ABSTRACT

Felisha, Amelia. 2022. Emoji Use in A Politeness Strategy in WhatsApp Chatrooms for
Academic Purposes. A Thesis, English Teacher Education Department, FKIP
Universitas Jambi, Advisor: (I) Delita Sartika, S.S., M.A., Ph.D., (II) Dr. Reli
Handayani, S.S., M.Pd.

Keywords: Emoji, Politeness strategy, Speech acts, WhatsApp, Academic purposes

This research aims to explore emojis exchanged between university students and the
lecturer on WhatsApp Group chatrooms run for academic purposes. The focus is to
reveal the meanings of the use of emojis and the politeness strategies they served.
The research was done qualitatively by analyzing data from WhatsApp chats archives
and interviewing the students involved in the chats. The WhatsApp chats archives were
analyzed by using theories of Politeness Strategy by Brown & Levinson (1988) and
Speech Acts by Austin (1962) and Searle (1979).
The analysis of WhatsApp conversations showed that the use of emojis serves all
politeness strategies and four speech acts i.e. representatives, directives, commissives,
and expressives. Interviews with the students revealed that the use of emojis does not
mean they are uneducated or rude. However, not all emojis can be used for academic
purposes especially if it is directed to lecturers. From that perspective, it can be
concluded that there are three things to consider regarding the use of emojis in
WhatsApp chatrooms for academic purposes. The considerations to be taken to use
emoji for academic purposes are 1) the social-power relation gap, 2) the context of the
conversation, and 3) the receiver’s background knowledge of the intended emoji use.
To conclude, this research managed to show that emojis enhance the function of
politeness strategy. They also enhance the intention of the intended speech act.
Nevertheless, it does not change the fact that it is not fully acceptable to be integrated
entirely into the formal context. Using emojis for academic purposes (either by a
student or a lecturer) is not an insolent thing to do. However, it is best to proceed with
caution.