An Analysis of Politeness Strategies in the Indonesian ELT Textbook “English For Nusantara” for the Eighth Grade

Abstract

Politeness is an important aspect of communication that helps maintain harmonious interpersonal relationships and, in the Indonesian context, is closely linked to the values of Pancasila as the nation's philosophical foundation. This study aims to identify the types of politeness strategies used in Indonesian ELT textbook dialogues and also to examine their alignment with Pancasila values. This study employed a qualitative content analysis design using (Brown & Levinson, 1978) politeness theory and the 45 elaborated principles of Pancasila as the analytical framework. The data consisted of 11 dialogue texts containing 118 utterances collected from the textbook. Through a two-cycle coding process and intercoder reliability procedures, 32 utterances were selected for in-depth analysis. The findings indicate that only positive and negative politeness strategies appeared in the textbook, with positive politeness strategies being dominant. Regarding Pancasila values, the textbook primarily reflects the humanity and social justice values, whereas democratic values were not identified. These findings suggest that textbooks emphasize harmonious and cooperative interactions but provide limited exposure to more diverse communication practices. This study contributes to the understanding of how English language teaching materials integrate politeness and local cultural values in the Indonesian educational context