Beyond ‘greeting’ and ‘thanking’: politeness in job interviews
Despite the steps taken by Malaysian institutions of higher learning to equip their graduates with the necessary communication skills, local graduates are still failing to create a positive impression on the employers especially during job interviews. Hence this study explored the face-related con...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2016
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10735/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10735/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/10735/1/12159-44202-1-PB.pdf |
| Summary: | Despite the steps taken by Malaysian institutions of higher learning to equip their graduates with the necessary
communication skills, local graduates are still failing to create a positive impression on the employers
especially during job interviews. Hence this study explored the face-related concept of politeness proposed by
Brown and Levinson (1999) at job interviews. Eight final-year undergraduates taking a communication for
employment course volunteered for a mock-interview session with a human resource manager from the banking
industry. The interviews were audio- and video-recorded and subsequently transcribed. Then a micro-analysis
of the data was carried out using Brown and Levinson’s (1999) framework to identify the politeness strategies
that the candidates used. Two positive politeness strategies were identified, the first is noticing and attending to
interviewer’s interests, wants, needs or goods, and second is raising/asserting common grounds to establish
solidarity. One negative politeness strategy was identified which is requesting for clarification or repetition. The
pedagogical implications of these findings will be discussed and recommendations for teaching face-related
politeness in communication for employment courses will be offered. |
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