there are many shortcomings in this paper. Therefore, criticism and
suggestions will be very helpful for the author to improve the quality of this paper.

Serang, 24th, December, 2021

Author

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
PREFACE...................................................................................................................................i

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1

1.1 Background of Study...................................................................................................1

1.2 Problem of Formulation..............................................................................................2

1.3 Objective......................................................................................................................2

CHAPTER II RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................3

A. Research Design..........................................................................................................3

B. Research Subject.........................................................................................................3

C. Research Object...........................................................................................................3

D. Research Time and Place.............................................................................................3

E. Research Instrument....................................................................................................3

CHAPTER III FINDINGS & DISCUSSION............................................................................5

A. Findings.......................................................................................................................5

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................10

REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................11

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

(Gorys, 1997)defined language as ameans of communication between members of the
community in the form of a symbol of sound produced by the speech organ. Language is
a communication tool used by everyone in their daily life as a means to convey
information and arguments to others. language is a tool to interact or tools to
communicate, in a sense, means to convey thoughts, ideas, concepts, or even a feeling.
Language either realized or not it has an important meaning among their speakers. In
short, Language is a tool of self- expression and served as a tool to show their identity as
well.
According to Keraf in 1997, the language has certain functions that are used
accordings to the needs of a person, i.e, as a tool for self-expression, as a means to
communicate, as a tool to organize and adapt to social integration in the environment or
circumstances, and as a tool for social control. The role of language as a communication
tool such as: 1) Language as a tool to interact with others, 2) Language reflects a person’s
level of education, 3) Indicates authority, 4) As the force of law, 5) Attract the customer,
6) Indicates a person's social standing.
As the explanation above, the function of language which determined by the needs of
person and the role of language as communication tool will affect how people use the
language, one of which is in term of politeness. Politeness is the feature of language use
that most clearly reveals the nature of human sociality as expressed in speech. Politeness
is essentially a matter of taking into account the feelings of others as to how they should
be interactionally treated, including behaving in a manner that demonstrates appropriate
concern for interactors’ social status and their social relationship.
politeness inheres not in words or in sentences per se, but in utterances uttered in a
context, by virtue of the successful communication of a polite attitude or intention.
Politeness is ascribed to a speech act, or to an interactional move, not to a strategy or its
linguistic realization per se. In other approaches, politeness is taken to be the expected
background to interaction; it is normally not communicated but consists in following
expectations as to appropriate behavior.

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 Politeness in the language used to communicate varies according to the person's needs
and also what the person's role/profession is in the society or even at the workplace. For
example, the language used by teachers when communicating with fellow teachers and
students is certainly different from the language used by office employees at work, one of
the differences lies in politeness in the language they use. In this paper, we would like to
discuss the results of our research to prove what causes the difference at the workplace
and what are the different between those two professions in terms of politeness in their
language used.

1.2 Problem of Formulation

2. What are the factors that lead to language differences at workplace?
3. What are the differences between the language from teacher and an employee in terms
of politeness?

1.3 Objective
2. Analyze the factors that lead the differences in language use at workplace.
3. Analyze the differences of politeness between the language from teacher and
employee.

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 CHAPTER II
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Design
The researcher used a qualitative approach with descriptive qualitative
methods. Researchers present data in the form of writing based on conditions in the
field. Bogdan and Taylor (1975) in Harimurti (2016) stated that the qualitative
research method is a method that presents descriptive data in both oral and written
forms that can be observed. Qualitative method is a research method used to
describe the actual situation in the field (Harimurti, 2016).

B. Research Subject
Subject of the research is the researcher's friend and mother, the researcher choose
them as the subject because one of them is a teacher and the another is an employee.

C. Research Object
The object of this research was the differences of language use between an Office
Employee and Teacher.

D. Research Time and Place

This research was conducted in the city of Tangerang

E. Research Instrument
Research instruments are devices used by researchers to obtain the desired
data. To answer the question, the researcher conducted an interview and observation
to obtain the required data.

1) Interview
Interviewing is a popular way of gathering qualitative research data
because it is perceived as “talking,” and talking is natural. Interviews do not
presuppose any statistical knowledge, and persons to interview, called
respondents, might be close at hand and willing (Griffee, 2005). There is some
question that will be asking by researcher.
1. Does communication at your workplace is important?
2. How is your communication going at your workplace? Is it have to be polite?
3. What do you think about politeness communication at the workplace?

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 4. Do you see yourself already having good and polite communication with
your colleagues?
5. How often do you use formal and informal language?
6. To whom did you use both formal and informal language?
7. Did you also use small talk, or a straightforward communication?
8. Do you communicate with your boss? If yes, how often? And how did you
make your communication?
9. Could you give one example about your communication in workplace?
2) Observation
Observing in a setting is a special skill that requires management of
issues such as the potential deception of the people being interviewed, impression
management, and the potential marginality of the researcher in a strange setting
(Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995). Creswell (1998: 125) shares some steps of
observing that can be shortened from pre-observing where the researcher should
select the observation site and make sure about who will be observed, and for
how long the observation will be held. The second step is observing and the
researcher has to start recording. In observation, the researcher should be passive
and give no treatment to the object. The last step is after observing, slowly
withdraw from the site, thanking the participants and informing them of the use of
the data and their accessibility to the study.

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 CHAPTER III
FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
A. Findings

After observing and also interviewing both the teacher and also the employee
regarding the language use and the politeness usage during their profession as teacher
and employee, the researchers came up with several results.
1. Teacher
The interview being done in an online session where the interviewee asked
nine questions to the respondent (teacher), and the result as follows:

Question Answer
1. Does communication at your “Communication is important
workplace is important? because it could create good bond
with anyone. It is a way to delivery
any info, thoughts and also to make
it less-boring”
2. How is your communication “Yes, it has to be polite because I
going at your workplace? Is try to communicate with students,
it have to be polite? their parents and also to my co-
workers which are the same role as
me, as tutors”
3. What do you think about “Politeness is kind of important
politeness communication at the because it frames our role as a
workplace? tutor. Sometimes when we try to
deliver of respond to something we
have to make sure that we deliver it
proper and I personally likes to
respond it as honest and polite as I
can. When asking students to do
something for example, I did use
some straightforward expression so
no need to use small talk, but It did
not go 100% applied to daily
communication.”
4. Do you see yourself already “I always build communication in a
having good and polite proper way and try to inform
communication with your students in class to use formal and
colleagues? polite language, so that the
professionalism they have is intact
and they also learn some things.”
5. How often do you use formal and “Quite often but it only happens
informal language? when inside class. But after that it
becomes informal because talking
outside the class is primarily

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between one or two people so there
are no pressure and urgency
whatsoever. It means that me as
tutor becomes calmer and to make
them as my friend.”

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6. To whom did you use both formal “Formal to parents, informal
and informal language? students but then again, only in
outside classroom.”
7. Did you also use small talk, or a “Small talk is interesting to creates
straight-forward communication? emotional relation and bonding so it
is important to me and I try not to
sound boring when communication
to students because it could create a
massive impact towards learning
with me. Because they are still kid
and they tend to bored easily as well
as drastically mood-changing
straightaway.”
8. Do you communicate with your “Yes, I always do communication
boss? If yes, how often? And how with my boss because I can consult
did you make your and discuss about the students and
communication? the flow of the learning course. I do
it often because I can share and
retrieved a lot of things from my
boss regarding how the learning
should go and how to treat the
students fair.”
9. Could you give one example “Okay so like any other teachers I
about your communication in greet them first as a way to welcome
workplace? them to the class so it goes like this:
“Okay students, good afternoon!
How was your sleep? Is it good?”
“Well, I hope you already fill up
your stomach with your favo snacks
so therefore we can start this lesson,
okay?”

The teacher gave a brief explanation about how communication went at his
workplace. He also does not want to be boring inside classroom so therefore
he initiates small talk to the students. His idea of mixing informal and formal
language proved to be effective according to his vision. He said that by having
those two mix up, the students can be more interactive and make the nuance
less boring because the goal is to have effective, yet friendly learning
environment. he also stated that being a teacher does not focus one particular
thing (on this case, the materials), but moreover, his role is to make the
students have more

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 motivation to learn by themselves, and to guide themselves to master the
material, and to improve their thinking.

The teacher also gives some prove of his conversation between him and the
students. The researcher will transcribe it into sentence, and to make it clear,
“T” as the teacher, and “s” as the student

T : “Hai Nad, if you have free time on the weekend, you may follow
this speaking training at today’s talk because I am going to share you
about the trick, and perhaps being a part of the program.
S : “When is it? Oh, next week?”
T : “maybe there will be another information about the schedule, posted
on their Instagram”
S : “what will we do there?”
T : “Well specifically discuss about English, particularly in speaking
and to create an English environment during the session”
S : “Okay sir, I will think about it.”

The politeness used by both the teacher and the student is positive politeness.
It is proved when the teacher asks the student to join a session by having some
polite asking. The offer being asked by the teacher is to make sure that if the
student is not having any activity so therefore the student could join the
session. The teacher is respected the student so therefore he offered it politely.

2. Employee
The results in a form of transcription from oral responds from an employee
that share her thoughts to be consider:

Question Answer
1. Does communication at your “I think communication should, and
workplace is important? I will emphasize it in the word
“should” especially in working
place at my office. Surely
communication is as essential as it
can be”
2. How is your communication “The communication needs to be
going at your workplace? Is clear, concise, and polite of course.
it have to be polite? The politeness is the one to
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 consider, moreover to the boss. I
need to give my own reports
through online because the
pandemic and I need to revise my
own words couple of times to make
sure the words that I choose is
correct.”
3. What do you think about “Politeness communication is a
politeness communication at the wholesome of conversation frame so
workplace? it becomes conceivable to see that
any politeness (positive and
negative) needs to be put out at the
exact moment, because I think the
use of those two is conditional.”
4. Do you see yourself already “I think so, yeah. I found myself
having good and polite content with my language when
communication with your communicate to my co-workers and
colleagues? to my boss, although it is kind of
tricky (laugh).”
5. How often do you use formal and “To be honest I use formal only at
informal language? working hours and after that I use
informal because I thought that the
working time is over and I no longer
need to think about work.”
6. To whom did you use both formal “I often use formal language to my
and informal language? boss, to the superior ones up there
and informal to my co-workers.”
7. Did you also use small talk, or a “I use small talk to my co-workers
straight-forward communication? and straightforward to my boss. I
think I know what to say to everyone
at my office so therefore I use
concise message to my boss about
any topic, just to play safe (laugh)”
8. Do you communicate with your “Yeah, almost every day. Like I said
boss? If yes, how often? And how before, I just use formal language
did you make your and being concise so that no need to
communication? have any other discussion other
than the job.”
9. Could you give one example “Perhaps about the reports that I
about your communication in usually give but I am not going to
workplace? tell you what kind. But it is like
when you want to submit your
assignment to your teacher or
lecturer.”

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The respondent talked about how she managed to keep the communication as
efficient as possible by keeping the formal and informal in it. She said that she
will talk to her senior or even her boss if there is anything relate to the job, and
she use formal language. After that she used informal when talking to her co-
workers who have the same age or same job role. Being polite is one of her
main goals when communicating to her boss, she makes sure that she does not
mistype or has a mistake when uttering.
The employee also gave an exhibit between she and her boss. To give an
initial, the “E” is the employee while the “B” is her supervisor or boss.
B : “Sis bisa set time gak buat discuss tentang laporan data seller
kemarin?”
E : “Ohh, iya kak bisa. Di jam berapa ya kakak kosongnya?”
B : “Plan ku sih jam 3 sore nanti aja”
E : “Oh, oke noted kak.”
B : “Okay thanks, sama boleh bantu update datanya gak?”
E : “Oke kak, bisa. Nanti aku hubungi partnerku untuk di e-mail”
B : “Okay, thanks”

The conversation above was transcribed from the employee’s conversation

through WhatsApp. The politeness being used is negative politeness. It is
shown in the conversation that the boss was directly asking the employee if
she could give her the data. There was no small talk happened during the
conversation and it also used informal language.

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 CONCLUSION

The function of language which determined by the needs of person and the role of
language as communication tool will affect how people use the language, one of which is in
term of politeness. Politeness is the feature of language use that most clearly reveals the
nature of human sociality as expressed in speech. Politeness is essentially a matter of taking
into account the feelings of others as to how they should be interactionally treated, including
behaving in a manner that demonstrates appropriate concern for interactors’ social status and
their social relationship.
Politeness inheres not in words or in sentences per se, but in utterances uttered in a
context, by virtue of the successful communication of a polite attitude or intention. Politeness
in the language used to communicate varies according to the person's needs and also what the
person's role/profession is in the society or even at the workplace. For example, the language
used by teachers when communicating with fellow teachers and students is certainly different
from the language used by office employees at work, one of the differences lies in politeness
in the language they use. In this paper, we would like to discuss the results of our research to
prove what causes the difference at the workplace and what are the different between those
two professions in terms of politeness in their language used.

The result of the analysis based on the findings above shows that both the teacher and
the employee have different approach based on who they are facing, as well as the relation of
the co-workers. The teacher mostly used informal and formal, plus the positive politeness
because the teacher faces student which requires polite language. On the other hand,
employee mostly used formal and the way she communicates with her boss is generating a
negative politeness, so it means the direction from the boss is concise and imperative, rather
than using small talk.

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 REFERENCES
Gorys, K. (1997). Komposisi. Ende-Flores: Nusa Indah.
Penelope Brown, Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
, 2015 International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Volume
18

Bogdan dan Taylor. (1975) dalam J. Moleong, Lexy. (1989).Metodologi Penelitian

Kualitatif. Bandung: Remadja Karya.

Griffee, Dale T. "Research Tips: Interview Data Collection." Journal of Developmental

Education 28.3 (2005): 36-37.

Harimurti, D. (2016). An analysis of students' phrasal verbs translation at english

department of sultan ageng tirtayasa university. University of Sultan Ageng

Tirtayasa, 1-90.

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