Teaching Language Politeness through social media for the Elementary School Students

Abstract

Linguistic politeness is a crucial component of communication that facilitates pleasant social relationships. In elementary schools, teaching language etiquette is vital because it builds the groundwork for good communication and interpersonal connections. With the introduction of social media, young students now have access to numerous language-learning sites. This paper will investigate the teaching of language courtesy to elementary school children via social media. This study examines research on language etiquette, social media, and their connection with language acquisition. The study suggests a framework for teaching language civility through social media and includes guidelines for its application in elementary schools. The research design employs quantitative descriptive research. Over the period of January to August 2022, observations were made by examining Whatsapp conversations between students and teachers, as well as between students, using both private WhatsApp and WhatsApp groups. The number of observed WA conversations was 1,200. There were as many as sixty pupils who responded to the questionnaire. According to the findings of the study, students' compliance with the politeness principle in written contact with professors and peers is more respectful than violations of the principle. Nonetheless, the level of politeness in the language used by elementary school students must be significantly enhanced. The majority of impoliteness occurs in greetings, message content, closing greetings, slang phrases, standard and non-standard abbreviations, and punctuation. Hence, elementary school kids require instruction in language courtesy.