234 EEJ 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej The Use of Politeness Strategies in Online Teacher-Students’ Virtual Classroom Interaction Hamdan Nuramdani✉, Sri Wahyuni, Djoko Sutopo Universitas Negeri Semarang Article Info ______________ Article History: Accepted 30 January 2023 Approved 8 March 2023 Published 20 June 2023 ________________ Keywords: Interaction, politeness strategies, virtual classroom, online ____________________ Abstract _______________________________________________________ This research focused on analysing the politeness strategies in online teachers' and students' virtual classroom interaction at SMPN 16 Cirebon. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to explain the use of positive politeness strategies, negative politeness strategies, bald-on-record strategies, and off-record strategies and the relationship among the politeness strategies in teacher-students virtual classroom interaction in the online teaching-learning process at SMPN 16 Cirebon. The data were collected by using observation with recording and note-taking. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis, Braun and Clarke's theory. The finding showed that positive politeness, negative politeness, bald- on-record, and off-record strategies exist in virtual classroom interaction. The teachers used positive politeness to engage students' attention and build a comfortable situation in the online virtual classroom. At the same time, students used it to respect the teacher before conveying their questions or answering their opinions. The students and teachers use bald-on-record to communicate their feelings in an emergency. Students used off-record to avoid the teacher's questions, while the teacher used it to build the student's thoughts in the beginning activities. All the strategies correlate and impact creating an atmosphere or situation in online virtual classroom interaction. ✉Correspondence Address: Kampus Universitas Negeri Semarang, Kelud, Semarang, 50233 E-mail: hamdannuramdani@gmail.com p-ISSN 2087-0108 e-ISSN 2502-4566 Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 235 INTRODUCTION Another way to carry out teaching and learning activities apart from face-to-face meetings is by doing distance learning. Distance learning requires the use of IT-based intermediary media. Several intermediary media, such as computers, smartphones and the internet, are used in distance learning. With distance learning, teaching and learning activities can be carried out without meeting face to face but rather online. Online learning can use several applications, including Whatsapp groups, Zoom, email, and Google Classroom. Since distance learning through virtual classrooms is different from face- to-face learning, distance learning requires students and teachers to use online pedagogical tools as intermediaries, such as smartphones, computers, and cameras. So, the author tries to examine the interactions in the virtual class that occur, especially the use of politeness strategies in the virtual class between teachers and students. There is interaction in teaching and learning activities in virtual classrooms. Interaction in teaching and learning activities at SMPN 16 Cirebon used the Zoom application. Many factors influence differences in face-to-face interaction through the online network or distance learning. This phenomenon encourages researchers to research the interactions between teachers and students in online learning through virtual classrooms. This research was taken from a phenomenon during distance learning between students and teachers in the virtual classroom at SMPN 16 Cirebon teaching-learning process. Communication or interaction occurs when the teacher conducts the teaching-learning process; also, there is politeness when the communication in the teaching-learning process happens in the virtual classroom. According to Yule (1996, p.60), "Politeness in an interaction can be defined as the means to show awareness of another person's face. In this sense, teachers and students can accomplish Politeness in social distance or closeness". Moreover, in the interaction, there is a speech uttered by the speaker. People produce utterance to deliver their thoughts, feelings, and wills to the hearer with their words. Brown and Levinson (1987, p. 92), the word 'strategy' describes planning at one of these levels and, depending on the context, identifies its hierarchy level. From the statement, we can define politeness as a strategy to save face or threaten a face. Brown and Levinson categorize politeness into four strategies; negative politeness, bald-off record, bald-on record, and positive politeness. Based on Brown and Levinson's statements in 1987 and Yule's in 1966, communication or interaction is one of the components of the teaching-learning process. Several studies have been conducted on politeness strategies in classroom interaction with online learning. The research by Sembiring et al. (2021), Almoaily (2018), and Selgas (2022), their study showed that four politeness strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) were used by teachers and students in online learning. Religious and formal greetings, gratitude, and apology are the most common sub-strategies the teacher and students use in their teaching- learning activity. Next, Nurmawati et al. (2019) stated that using positive politeness strategies would make communication between teachers and students and between students more effective. Second, Adel et al. (2016) and Raharjo et al. (2021) stated that the use of positive politeness strategy to remind other group members that they were friends. A study by Rahayuningsih et al. (2019) examined the implementation of politeness strategies in classroom interactions between EFL teachers and students in an SMP semester bilingual school and the sociological factors that affect the selection of politeness strategies intended to inspect. This study employed qualitative research in the classroom discourse analysis as a form. In summary, politeness is essential in maintaining relationships and producing a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom. Four types of politeness strategies arise in the teaching-learning process and are affected by sociological causes (rank imposition, distance, and power). Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 236 Next, a previous study by Arif et al. (2018) aimed to identify politeness strategies employed by educators in EFL classrooms based on the theory of Brown and Levinson. The study also examined student perceptions of teachers' politeness strategies in the EFL classroom. In this study, we applied a descriptive qualitative research design to explain the phenomenon of politeness strategies. The study found that male and female teachers conveyed four of her politeness strategies. They were bald-on-record, off-record, negative politeness and positive politeness. Students perceived that male and female teachers were polite in using the language in the teaching-learning process. Another study by Sari et al. (2018) investigated types of politeness strategies used by an English teacher in the classroom, and to describe the reasons politeness strategies realized by English teacher in the classroom. Then, Aristyanto et al. (2020) explored the and analyzed humour creation interaction in incredibles movie. Selfia and Marlina (2016) examined the types of politeness strategies and dominant politeness strategies used by Deddy Corbuzier in interviewing especially in asking guest stars. Dharmayanti et al. (2018) analyze the type of politeness strategies used in Ellen DeGeneres’s talk show script with Barack Obama as the guest star, and to identify the factors influence the choice of strategies. Makasiahe and Suryani (2020) investigated the use of negative politeness in interactions Big Hero 6 movie. Another study in distance learning with focused on the politeness strategy by Rahmi (2020) aimed at finding out the students’politeness in texting their lecturer which in this research was their final project advisor. Then, Anugrawati et al. (2020) This study’s main objective is to determine which politeness strategies students apply in communicating with their lecturers through text messages using Short Message Service (SMS) and WhatsApp messenger. Some study in EFL classroom interaction by Hanum (2017) The aim of this study is giving the teacher some suggestions to achieve classroom interaction. Then, Kurdghelashvili (2015) explored the students’ and the teachers’ practice of the politeness strategies and the speech acts of apology, thanking, request, compliment/encouragement, command, agreeing/disagreeing, addressing and code- switching. Next, Mahmud (2019) explored the politeness strategies of English students at one of the universities in Makassar. Then, Kariithi (2016) investigated politeness strategies that are employed by youth while communicating with other members of society. Next, Pandonge (2020) explored positive politeness is the most used by teacher and students in lean on me movie. Then, Sülü (2015) showed that politeness existed in that EFL classroom and it helped students to have positive feelings towards the lesson and motivated them to participate more in classes. The last was from Tsamratul'aeni (2019), who investigated the politeness strategy that used by lecturer in teaching process in EFL Classroom. Using distance learning, the teaching- learning process is not completed in the classroom as usual with face-to-face but conducted in another way with a virtual classroom or distance learning. The teaching- learning process in SMPN 16 was conducted through online or IT-based learning by the teacher. It means the teacher used devices and applications connected to the internet. The tools, such as computers and handphones, are the most used to conduct the teaching-learning process. That is why there is a different interaction between students and teachers when the teachers perform the teaching-learning online. This phenomenon appears in the virtual classroom. This study aims to explain politeness strategies in online teacher-student interaction during the teaching-learning process in the virtual classroom and explain the relationship among the politeness strategies in virtual classroom interaction among teacher-students in the online teaching-learning process. Those studies highlighted the importance of conducting politeness studies in EFL classrooms and were similar to my research, in which it investigated politeness in the classroom setting; however, Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 237 rather than place setting with face-to-face. This study focused on the use of politeness strategies and the relationship between the strategies in online teacher and student interaction in virtual classrooms. Moreover, some factors influencing the use and of politeness strategies and the relationship among the strategies will be explained. METHOD The research used qualitative descriptive study research to investigate politeness strategies in virtual classrooms. Qualitative research was chosen because it allows researchers to identify issues from the participant's perspective and understand the meanings and interpretations that they give to behavior. Since this study focused on politeness strategies in virtual classroom interaction, thematic analysis was employed and used to analyze students' and teachers' utterances during virtual classroom interaction, particularly focusing on the realization of politeness strategies. This study explains the use of politeness strategies in virtual classroom interaction in SMPN 16 Cirebon. The researchers chose SMPN 16 Cirebon because the teachers can use IT and have adequate computing facilities for online teaching-learning, such as a large computer laboratory, fast internet connectivity, a smart panel 80 inch, and a camera. The teacher uses all the facilities to deliver the material in distance learning. At the same time, most of the students have phones or laptops. The 3x60- minute lessons in seventh, eighth, and ninth EFL grades held by EFL teachers were observed and recorded. The researchers chose the junior high school as the research setting in order to explain the EFL teacher and student's virtual classroom interaction. The data in this research were collected through observation, video recording, and note-taking. The researchers used data observation sheets to note the data related to the study's objectives. To analyze the data, the researchers employed a referential method in which the data were analyzed based on the theory explored. Furthermore, the data analysis in this research consisted of six steps: (1) familiarizing with my data; (2) generating initial codes; (3) searching for themes; (4) reviewing themes; (5) defining; and (6) producing the report. In step one, the researchers arranged and prepared the data for analysis. Arranging and preparing the data for analysis by transcribing the result of the recorded video. Step two was to read or to look at all the data and generate the codes for each sentence from an interesting point of view. In step three, the researchers started coding all of the data. In step four, the researchers used coding to describe the setting, people, and categories or themes for analysis. In step five, the researchers represented the data in a qualitative narrative. In the final step, the researchers interpreted the findings or results in qualitative research. RESULS AND DISCUSSIONS Using politeness strategies in the virtual classroom is very important. As we know, there are many politeness strategies. As a teacher or deliverer of subject matter, the teacher must motivate students during the teaching and learning process. To achieve this, the teacher usually only takes a few utterances. However, when learning is carried out through the virtual classroom, the teacher pronounces these words, such as asking for news, motivating, and others. In the teaching-learning process, there are some activities. According to Curriculum 2013, activities in the teaching-learning process can be divided into three activities. They are the opening, primary, and closing activities. After observing the teaching-learning process through the virtual classrooms for a year, the researchers found many data. The data is a transcript from utterances that contain politeness strategies. The researchers divided sentences from utterances from transcribed videos into some categories. Each sentence has a theme categorized based on the politeness strategies theory. Then, the researchers arranged each category based on the ranking of frequent themes in interaction during the teaching-learning process through online virtual classrooms from the most to the least. This Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 238 study has four major themes; each sub-theme will be discussed in the discussion section. There are positive politeness, negative politeness, bald-on- record, and off-record. Each sub-theme has a code in this research. The code will describe the meaning of the coding in the table below: Table 1. Code of Thematic Analysis CODE TRANSLATION SS Students TC Teachers PP Positive politeness NP Negative politeness BOR Bald on record OFR Off record Politeness strategy is how people lessen the threat to others’ faces. The strategies proposed by Brown and Levinson offer a descriptive analysis of strategies used by the participants to maintain their perspective in society. The frequency of occurrence of the politeness strategy used by the teachers and students in online virtual classrooms in using each politeness strategy is described in the table below: Table 2. The Use of Politeness Strategies No Kind Politeness Strategies Total PP NP BOR OFR 1 Teachers 74 24 0 1 99 2 Students 34 1 2 0 37 Total 108 25 2 1 136 Percentage (%) 79.41 18.38 1.47 0.73 100 Positive politeness found in teachers' and students’ virtual classroom interaction. Positive politeness is a way to show closeness or intimacy between the speaker and listener. In this study, the positive politeness contained in the speech of the teacher and students shows closeness. This strategy minimizes the distance between teachers and students in face-to-face learning through virtual classrooms by expressing interest and motivation in teaching and learning activities. Brown and Levinson stated that this strategy is usually found in a group. Teachers used 74 times, and students used positive politeness strategies 34 times in teaching and learning activities in virtual classrooms. Teachers and students apply several positive politeness sub-strategies, some of which will be explained below: Table 3. Extract 1 Time Teacher Students 10.40 Yes, because, all of you are new in seventh grade. (007/PP/04/TC) Introduce your teacher, Mister Cahyo. 10.56 You can call me Mister Cahyo Mister Cahyo (007/PP/03/SS) The conversation in extract 1 was a positive politeness sub-strategy conversation using identity markers in the group. It aims to inform and remind seventh-grade students. It was true that Mr. Cahyo taught seventh-grade students to show closeness as a seventh-grade teacher and seventh-grade students. Students confirmed what was conveyed by mentioning the teacher's name. Table 4. Extract 2 Time Teacher Students 33.33 Students, did you guys in the video have no sound? (007/PP/12/TC) 33.40 Yes, there is no sound. The voice is not heard. (007/PP/04/SS) 34.18 Pa Cahyo asked you to make a table like the one you see now, have you seen it? (007/PP/12/TC) It's not clear Pa, Done Mister. in the notebook, Mister? (007/PP/14/SS) It can be seen that the teacher used the positive politeness sub-strategy number 12, including both speaker and hearer in the activity by involving his students in viewing the learning Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 239 video and asking the voice in the video whether his voice was heard or not heard (Brown and Levinson, 1987). While the students used the sub- strategy of positive politeness, number 4, used in- group identity markers when answering the questions given by the teacher by confirming the voice did not hear (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Next, the teacher invites his students to make a table that appears in the virtual class. Some students used the sub-strategy of positive politeness number fourteen, assuming or asserting reciprocity by answering and reconfirming what the teacher ordered during teaching and learning activities. Table 5. Extract 3 Time Teacher Students 06.34 Bismillahirahma n nirahim. Assalamualaiku m wr.wb. (08/PP/01/TC) Waalaikumsalam warrahmatulla hiwabarakatuh. (08/PP/01/SS) 06.58 Let's just start. Okay, good morning students? (08/PP/01/TC) Good morning, Miss. (08/PP/04/SS) Good morning. (08/PP/01/SS) The table above is extracted from the eighth grade. At the beginning of teaching and learning activities in eighth grade, the teachers greeted students as a sign of presence and readiness to start teaching and learning activities. The students responded to the teacher. It means the teacher and students used the sub-strategy of positive politeness number 1, Noticing/attending to the hearer’s wants (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Some students uttered miss to their teacher, as Brown and Levinson stated. Identity markers are included in the positive politeness sub-strategy number four; use in-group identity markers. Table 6. Extract 4 Time Teacher Students 26.40 The question is, which one is followed by has or which is followed by has? Okay. Does anybody know what has followed? Elsa, I love you, you are very good. (09/PP/15/TC) I, you, we, they. The teacher said, “Elsa, I love you, you are very good”. The teacher used the sub-strategy of positive politeness number 15, giving gifts to the hearer (good, sympathy, understanding, cooperation). Table 7. Extract 5 Time Teacher Students 41.43 Oke next activity mr Cahyo. Pocong 41.46 Do you want to be haunted by him? Rizal wants. 42.00 Has anyone ever seen this? At your house, watch out at night, okay... hahah... (09/PP/08/TC) This is on my phone, Miss. 42.27 Okay, Muhammad Arif, have you never met him before? How do you seem? I've seen it like Miss. I've seen that in the window, Miss. 43.00 Arif who saw, so how the sentence? That's good. (09/PP/15/TC) I have seen the ghost. The teacher said, “Has anyone ever seen this? At your house, watch out at night, okay... hahah...” and “That is good”. The teacher used the sub-strategy of positive politeness, numbers 15 and 8. They are making jokes and giving gifts Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 240 to the hearer (good, sympathy, understanding, cooperation) (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Negative politeness found in teachers' and students’ virtual classroom interaction Negative politeness creates a communicative relationship by creating space between the speaker and the hearer. The interaction in the virtual classroom contained some sub-strategies of negative politeness. Some of them are described as follows: Table 8. Extract 6 Time Teacher Students 15.00 Previously, Mister Cahyo asked you to provide writing instruments, maybe pens, maybe pencils, try to prepare the writing tools first. Have you got the stationery beside you yet? (007/NP/02/TC) Already, Already Mister. 15.28 Just a pen and notebook. So, during this lesson you take notes or write down the important things for today's lesson. (007PP/12/TC) The teacher said “You” (student) in his question. The teacher used sub-strategy of negative politeness number 2, questioning and hedging (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Table 9. Extract 7 Time Teacher Students 34.40 Means the complete sentence how dear? Who is doing that? (09/NP/02/TC) Okay sinchan, Okay sorry elsa. (09/NP/06/TC) Sinchan. The teacher used the sub-strategy of negative politeness number two, questioning and hedging (Brown and Levinson, 1987). The teacher said, “What activity here?” and “Who is doing that?”. The teacher used a sub-strategy of negative politeness number 6, apologizing (Brown and Levinson, 1987). The teacher said, “okay, sorry, Elsa”. Bald-on-record found in teacher and students’ virtual classroom interaction Teachers and students use the Bald-on- record in an emergency. Mulyana, Budiarsa, and Satyawati (2019) describes bald-on record uttered to directly express criticism without hiding any other interpretations or implied meanings This utterance is conveyed by the speaker suddenly. The interaction in the virtual classroom contained some sub-strategies of bald-on-record. Some of them are described as follows: Table 10. Extract 8 Time Teacher Students 17.10 (Teacher1) Izhar, have you eaten lunch? Have you eaten? It's not clear, miss, the sound doesn't come in. (09/BOR/01/SS) Not yet. 17.30 (Teacher2) if you haven't had lunch yet, what do you say? I . . I . . . have . . not . . eaten. . lunch Okay, one more time, can you hear my voice? Okay thank you izhar! I . . . not . . . eaten . lunch Not clear Miss. (09/BOR/01/SS) The student said, "Not clear, Miss." without asking permission first. It occurred when the sound was not clear. It indicated a very urgent situation at that time because students wanted to listen to what their teacher said in the virtual classroom. This statement means that students Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 241 used the sub-strategy of bald on record number 1, giving direct imperatives for great urgency (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Another example of bald on record can be seen in Table 11 below. Table 11. Extract 9 Time Teacher Students 15.55 Look again the screen! (07/BOR/02/TC) Greeting is expressions that are usually used by someone to greet or greet other people. By doing on record, it can be assumed that there is an asymmetrical power relationship between students and teacher (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Here, the teacher used bald-on- record in order to give a clear and effective direction on what the students need to be done. Off-record found in teacher and students’ virtual classroom interaction Speakers used off-record strategies to avoid being responsible for the potential face threats their utterances might carry. Thus, an addresser who wants to avoid the responsibility for doing an FTA can do so by employing the off-record strategies where the utterance interpretation is left for the addressee to decide. The extract below demonstrates the use of the off-record politeness strategy. The interaction in the virtual classroom contained some sub-strategies of off-record. Some of them are described as follows: Table 12. Extract 10 Time Teacher Students 08.12 (Teacher2) Alright, Mr. Cahyo. Have you meet them before? Before you are teaching right now? (Teacher 1) Yes, I have. (Teacher 2) Oh Time Teacher Students okay, you have yes. It turned out that right mrs. Enci had met them before. It turns out that the answer is already. So mr. Cahyo has met you before. Well, this is what we will discuss. (09/OFR/02/TC) The teacher said, "Well, this is what we will discuss." during teaching and learning activities in the virtual classroom. The teacher used off-record sub-strategy number 2, giving association clues (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Selfia and Marlina (2016) described off- record as indirect strategy. The relationship among the strategies in teachers-students’ virtual classroom interaction There must be two-way communication between students and teachers in the teaching- learning process. Also, there must be two-way communication between teachers and students in online teaching and learning through virtual classrooms. There are politeness strategies in online teaching-learning through the virtual classroom. Politeness strategies in the online teaching-learning process have a function and are very useful. Politeness strategies correlate with teacher-student interaction in the virtual classroom, such as 1) involving students in learning so the students feel they are in learning and 2) making students pay attention to the teaching-learning process. It is marked by students being able to guess what the material will be taught; 3) students are enthusiastic in answering questions. It is marked by students who can answer the questions posed by the teacher; 4) students pay attention to what the teacher is doing; 5) students listen carefully to what the teacher says, marked by students not Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 242 making noise or disturbing sounds during the teaching and learning process in the online virtual classroom. As revealed by Sari et al. (2018), By using politeness, the teacher is responsible for speaking politely at school, especially during the teaching and learning process in class. The teacher and students used positive politeness to the hearer. Nurmawati et al. (2019) stated that using positive politeness strategies would make communication between teachers and students and between students more effective. Adel et al. (2016) stated that the students used a positive politeness strategy to show another group member that they were friends. Marpudianto (2020) stated that positive politeness is employed to gratify the hearer's positive face by admitting them as a group or friend. Negative politeness strategies are also used by teachers in online distance learning in virtual classrooms. Based on the monitoring, it is usually used by the teacher when the lesson time has ended by apologizing and stating indirectly to the students about the assignment to close the meeting. Makasiahe and Suryani (2020) state that "negative politeness of language also emphasizes that express utterance could be easy without hurting other people's feelings." The interaction in the virtual classroom used by the teacher can be considered impolite. The use of bald on record is used by teachers and students differently based on their motives. The teacher said, "Look again at the screen!" the teacher's utterance was brief. Kariithi (2016) stated that negative politeness also admits that you are in some way imposing on him/her. The teacher gave instruction directly to the teacher. According to Rahmi (2020), "Once this strategy is performed, the damage to the hearer's face can not be avoided. The action can be considered rude and irritating". Off-record strategies are also used by teacher in virtual classroom. Speakers use off- record by doing, conveying, or saying to listeners something that is not clear. It is intended for the listener to conclude what the speaker meant for himself. In opening activity, the teacher said “Nah ini yang kan kita bahas”. From that utterance, it can be concluded that the teacher tries to tell what material will be discussed without mentioning the name of material to be studied directly. So that students, as hearers, must try to understand what the teacher's words mean, in this case, the material that will be conveyed at that time. According to Anugrawati et al. (2020), "a speaker makes a statement but does so in a vague way, leaving the interpretation of the comment open to the speaker." Rahmi (2020) stated that off-record is a situation where the speaker addresses his intention indirectly. Utterances containing the politeness strategy used by seventh and eighth-grade teachers have almost similarities with grade ninth teachers. Politeness strategies in 8th and 7th grades also correlate with teaching learning online in virtual classrooms. All grade 7, 8, and 9 teachers used the politeness strategy in the learning process. Most of them used a positive politeness strategy. The positive politeness strategy involves speakers and hearers in activities, giving or asking, assuming, and giving gifts. In addition, negative politeness is used by teachers and students to apologize. Bald-on- record is used by teachers and students in emergencies, and teachers use off-record to build the frame of mind before entering the material, while students use it to avoid questions from their teachers. All of the sub-strategies of politeness are used in interaction in virtual classrooms. Because they have a role in making the interaction more effective, controlling the virtual classroom situations, and engaging the students' attention. Politeness strategies have a role in interactions. The choice of using the politeness strategies depends on the situation the speaker experienced, who the interlocutor is, and what the purpose is. The politeness strategies can make teaching and learning more interesting for students and the learning atmosphere. As stated by Sulu (2015), politeness strategies make relationships harmonious, understanding each other, making interactions more effective and friendly, and making the atmosphere in the EFL class come alive. According to the explanation above, the researchers support the results of studies from Sembiring et al. (2021), Almoaily (2018), Selgas Hamdan Nuramdani, et al./ English Education Journal 13 (2) (2023) 234-233 243 (2022), Nurmawati et al. (2019), Adel et al. (2016), Rahayuningsih et al. (2019), Sülü (2015), Sari et al. (2018), Adel et al. (2016), Marpudianto (2020), Makasiahe and Suryani (2020), Kariithi (2016), Rahmi (2020), Anugrawati et al. (2020), and Rahmi (2020). The researchers concurred with previous studies that politeness strategies are the most successful and polite method. It can be connected to Brown and Levinson's theory (1987). The teacher used politeness strategies in virtual classrooms to engage the student's participation, make close relations as friends and make the students more active in teaching- learning activity. Greetings, thanking and apologizing are the politeness sub-strategies most widely used by teachers and students in online learning. At the same time, students used politeness strategies to respect their teacher and hide from the teacher's questions. By knowing the use of politeness strategies in virtual classes, teachers can apply more politeness strategies, especially positive politeness, in distance learning. It can significantly impact the teaching and learning process in virtual classrooms or distance learning. CONCLUSION All kinds of politeness strategies in virtual classroom interactions are used by teachers and students in the teaching and learning process in the virtual classroom. As Brown and Levinson (1987) stated, they are positive politeness, negative politeness, bald-on-record, and off- record. Positive politeness strategies are used by teachers and students in interactions in the process of teaching and learning activities, opening activities, core activities, and closing activities. Bald-on-record is used to give instructions or warnings to students directly in emergencies. Off the record was used by the teacher in his speech to build a frame of mind when opening activities before entering the material. The teacher uses it at the beginning of teaching-learning to build students' thinking about what they will learn. At the same time, students used this sub-strategy to avoid questions from the teacher. Negative politeness was used to remind students that there was a distance between the teacher and students. All sub- strategies of politeness strategies correlate with the teaching and learning process through virtual classroom interactions. 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