| Politeness symbolizes human civilization, and is one of conduct codes of human beings. As a social activity, language use is subject to this code as well. Since Brown and Levinson proposed Face-Saving Theory and Leech developed it by putting forward the Politeness Principle, many scholars have explored it in various fields. However, few of them have ever stepped into the application of politeness theories to EFL classrooms in secondary schools, which is categorized into two major aspects: politeness language and phenomena, and politeness strategies employed by teachers in EFL classrooms.Politeness language complies with the politeness principle, which embodies the speaker's politeness to others, such as friendliness, esteem, sparing others' face, etc. The politeness principle somehow derives from the cooperative principle. The speaker deliberately violates some maxims of the politeness principle to produce some illocutionary meanings. The politeness principle consists of tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim. Different ways of expression embody different politeness scales. In terms of the linguistic expressions of politeness mainly used in ELT in secondary schools, there are inclusive we, hedging devices, interrogative sentences, the simple past tense, the progressive aspect and the passive voice.Teachers' politeness strategies are taken to refer to verbal or nonverbal strategies employed by teachers that have a mitigating function generally to stimulate learners' motivation or create an enjoyable and harmonious atmosphere in class. Such strategies include three main categories: positive politeness strategies, negative politeness strategies and off-record politeness strategies.Based on the researches done on politeness, this study examines English teachers' application of politeness strategies within EFL classrooms in secondary schools, mainly by means of qualitative and quantitative...
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