Politeness Strategies In The American Masterchef Episode 6 Season 3 In 2012

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Politeness strategies have been a potential topic for study and interested by many researchers. There have been a number of studies into politeness strategies in business letters and TV series. However, few has been recognized towards the popular reality show “American MasterChef”. This is the reason for the choice of carrying out a study into “Politeness strategies in the American MasterChef episode 6 season 3 in 2012.” The study aimed at finding out the politeness strategies used by the judges when giving comments on contestants’ performances and making announcements throughout two rounds of the episode. This study applied both quantitative and qualitative method to analyze data. In addition to the categorization of the utterances made by judges into types of politeness strategies to calculate the frequencies and percentages of each type in each round, observation research tool was also employed to find out the possible reasons behind such numbers. The results showed that, as regards to the comments on dishes, the judges tended to apply Positive politeness strategies the most frequently, followed by Off-record strategies as the second most. The choice of each type was made in relevance to the format of each round and the quality of the dishes tasted. Regarding the judges’s announcement section, throughout the whole American MasterChef Episode 6 season 3 in 2012, the judges still used Positive politeness strategies most commonly, but unlike when giving comments where the second most frequently used were Off-record strategies, here the judges applied Ball on-record strategies the second most. Their flexible choice of politeness strategies might indicate American values and their mindful communication skills.