Phonetic and Phonological Transfer

 

Phonetic and Phonological Transfer 

By/ Brwa R. Sharif

 

Abstract:

             This term project sheds a light on phonetic and phonological contrasts on some languages that influence on the acquisition of second and foreign languages. It is clear that second and foreign language learners have sometimes difficulties in pronunciation, like Kurdish, Persian, Arabic learners of English language because of Influences of their first languages. I will talk about phonetic and phonological differences, in which first language affect second or foreign language acquisition.

 

Native language influence

There are certain influences for acquisition second and foreign languages in this term project we will focus on phonetics, phonemes, segments, and supra segments.

 

1)   Phonetic differences

         A phonetic description is necessary since sounds in two languages often show different physical characteristics, including both acoustic characteristics (the pitch of sound) and articulatory characteristics (how mouth is widely open in producing a sound) (Odlin, 1997).

       Two languages frequently have sounds which may seem identical but which in fact are acoustically different, such as American English /d/ as compared to Saudi Arabian Arabic /d/. The duration of American English /d/ is shorter at the end than Saudi Arabian Arabic /d/. But Flege’s analysis (1980, as cited in Odlin, 1997) shows that learners can modify their production of sounds so that their production comes closer to the target language norms, for example, Saudi Arabian learners of English produce English /d/ but neither fully native like nor target like, it is in between.

 

2)   Phonemic differences

            A factor that influences inter-lingual identifications is the set of relations implicit in the phonemic system of a language. Scholes (1968, as cited in Odlin, 1997) has documented in his study that non-native English speakers are likely to categorize foreign language sounds largely in terms of the phonemic inventory of the native language. For example, there are notoriously different phonemes between /l/ and /r/ in English language but there is not phonemic distinction between them in Japanese and Korean languages, therefore they have difficulties to pronounce them correctly.

          According to Keshavarz (2012) in Persian language / θ/ and / ð/ are not present, as a result Persian-speaking learners of English have difficulties to pronounce them, and they may pronounce (think) as /tɪnk/ or (then) as /den/.

 

3)   Syllable types and consonant clusters

          At first it is better to know syllable, it is defined in Keshavarz 2012 as ‘is a unit of pronunciation typically larger than a single sound and smaller than a word’. Because types of syllables are also important in the acquisition of second and foreign language as well as consonant clusters. For example, in English language there are 18 different types of syllables, while in other languages are different such as Kurdish language in which there are only 6. therefore it would be difficult for Kurdish learners of English to pronounce all English syllable types, and Karimi (1994, as cited in Rahimpour, 2010) has documented that Kurdish language allow 2 consonants initially and 3 at the end, therefore whenever it is more than that it would be difficult for Kurdish-speaking learners of English. As Carlisle (2001, as cited by Keshavarz, 2012) has stated, the longer the onset or coda, the more marked the syllable is considered to be. Consequently, English syllable structure that allows up to three consonants word initially and up to four consonants in the final position is extremely difficult for Persian-speaking of English.

 Types of segmental errors

1)   Phonemic errors

           Phonemic errors can arise when the phonemic inventories of two languages differ. For example, many English speakers have difficulty to pronounce /x/ and often fail to distinguish minimal pairs such as /naxt/ and /nakt/, because it is not present in English.

           As Keshavarz (2012) states that some phonological errors are due to lack of certain target language phonemes in the learner’s mother tongue. And Rahimpour has documented that English phonemes /θ/and / ð/ are absent in Kurdish. Therefore Kurdish learners of English have difficulties to pronounce them correctly.

 

2)   Phonetic errors

        Phonetic errors involve cases of cross-linguistic equivalence at the phonemic but not the phonetic level. For example, the German uvular /r/ and the English retroflex /r/ are corresponding consonants in cognate forms such as German rar and English rare, their acoustic properties differ considerably. Moreover, speakers of American English are normally not accustomed to using the uvula, whereas speakers in many regions of Germany are. Therefore the /r/ sounds that English speakers are likely to produce will thus differ considerably from the target language consonant.

 

 

3)   Allophonic errors

        Allophonic errors can arise in cases of inter-lingual identifications of phonemes in two languages. For example, both English and German have a voiceless alveolar stop /t/, but Americans are liable to pronounce acoustically it as voiced /d/ when it occurs between vowels such as writer they pronounce it as wider. And American learners of German language they may produce voiced instead of voiceless, such as German bitter.

 

4)   Distributional errors

          Distributional errors can occur when there are distributional differences in the combination of sounds. For example, German has a phoneme /ts/ which is acoustically similar to the consonant cluster found at the end of English words such as /its/ and /bits/. Therefore speakers of English have no difficulty in pronouncing the German phoneme when it occurs at the end of words, as in sitz (seat), they do often have difficulty in pronouncing it at the beginning of words, as in zu (/tsu/, to). When there are distributional differences in the sounds of two languages, transfer errors may occur.

       Thus the position of a sound within a word or syllable can affect how easy a sound is to pronounce.

         As it has been earlier explained, because of the consonant clusters the Persian-speakers have difficulties to pronounce some of the syllable types, therefore one of the major sources of pronunciation errors of Iranian EFL learners is the complexity of consonant clusters, the occurrence of more than one consonant in the onset or coda of a syllable, especially in the initial position. This is because Persian does not allow initial consonant clusters while in English up to three consonants can occur syllable initially. As a result Persian-speakers of English automatically insert a vowel before or in between the initial consonant clusters (Keshavarz, 2012), for example they may pronounce school as /eskuːl/ or street as / seterit/.

 

 

5)   Spelling pronunciation of words

         One of the other phonological errors is the spelling pronunciation of words. That is, the learner tends to pronounce words as they are spelled. For example, wild /wɪld/, flood /flud/(Keshavarz, 2012).

 

6)   The problem of silent letters

         Another cause of pronunciation errors is the problem of silent letters, which is similar to the previous type. In English, certain letters are spelled but not pronounced. EFL learners since they are likely to pronounce these silent letters such as, bomb as /bɒmb/, calm as /kalm/, honest as /honest/ (Keshavarz, 2012).

 

Supra segmental patterns

       The influences on pronunciation frequently evident in suprasegmental contrasts involving stress, tone, rhythm, and other factors.

1)    Stress patterns

         Stress patterns are crucial in pronunciation since they affect syllables and the segments that constitute syllables, as seen in the stress alternation in English between certain nouns and verbs (Odlin, 1997).

Combine v. /kəmˈbaɪn/

Combine n. /ˈkɒm.baɪn/

           Therefore when non-native speakers do not use a stress pattern that is a norm in stress pattern, this can result in a total misperception by listeners (Cutler, 1984, as cited in Odlin, 1997). Bansal (1976, as cited in Odlin, 1997) argues that errors in stress are the most important cause of unintelligibility in Indians, misidentifications by listeners. For example, an Indian speaker for the word (division) may say/ˈdɪvɪʒ. ə n/ and a British speaker may perceive as /ˈriː.dʒ ə n/.

              For some words a change in the position of stress in Kurdish language results in a change either in the meaning of that word or a change in its grammatical status. berizî /bʌrˈzi/ here it means (height) as the stress is on the last syllable, while the stress it is on the first syllable such as, berizî /ˈbʌrzi/ means (you are tall)(Jacub, 1993, as cited in Rahimpour, 2011).

            Keshavarz (2012) states that students tend to transfer the phonological features of their native language to those of the target language. For example, in Persian stress is predominantly on the final syllable of words (e.g., sæ ndæ li ‘chair) while in English the position of word stress is not so predictable and it varies according to parts of speech and the number of syllables in a word. Therefore, Persian-speakers learners of English, in many cases, tend to transfer rules of stress in their MT to English words (e.g., putting primary stress on the final syllable of words such as dentist as /den.ˈtɪst/ and alphabet/æl.fə.ˈbet/ instead of the first syllable.

2)    Tone

           A tone is a pitch element or register added to a syllable to convey grammatical or lexical information (Loos, et al., 2012).

             In tone languages pitch levels have phonemic significance. For example, Mandarian Chinese syllable (Ma) represents (mother) when it is used with a high level tone and represents (horse) when it is used with a low rising tone. Therefore it appears to be true that speakers of tone languages encounter difficulties in learning another closely related tone language, Leung (1978, as cited in Odlin, 1997) notes that Cantonese speakers often have difficulties with Mandarin and that such difficulties are due in part to the tone system of the native language.

           Pitch in English does not signal phonemic distinctions as it does in Chinese, but it does convey important information about speakers’ attitudes and emotional states. A study by Rintell (1984, as cited in Odlin, 1997) suggests that speakers of Chinese have special difficulty in identifying the emotional states of speakers of English; in contrast to speakers of Spanish and Arabic.

          Intonation signals help to structure conversation by providing signals for opening and closings for the meaning of turns (Brazil, Coulthard, and Johns, 1980, as cited in Odlin, 1997).

            A similarity in suprasegmental patterns of two languages can give a learner important advantages in learning the syntax of the target language according to a study by Keller-Cohen (1979).

            A similarity or dissimilarity between native and target language intonation can affect production in other ways. Adams (1979) attributes much of the divergence of ESL speakers’ speech rhythms to the rhythmic systems in their native languages.

 

The cross-linguistic frequency of phonemes

            Languages tend to have a mix of sounds, some found in many languages, such has /i/, /u/ and /o/ all appeared in the phonemic inventories of over 250 languages out of 317, and some not so commonly found, such as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative / ħ/ in Kurdish that appeared in only 12 other languages (Mddison, 1984, as cited in Odlin, 1997). Any contrastive analysis is likely to predict that both sounds / ħ/ and /x/ will cause difficulty for English-speaking learners of Kurdish but the facts of cross-linguistic frequency suggest that / ħ/ will cause far more difficulty (Briere, 1968, as cited in Odlin, 1997).

 

Common phonological rules

               One rule that has proved to be especially interesting involves consonant devoicing. In devoicing, a voiced consonant becomes voiceless. In some languages certain consonants at the ends of words become voiceless, for instance in German the final consonant of Rad (‘wheel’) is pronounced the same as the final consonant in Rat (‘advice’). Whereas in English there is not any rule such as devoicing therefore according to Moulton (1926b, as cited in Odlin, 1997) English speakers have little difficulty, in learning to pronounce Rad and Rat identically.

             There is other evidence of the naturalness of the devoicing rule. Eckman (1981a, 1981b, as cited in Odlin, 1997) has documented cases of speakers of Cantonese and Spanish devoicing word final stops in English even though such a rule does not exist in either the native or target languages. For example, Cantonese speakers may pronounce pig like pick even though Cantonese does not have a devoicing rule.

 

Syllable structure

              Japanese speakers never devoice final consonants; thus, words such as pig were not pronounced like pick but instead often had a vowel added to create a second syllable as in /pigə /. Eckman attributes such errors to syllable structure typology- Japanese is one of many languages that allow very few consonants to occur at the end of a word.

             Greenberg’s analysis (as cited in Odlin, 1997) indicates that languages are more likely to have syllables ending in two voiceless consonants (e.g., /-ps/ as in tops) than to have syllables ending in two voiced consonants (e.g., /-bd/ as in rubbed).

Conclusion

                   The more the phonetic and phonological contrasts in first and second or foreign languages are, the more for the learners are difficult to learn second or foreign languages. Therefore some learners encounter some phonetic and phonological problems while they learn other languages.

 

References

Keshavarz, M. H. (2012). Contrastive Analysis & Error Analysis. Tahran: Rahnama Press.

Loos, E. E., Anderson, S., Dwight, H., Day, J., Jordan, P. C., & Wingate, J. D. (Eds.). (2012, April 23). What is tone? Retrieved from Glossary of linguistic terms: http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsTone.htm

Odlin, T. (1997). Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning (Sixth Printing ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rahimpour, M. (2011). A Phonological Contrastive Analysis of Kurdish and English. International Journal of English Linguistics, 10.

 

Vernacular in U.S. Schools

Vernacular in U.S. Schools 

                                  By/ Brwa R. Sharif

Do you use both the vernacular and English when teaching? How can both languages be used in a way that supports learning? Let’s take a look at how one teacher uses both languages.

           Mr. Leva teaches high school science. He begins a lesson on motion with a preview of key vocabulary and concepts. Mr. Leva introduces the concept of motion by using the vernacular to ask students what they already know about the concept. Then he introduces some key English words that students will hear throughout the lesson: He states each word in English, and explains the meaning and provides examples in the vernacular. Afterwards, Mr. Leva teaches the lesson in English. Throughout the lesson, he pays attention to students’ facial expressions and body language. If students appear confused or lost, he code-switches to the vernacular to explain what has just been taught, then asks students to use their own words and explain the concepts in both the vernacular and English before proceeding with the lesson. At the mid-point of the lesson, he asks a higher-order thinking question in English as a way to check for understanding. One student answers correctly in the vernacular. Mr. Leva praises the student and asks her to restate the response in English. The student restates her answer in English without difficulty. Toward the end of the class period, Mr. Leva wraps up the lesson with a review of key vocabulary using the vernacular, and some questions to check for understanding.

 

Can Black Vernacular English be used in classroom?

To determine the validity of Black Vernacular English as appropriate for classroom use, there are a few key questions that have to be answered. The first major dilemma is the question of Black Vernacular English being recognized as a dialect or a language. The two terms are quite often used interchangeably, which has caused some confusion in the debate.

Professor of Anthropology at the University of Vermont J.A. Dickinson (as it is cited in Malcolm) says “A dialect is a regionally or socially distinctive variety of a language, identified by a particular set of words (vocabulary) and grammatical structures, as well as certain phonology.” (Dickinson). According to this definition, Black Vernacular English would absolutely be considered a dialect. It has roots in the English language (“variety of a language”), and also has its own particular words and phrases unique to itself. However, in the true spirit of this debate there is another side to this argument. In an article by Leslie Skinner, Joseph Cautilli and Donald Hantula (all Doctors of behavioral psychology) the argument is made the other way, they say, “So what from a functionalist perspective constitutes a language? Spoken language has both a functional and a structural component (Skinner's concept of autoclitics, 1957). By this definition, Black Vernacular English would be considered a language of its own. It has multiple people that use it, there are communities that use it and it is recognized between many people who speak it. Some may argue that there are not communities that use only Black Vernacular English. However, this article discuses an area in Northern Philadelphia and say Members of this community show great linguistic variety but a predominance of Linguistic "structures" fit the patterns commonly known as Ebonics (Labov, 1973c). Labov (1973c) was able to identify Black English Vernacular had regular grammatical patterns. He was also able to trace the roots of many of these patterns to Southern English.” (Skinner, Cautilli, Hantula). This could explain some of the debate in academic communities over the teaching of the Black English Vernacular in schools. If a vernacular cannot be identified as language, then it cannot be taught as such and will not be recognized in the academic world.

A second issue that must be addressed in deciding the validity of the use of Black Vernacular English in the classroom is the relation of this vernacular to Standard American English. Black Vernacular English finds many of its roots in the English language with influences from West African and Caribbean influences. Those who make their argument from this camp say that Black Vernacular English is “merely an imperfectly learned approximation to real English, differing from it because the speakers are careless and lazy and don't follow "the rules."(Fillmore). This is shown, for example, by the neglect of some words when speaking and the frequent use of the verb “be” (i.e. “He don’t know what he be talkin’ bout.”). This argument is based on the fact that the Black Dialect, when compared to Standard American dialect, is often grammatically inaccurate and neglects many of the rules of the English language. In an academic environment, it is easy to see why some teachers may be reluctant to include Black Vernacular English into the classroom. The goal of an education is to enrich the students mind and prepare them to be an informed member of society. When it comes to teaching English, the goal is to teach students proper grammar and linguistics so that they can gain knowledge of the English language. This was even stated as one of the goals of the Oakland County proposition to make Ebonics a recognized language. The Oakland School Board was committed to helping their students master Standard English and thought that if Black Vernacular English was recognized as a native language that they could better help their students in this quest. However, for teachers and students who are not native Black Vernacular English speakers, it is hard to accept a language in the classroom that some may consider “slang”.

The Dialect Issue

              Children from different backgrounds come to school speaking a wide variety of dialects. Should our schools try to teach all students to use a standard dialect? If so, how? If not, how should different dialects be handled in the school setting? What impact does speaking a non-school dialect have on students' academic success and on their interactions with others in and out of school? These complex and controversial questions have been debated through the years, but they have become increasingly prominent in the last three decades. In particular, the controversy aroused by the December 1996 announcement of the Oakland (CA) School board about its policy on the instruction of African American vernacular dialect speakers underscores the fact that these issues have not been resolved.

One central issue in this controversy is whether mastery and use of a standard dialect should be required in schools. Some people consider such a requirement to be discriminatory, because it places an extra burden on certain students. Others argue that it is a responsibility of the education system to teach a standard dialect to broaden students' skills and opportunities. For instance, students who do not develop facility with Standard English may find that their employment or educational potential is restricted. A student's chances for success in school and in later life may be related to mastery of Standard English.

Consequences of Dialect Differences

              Dialect differences can affect the quality of education received by some students both academically and socially (Labov, 1995). A child's dialect may interfere with the acquisition of information and with various educational skills such as reading. In a court case in Ann Arbor (MI) in 1979, a group of African-American parents sued the local school system on behalf of their children, claiming that students were being denied equal educational opportunity because of their language background (Chambers & Bond, 1983; Farr Whiteman, 1980). Specifically, the parents maintained that the schools were failing to teach their children to read because the language differences represented by their children's vernacular dialect were not taken into account. The parents won their lawsuit, and the schools were ordered to provide special staff training related to dialects and the teaching of reading.

The social consequences of belonging to a different dialect group may be more subtle, but are just as important. The attitudes of teachers, school personnel, and other students can have a tremendous impact on the education process. Often, people who hear a vernacular dialect make erroneous assumptions about the speaker's intelligence, motivation, and even morality. Studies have shown that there can be a self-fulfilling prophecy in teachers' beliefs about their students' abilities (Cazden, 1988). If an educator underestimates a student's ability because of dialect differences, the student will do less well in school, perhaps as a direct result of the negative expectations. In some cases, students are "tracked" with lower achievers or even placed in special education classes because of their vernacular speech patterns.

 

Difference vs. Deficit

Negative attitudes about speech start with the belief that vernacular dialects are linguistically inferior to standard versions of the language. In fact, the language systems of various groups of speakers may differ, but no one system is inherently better than any other. Research clearly supports the position that variation in language is a natural reflection of cultural and community differences (Labov, 1972).

Despite linguistic equality among dialects, students' language and cultural backgrounds may influence their chances for success. When children from nonmainstream backgrounds enter school, they are confronted with new ways of viewing the world and new ways of behaving. Uses of language, both oral and written, are centrally involved in this new culture (Farr & Daniels, 1986). Heath's (1983) detailed account of language and culture patterns in two rural working class communities demonstrates clearly the conflict between language and cultural practices in the community and in the school. To move toward school expectations, children may have to adapt to language structures and patterns of usage that are different from those they have been using: for example, saying "They don't have any" instead of "They don't have none" in school settings, or learning rules governing when and how to make requests.

 

Guidelines for Teaching a Standard Dialect

The fact that language differences do not represent linguistic and cognitive deficiencies is an important premise for any education program. Given the advantages that may be associated with the ability to use Standard English in appropriate situations, most schools include it as a goal of instruction for all students. Some general guidelines should be followed in teaching Standard English at any level (Wolfram & Christian, 1989).

• The teaching of Standard English must take into account the importance of the group reference factor. Speakers who want to participate in a particular social group will typically learn the language of that group, whereas those with no group reference or with antagonistic feelings toward the group are less likely to do so.
• Instruction in Standard English should be coupled with information about the nature of dialect diversity. By giving students information about various dialects, including their own, teachers can demonstrate the integrity of all dialects. This approach clarifies the relationship between standard and vernacular dialects, underscoring the social values associated with each and the practical reasons for learning the standard dialect.
• Teachers and materials developers need a clear understanding of the systematic differences between standard and vernacular dialects in order to help students learn Standard English.
• The dialect of spoken Standard English that is taught should reflect the language norms of the community. The goal of instruction should be to learn the standard variety of the local community, not some formal dialect of English that is not actually used in the area. Regional standards are particularly relevant in the case of pronunciation features.
• Language instruction should include norms of language use, along with Standard English structures. Speaking a standard dialect includes the use of particular conversational styles as well as particular language forms. For example, using Standard English in a business telephone conversation does not involve simply using standard grammar and pronunciation. It also involves other conventions, such as asking the caller to "hold" if an interruption is called for, or performing certain closing routines before hanging up.

The teaching of Standard English requires careful thought, ranging from underlying educational philosophy to particular teaching strategies, if it is to be carried out effectively and equitably.

Dialect Diversity: Opportunity, Not Liability

The active study of dialects can benefit students from all linguistic backgrounds by helping them gain a better understanding of how language works (Adger, 1997; Wolfram, Christian, & Adger, in press). At one level, dialect differences may be treated as an interesting topic within language arts study. For example, a unit on vocabulary differences from different parts of the country can be both fun and instructive. (Where do they say "soda" vs. "pop"? Or "bag" vs. "sack" vs. "poke"?) When treated more comprehensively, dialect study can provide the opportunity for students to do empirical research and to develop critical thinking skills: observation, comparison, and argumentation. Every school has nearby communities that are linguistically interesting, both in themselves and in how they compare with other communities. Students can examine their own speech patterns and gather language samples from other residents in the area. Such investigations can have the added advantages of enhancing self-awareness and the understanding of cultural diversity (Erickson, 1997). Further, sending students into the community can contribute to preservation of the cultural and oral traditions of the region. The exploration of varieties of English can also help students gain insight into differences between spoken and written language, as well as variations related to formality, genre, and special registers.

The concept of using dialect diversity and the cultural diversity that accompanies it as a resource in the curriculum presents a viewpoint that is very different from many traditional approaches. Instead of seeing differences as barriers to be overcome, the differences provide fascinating topics for scientific study.

References

Christian, D. (1997). Vernacular Dialects in U.S. Schools. Center for Applied Linguistics, 43-44.

Lam, E. (2011). Using the Vernacular and English in the Classroom. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, 20-21.

Malcolm, B. (n.d.). Classroom Vernacular. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbmalcolm.writersresidence.com%2Fsystem%2Fattachments%2Ffiles%2F21286%2Foriginal%2FClassroom_Vernacular.pdf%3F1334262742&ei=exXwUPK_Kumd0QW_iIGADA&u

 

 

Politeness in the Classroom

Politeness in the Classroom

Politeness appears to be a prevalent concept and an important factor in human interaction. As regards its definition, it is often considered socioculturally appropriate behavior and is characterized as a matter of abiding by the expectations of society. According to Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics, politeness is a term for a combination of interpersonal considerations and linguistic choices affecting the form and function of linguistic interactions. In different cultures and different contexts, politeness refers to quite different things. Politeness can be expressed verbally and non-verbally, in the classroom linguistic politeness is the way the teacher expresses politeness verbally through the use of language.

Being polite in school is necessary etiquette for a young lady or gentleman. Being polite is easy and should become an everyday practice. True politeness consists in being easy one's self, and in making every one about one as easy as one can.
A classroom that is free from teasing, stimulating, and supportive is the setting in which students can reach their maximum potential. It becomes an environment where students feel it is safe to take educational risks without worrying that others will laugh at their efforts. Example whenever a teacher or lecturer ask you question ,reply her or him in a polite and slow tone ,raise your hand whenever answering or even asking a question and expressing your opinions in classroom, it is polite to raise your hand in order to be called on.

Politeness in the classroom is one of the topics that seem almost too obvious to mention; of course, people will be polite in a classroom, just as they’re polite in a place of worship or at a job interview. But, the classroom is a bit different; it has its own rules of politeness. And, to complicate matters just a bit, these rules are modified in various ways by different institutions and by different instructors. Some instructors, for example, prefer to be addressed by their first name while others prefer to be addressed as Professor. Some allow eating and drinking in the classroom, others will tolerate coffee in early morning classes, while still others ban all food and drink. And of course such rules vary from one culture to another. The classroom in the United States does not follow the same rules of politeness as the classroom in Japan, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. And, so, to persons from other cultures, the politeness rules for American colleges can be quite confusing. In fact, a search of the Internet uncovers a variety of politeness instructions from a wide variety of academic institutions. Impoliteness is apparently a problem. Some instructors, in fact, write politeness rules into the syllabus. Some schools post their rules on their website and expect all classes to follow them. Rarely do the rules address instructor politeness; almost all are addressed to students.

If the students are polite so the teacher can teach. It is important to be polite in class so that students can do better in class and so the teacher can teach. It is important to be polite so that the students can do well in the class. Firstly, if the students are not talking loud and not using their cell phone, they will pay more attention to the lesson. In addition they will not bother the other students who are sitting around them. The students will not be able to focus and they will miss important things from the class. Furthermore, if the students are using their cell phones in the class they will be so focused in their chatting or games on their phone they will miss information that will help them on their test or miss important homework. Therefore, it is important for the students to be polite in the classroom so that the students will do well and get high marks.
              Moreover, it is important to be polite in the classroom so that the teacher can teach. If the students are making a lot of noise in the classroom they will not be able to teach. They will lose focus. In addition, they will spend most of the class time trying to get the students to listen and they will waste this time. Furthermore, the job of the teacher is to give the students the information. If the students are eating or using their phones in the classroom for text messaging, they will not give the students the information they need.

Ten rules of politeness addressed to both students and instructors
                  Ten rules of politeness addressed, some of the dos and don’ts of politeness in the classroom. Discussion of these ten rules and any others that should have been mentioned between students and instructor seems a logical way of establishing the rules for classroom politeness.
          1. Arrive on time. Whether you are instructor or student, late arrival is disturbing to everyone who arrives on time. Being habitually late signals a lax attitude toward the college experience which doesn’t help anyone. So, arriving on time is a clear demonstration of politeness and respect for the others in the room, whether students or instructor.

         2. Leave only at the end of the hour. Students should not leave until being dismissed by the instructor but the instructor should not keep the students late and have them then be late for their next class. Leaving early, like arriving late, only disturbs those who leave on time. If you must leave early for some emergency, tell the instructor or students (if that’s the custom).

        3. Wear cologne in moderation. Strong cologne or after shave lotion can trigger discomfort and resentment in those who are forced to smell this. And while the wearer often thinks the cologne smells just great, others will not necessarily share this opinion. This suggestion is especially true in large lecture classes where competing smells are likely to create real unpleasantness.

        4. Students should avoid talking to neighboring students. This not only disturbs the instructor but others around you who now have greater difficulty hearing the lecture. And you may even be disturbing the student you’re talking to. Asking the student next to you to repeat what the instructor said that you missed, only forces the other student to miss the next thing the instructor says. And instructors should talk to the entire group and not focus attention on one or two students who may be particularly engaging. Often instructors, without realizing it, favor one side of the room and that should be corrected.

      5. Use electronic devices responsibly and politely. Turn off your cell phone or pager (or at least put it on vibrator mode). Avoid using your cell phone to talk, take pictures, or text. If you’re a student, this will disturb the instructor and the students around you and will also prevent you from learning as much as you might. If you’re the instructor, you’ll disturb the entire class. If you’re expecting an urgent call that you cannot miss, take the call with as little disturbance as possible, leaving the room unobtrusively if possible. Some instructors welcome laptops while others don’t. Find out what the protocol is and then, if permitted, use the laptop to aid you in interacting with the ideas the instructor is talking about and in taking notes rather than as a distraction.

             6. As a student use the proper form of address for your instructor. This can often be confusing, especially when different instructors follow different rules. Generally, however, and unless directed otherwise by the instructor, use a relatively formal form of address. This means addressing the instructor as Dr. (if he or she has a Ph.D.), Professor (whether he or she is adjunct, assistant, associate, or full professor), or Mr. or Ms if the person does not have a Ph.D. and is not a professor. Students generally prefer to be addressed by their first name and so there is seldom any problem here. In addition, however, the instructor (and students) should use the culturally preferred terms for the students (and for people generally) and avoid any sexist, racist, heterosexist, or ageist terms. Similarly, persons with disabilities should be talked about in “person first” language for example, instead of “the blind writer” (which puts the disability first and makes it the defining feature of the person), a more appropriate and polite expression would be “the writer who is blind” (which puts the person first).

         7. Watch your language. Terms that would be considered taboo in polite society are inappropriate in the classroom. Again, the reason for this is not that these words aren’t often adequate descriptions of your meaning; it’s that they may embarrass others in the classroom. Also, their unexpectedness will lead others to focus on your use of terms rather than on your meaning and you’ll lose some of their attention. Similarly, anger communication is out of place in the classroom; spirited discussion is one thing, expressing anger over a position taken by the instructor or a student would be inappropriate. There are other avenues for you to use in taking issue with opposing positions. Another type of language that would be considered impolite is dismissive communication, the kind of communication that says (often nonverbally), “that’s not important” or “how cares about that?” whether said to something the instructor says or something a student says.

               8. As a student, ask questions as appropriate but in moderation. Taking a disproportionate amount of time asking questions is unfair to the rest of the students. Avoid asking questions that you could easily find the answer to yourself; it’s similar to the situation in online communication where you’re expected to read the FAQs before asking a question yourself. And always avoid the question, “Will this be on the test?” though this may be a quirk of my own. After being asked this a number of times, I wrote into the syllabus that everything said in class or in the text could be asked on the test. This effectively prevented anyone asking this question again. It’s a question that if you answer No many in the class will put down their pens and tune you out and if you answer Yes many will want to put down your exact words and you’ll get at least several requests to repeat yourself exactly. And then of course the instructor has to remember to add that question to the test bank.

           9. Never broadcast boredom in reactions to the instructor or to students. It’s rude. More than that, it communicates the exact opposite of what the purpose of the classroom should be interesting, engaging, and lively. If you’re the student, for example, avoid reading the newspaper or thumbing through a website or listening to your iPod; this will disturb both instructor and the students around you. If you’re the instructor avoid expressing boredom or impatience, for example, with a student’s lengthy explanation or question.

         10. Avoid eating or drinking in the classroom (generally). As already noted, some instructors have different rules about this so, if you’re a student, it’s probably best to find out first. If you’re the instructor then don’t do what the students can’t do; don’t prevent them from bringing in coffee when you bring in yours. Whether you’re the instructor or the student, avoid foods with strong odors such as oranges and take care that your food does not (literally) spill over into another space.

 

Classroom Manners: How polite were your teachers?

Some teachers were not educated enough and they were not polite for education. They hit and slapped their students. Here we have got two interviews (Couchman & Parent, 2006) and we would see how their teachers were.

Hannah Couchman, Aged 16, West Midlands

All the pupils at my school are very keen to learn, so there's no need for the kind of discipline that might be required if there wasn't such enthusiasm. I don't think any teachers are intentionally rude but they might be a bit harsh. It would be difficult to show politeness if you had a class that wouldn't listen to you. The only way to learn that manners are important is to see them from teachers as well. If they are going to preach respect, they should give some back. I understand you have to have respect for teachers, what they do is really important but other people are just as committed to their jobs and don't get called "sir". Teachers are very important to our society, but they're also people like anybody else.

Colin Campbell Parent, London

I don't think they were very polite at all, though we were expected to be very polite to them. When I was a prefect, I remember one particular teacher who would always come in and say, "Is everything shipshape and Bristol fashion?" and I would say yes, and he would say "Yes, what?” I had to say "Yes, sir". Once I was queuing for dinner and a teacher asked me what I was doing. I said "waiting for dinner" and he grabbed me by my sideburns - very painful - and dragged me right out of the school, saying "Get out, you boy!” I have no idea why; perhaps he thought I was being cheeky. I think getting teachers to be polite is a good idea - it has to cut both ways. It's about respect, really. Teachers should be respected because they're older and wiser, but they should respect the pupils' youth and vitality.

             I will finalize my essay by some proverbs; the first one which is German ‘Politeness costs little (nothing), but yields much.’ It costs nothing but it gains much. Whereas there is another Chinese proverb that says ‘Excessive politeness assuredly conceals conceit.’ So everyone should make a balance for politeness. And the last one is Czech ‘Politeness pleases even a cat’, therefore I think politeness enables instructors and students to get benefits during lectures.

References

Couchman, H., & Parent, C. C. (2006, April 25). How polite were your teachers? (H. Lacey, Interviewer) The Guardian.

DeVito, J. A. (2009, April 4). Politeness in the Classroom. Retrieved January 12, 2013, from The Communication Blog: http://tcbdevito.blogspot.com/2009/04/politeness-in-classroom.html

Jiang, X. (2010). A Case Study of Teacher’s Politeness in EFL. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 1(5), 651-655.

Polite in Class. (2012, March). Retrieved January 13, 2013, from StudyMode.com: http://www.studymode.com/essays/Polite-In-Class-941263.html

Politeness in Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved January 13, 2013, from Anti Essays.com: http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/329507.html