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ELT Journal Advance Access originally published online on September 29, 2007
ELT Journal 2008 62(4):375-384; doi:10.1093/elt/ccm066
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.

How rude! Teaching impoliteness in the second-language classroom

Gerrard Mugford

Gerrard Mugford has been involved in language teaching and teacher education in Mexico for 17 years. He has published mainly in the areas of interpersonal language use, second-language politeness, and critical discourse analysis. He is currently working at the Modern Languages Department, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. He holds a PhD from the Institute of Education, University of London

Email: g_mugford{at}yahoo.com


  Abstract

English language teaching tends to deal with the pleasanter side of second-language interaction such as making friends, relating experiences, and expressing likes/dislikes while ignoring such everyday communicative realities as rudeness, disrespect, and impoliteness. While neglected in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom, impoliteness is likely to be experienced by second-language (L2) users in the target-language context or when interacting with other L2 users. By drawing on the experiences of 84 L2 users in Mexico, I identify impolite situations encountered in second-language interaction and discuss how L2 users can be prepared for such everyday communicative realities. In this paper, I argue that L2 users need to be given choices when confronted with rudeness so that they decide how they want to react.

Final revised version received May 2007


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