TITLE:
Address Terms in Classroom Discourse: A Case of University of Cape Coast Students in Ghana
AUTHORS:
Lena Awoonor-Aziaku
KEYWORDS:
Address, Classroom, Discourse, Honorific, Interaction, Settings, Strategies
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Modern Linguistics,
Vol.11 No.3,
June
30,
2021
ABSTRACT: Recent researches have focused on the use of address and reference terms in several social settings. The present study contributes to these works by examining the use of address terms in classroom interactions at the University of Cape Coast. Using a face-to-face interview and audio recording, this work examined address terms used among students and lecturers in real time situations. A total of 35 recorded lectures, coupled with interviews, were obtained and transcribed for the analysis. The analysis showed that students usually used title + last names (TLN), honorifics (Hon), and sometimes avoidance strategies when addressing lecturers in class. On the other hand, lecturers usually use first names (FN), nicknames, and also sometimes avoidance strategies when addressing students. The study has shown that the T/V distinction argued by Brown and Gilman (1960) is present in tertiary address systems in Ghana. In general, this work has pedagogical implications for sociolinguistic studies and other internal academic policies.