Resumen de Raising awareness of politeness in business writing

Alex Henry

• By concentrating on the surface linguistic features at the expense of context, ELT materials present the relationship between a form of the language and its function as invariable. This paper shows how a language matrix can be used to raise awareness of the role context plays in determining language choice for a given communicative function. Using the example of making a request in a business setting, the paper describes how a language matrix can make learners aware of how the filling of syntagmatic slots in lexical phrases results in different degrees of politeness depending on the business relationship between the addresser and the addressee. The paper suggests how the matrix can be used in language awareness and consciousness‐raising activities to provide opportunities for contrastive analysis and discussion of politeness strategies across cultures.