Social Class as a Predictor of Pragmatic Competence: An Investigation of L1 and L2 Politeness Strategies Use in Light of Social Class Factors

Since Bernstein’s (1958) preliminary assertions on sociology of education, many linguistic and paralinguistic features have undergone research in light of social class. The present article is aimed at finding the predictability of first language and second language politeness strategy use through social class. To this end, a group of Iranian English learners was administered a social class questionnaire measuring three social class factors along with Persian and English discourse completion tests which included 9 scenarios for the three face threatening acts. The findings showed that in both L1 and L2, negative and positive strategies were the most common, while off record and no face threatening act were rarely used. A total make-up of similarities was found between L1 and L2 in the frequency of PSsi on the three FTAs. It was also found that educational and behavioral social class factors were respectively high and small predictors of L1 and L2 politeness strategies use. The importance of considering social class in pragmatic competence is discussed.