Directive Speech Acts on Discussion Based on Gender Perspective

Abstract

This research was conducted as an effort to describe the politeness of directive speech acts used by students from interdisciplinary backgrounds. This research method is a qualitative descriptive study involving a sociopragmatic approach. Data were obtained from the field by taking research subjects from 3 different study programs: Biology, English Literature, and Public Health. The sociopragramatic analysis indicates that the directive speech act used by the students during the discussion process include asking permission, giving permission, asking questions, and asking for understanding. The sentence mode used in directive speech acts serves to ask for permission, give permission, and evaluate an understanding of the given questions. From a gender perspective, this study found that the speech of male and female students vary structurally to give different sense of politeness. Keywords—directive speech; gender; politeness; sociopragmatics