Trinity College London reveals gap between recognising the importance of politeness strategies and implementing them in classroom settings.
A new survey has uncovered significant challenges in teaching politeness strategies to English language learners, with 52% of teachers reporting that students find these crucial communication skills “difficult to use in real-time conversation”.
Recently, Trinity College London released new research exploring the role of ‘polite-isms’ in British English – those indirect expressions used to soften requests, avoid conflict, and navigate social interactions. The story was widely covered by British media including The Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail.
To follow up this study, in March Trinity carried out complementary research of 400 EFL teachers, which highlights an implementation gap between recognising the importance of politeness strategies and successfully teaching them in classroom settings.
Embracing cultural nuances
Despite near-universal agreement on their value – 98% of EFL teachers rated teaching authentic politeness expressions as either “very important” (68%) or “moderately important” (30%) – teachers reported specific challenges in classroom implementation, with 52% noting that students find these expressions “difficult to use in real-time conversation”.
“Understanding the characteristics of any culture’s forms of politeness is essential for successful language instruction.” said Dr. Ben Beaumont, Head of English Language Teacher Strategy & Publishing at Trinity College London.
“For example, ‘I’ll think about it’ can often mean ‘no’ and ‘sorry’ might not actually be an apology.”
Trinity’s research suggests that teachers who embrace these cultural nuances, often with a touch of humour about how such polite-isms are deployed, can effectively support the development of their students’ pragmatic discourse skills.
“Our ability to laugh at our own communicative quirks can create wonderful opportunities for effective learning”, added Dr Beaumont.
Understanding sarcasm or irony a major challenge
The survey also revealed a contrast between teaching simple politeness expressions and more complex strategies. While nearly 87% of respondents teach basic polite expressions (such as “please”, “could” and “would”), only about a third incorporate more sophisticated elements such as pragmatic particles (35%) or hedging expressions (23%), suggesting some teachers may benefit from more politeness-themed resources to help learners develop more authentic ‘real world’ British English.
On the student side, the challenges are equally pronounced. More than half of teachers (52%) identified understanding sarcasm or irony in polite phrases as the greatest obstacle for learners, followed by mastering appropriate intonation (43%) and recognising indirect refusals (41%). Only 5% of teachers reported that students “generally embrace politeness strategies enthusiastically”, while 34% observed “mixed reactions” and nearly 20% noted that students “generally find them difficult to master”.
Teachers reported various student reactions to indirect communication styles, with 27% noting that learners find these styles confusing, 23% reporting students consider them unnecessarily complicated, and 31% observing that students struggle to recognise when to use polite forms.
Strong support for politeness evaluation
Digital communication also appears to be changing how students communicate, with 50% of teachers observing that messaging apps, social media, and emails have made students “more direct and less likely to use British politeness patterns”.
Assessment practices show strong support for politeness evaluation. A significant 94% of teachers consider assessing politeness strategies either “very important” (47%) or “moderately important” (47%). This widespread recognition highlights the growing awareness of evaluating pragmatic competence alongside traditional language skills.
“The findings demonstrate both the recognised importance of politeness strategies in language acquisition and the real-world challenges teachers face in diverse classrooms,” Dr. Beaumont added.
“Addressing these implementation challenges through specialised training and culturally sensitive resources is essential for advancing effective language education in our increasingly interconnected world.
“As a leading English language assessment provider, Trinity is focussed on this by ensuring our qualifications and syllabi place authentic, real-world communication at their core. We’re developing assessment frameworks that evaluate pragmatic competence alongside traditional language skills, helping teachers prepare students for genuine communicative success beyond test performance.”
About Trinity College London
Established in 1872, Trinity College London is a leading international awarding organisation, publisher and independent education charity. Today, the organisation assesses over 600,000 candidates a year in more than 60 countries in music, drama, combined arts, and English language.
Trinity College London offers regulated English language qualifications and exams that assess communicative and integrated language skills essential for success in today’s interconnected world. Its qualifications and assessments are accepted by thousands of organisations worldwide and cater to learners of all ages and levels, from beginners to advanced speakers.
Credit: Adapted from a press release issued by GK & Partners. The research of 400 specialist EFL teachers was commissioned by Trinity College London and conducted by GK & Partners during March 2025.
