A Study on the Aspects of the Realization of the Positive and Negative Politeness Strategies of Korean Learners and Teachers Focusing on the Classes for Grade 2, 3 & 4 Learners
본고에서는 적극적·소극적 공손 전략이 어떻게 나타나는지 그 실현 양상을 살펴보는 것에 목적을 두고 한국어수업에서 교사와 학습자의 발화를 전사한 자료를 통해 살펴보았다. 적극적·소극적 공손 전략은 체면과 공손성 이론에 기반하는데 이론은 Brown & Levinson(1987)에 의해 체면위협행위를 피하는 전략으로 발전하였고 이 연구에서는 적극적·소극적 공손 전략에 초점을 두고 한국어수업에서는 어떻게 나타나는지 분석하였다. 분석 결과, A와 C수업에서는 관심 기울이기 전략이, B수업에서는 제안·요구·약속하기 전략이 가장 많이 사용되었다. 또한 세 수업 모두에서 적극적 공손 전략이 소극적 공손 전략보다 더 많이 사용되었는데 이는 세 수업에서 교사와 학습자 간 에 체면을 위협하는 행위가 적었다는 것이고 이로써 수업 분위기가 좋았다는 것도 추측할 수 있다. 그러나 이 연구에서는 교사와 학습자의 발화를 따로 구분하여 비교하지 않았고, 수준에 따른 차이가 어떠 한지 구체적으로 살펴보지는 않았다는 한계점이 있다. 이 연구의 의의는 적극적·소극적 공손 전략의 실현 양상을 통해 어떤 전략을 보다 많이 사용하였는지에 따라 수업의 분위기, 학습자와 교사의 관계를 추측할 수 있다는 것이다.
Aiming to examine the realization of positive and negative politeness strategies, this thesis has surveyed the transcripts of the speeches of teachers and learners in the Korean language classes. The positive and negative politeness strategies are based on the face and politeness theories. Face may be defined as ‘one’s public image asserted about oneself’. Face as such can be divided into positive and negative face. Positive face refers to the speaker’s desire to see his or her wishes respected by the interlocutors, and negative face refers to an individual’s right to behave freely lest the speaker’s wishes not be deterred by others and the desire not to be coerced by others. The theory developed into the strategy to avoid face-threatening acts by Brown and Levinson (1987). This study, which focuses on the positive and negative politeness strategies, has examined how they show in the Korean language classes through the transcripts of the speeches of teachers and learners.
The analysis of the Korean language classes showed that the positive politeness strategy registered a higher level of frequency than the negative politeness strategy. This showed that the three classes involved less face-threatening acts between the learners and the teachers. The study is significant, in that the how the positive and negative politeness strategies were realized enables it to guess at the class atmosphere and the relationship between the learner and the teacher, depending on which strategies were used more frequently. It is because a positive classroom atmosphere in which participants trust one another will use mainly the positive politeness strategies, whereas a tense classroom atmosphere in which participants cannot cooperate will use the greatly face-threatening negative politeness strategies. The analysis will enable the teacher to examine the aspects of the strategies which the teacher frequently uses and find help in improving the class later.
However, this study has limitations, in that it failed to distinguish the teachers’ speeches from the learners’ and closely examine the differences according to levels. As the positive and negative politeness strategies have not been researched through the speeches in the Korean classes, a lot of research topics remain to be carried out, including how the frequently used strategies vary with the levels of the learners, how female and male teachers differ, and what differences the learners’ nationality and sex make in how the strategies are realized. Looking ahead, these studies need to continue.