LANGUAGE IMPOLITENESS AND POWER IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION AT SMK SWASTA PAB (PERSATUAN AMAL BAKTI) LUBUKPAKAM

The objectives of the study were to find out: (1) the types of language impoliteness used by the students to the teacher and (2) the reasons for using language impoliteness by the students to the teacher. The study was descriptive qualitative. The subjects of the study were the students of class XII TKJ (Teknik Komputer Jaringan) of SMK Swasta PAB (Persatuan Amal Bakti) Lubukpakam. The data of the study were the students’ impolite utterances to the teacher recorded from the conversations in the classroom interaction. The data were identified, analyzed, and categorized based on Culpeper’s theory (1996, 2003). The findings of the study show that: (1) there were four types of language impoliteness found in the students’ interaction to the teacher namely: bald on record impoliteness, positive impoliteness, negative impoliteness, and withhold politeness, and (2) the reasons why the students used language impoliteness to the teacher; from the students’ perspective, they used language impoliteness to their teacher because they wanted (a) to mock others (b) to vent negative feeling, (c) to show power, (d) to clarify something, (e) to show disagreement, and (f) to show dissatisfaction, and from the teacher’s perspective, the students used language impoliteness to the teachers because a) the teachers realized that they ignored the power which they actually had, b) the students tend to use impolite languages because of their social environment around home and from the students’ family background. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the students used language impoliteness to their teachers intently to cause disharmony between them. Some suggestions are directed to those who are interested in understanding language impoliteness as found in the practice.