An Investigation of Macro and Micro Politeness Strategies in Iranian Junior and Senior High schools' English Textbooks

The present study analyzes the high schools' English textbooks from the pragmatic aspect. The primary aim of the study is to investigate the macro and micro politeness strategies used in textbooks' dialogues based on Brown and Levinsons' (1987) Politeness Theory. The secondary aim of the study is to find out whether there is a significant relationship between textbooks' levels and the amount of politeness strategies used in them. Therefore, the frequencies and percentages of macro and micro politeness strategies were specified. Moreover, Pearson Correlation Test was used to find out the relationship between textbooks' levels and the amount of politeness strategies used in them. The results indicated that all types of macro politeness strategies were used; however, there is a huge difference among the frequencies of the macro and micro politeness strategies. Moreover, it was found out that as the as the textbooks' levels are increased, the amount of politeness strategies used in them are decreased. The results of the study can provide useful information for English textbooks' material developers.