What Do Iranian EFL Learners and Teachers Think of Teaching Impoliteness?

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Shiraz University, Iran

2 Young Researchers Club Member, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord Branch

Abstract

Every language involves friendly and polite as well as hostile and impolite situations
in which language users have to use the context-appropriate language. However,
unlike politeness which has generated a great number of studies, few studies have
been conducted on impoliteness especially in EFL contexts. The present study aimed
to see whether language learners and teachers hold the same idea concerning
teaching impoliteness in an Iranian EFL context. One hundred EFL learners and 70
EFL teachers were surveyed through a questionnaire. The results indicated that the
language learners and teachers differed significantly in their attitudes towards most
of the issues related to impoliteness. However, gender was not a determining factor
in this regard, as the only aspect of impoliteness in which gender made a significant
difference was the level of proficiency deemed appropriate for teaching
impoliteness.

Keywords