Communicative Compitence: Use of Polite Forms in a Case Study of Kaaga Girls' High School

Abstract

This study is based on the established fact that the teacher has authority over the student, thus, the students should address the teacher politely. It aimed at finding out whether- students in Kaaga Girls' High School in Meru are sensitive to teachers' feelings as politeness theory demands and if they use the polite forms and strategies that they should have learnt by now according to KIE Syllabus (2002) as they speak. with teachers. The study also aimed at finding out the teachers' views about the use of polite forms by their students in the school. The background of the study and literature review gives some of the major studies on politeness in general and the findings of some of the specific studies on communicative competence and especially on politeness in English speaking communities and other languages both locally and internationally. Politeness is expected of everyone in society and especially when addressing a senior person. The sampling techniques used are purposive sampling, for teachers and random sampling for students. The data was tape- recorded and observation method and questionnaires used to collect the data which was put into frequency tables and analyzed qualitatively. The details in the summary of the findings established the students use polite forms while talking to the teachers but not always making 53.5% of the teachers say they rarely or never use polite forms. Finally, pedagogical implications of the study have been examined and suggestions made of that the findings can be useful in preparing the curriculum and examinations in English. More recommendations for further research like studying other schools in this field are provided in the concluding chapter together with the limitations experienced of money and time to study many schools in the course of the study