The maxim of relevance paradigm in the educational messenger group: a linguistic analysis

Abstract

The core reason for this study was to find out the reasons and ways of flouting the maxim of relevance in the educational Messenger group chats. The data were collected from the educational messenger groups. Furthermore, the researchers used a qualitative approach employing a linguistic analysis fitting to analyze the reasons and ways of flouting the maxim of relevance in the conversations between teachers and students. A total of 31 educational messenger groups were used as corpora. The result showed that many students and teachers flouted the maxim of relevance in the educational messenger group. The study also revealed that the reasons why the students and teachers flout the maxim of relevance are either ostensive or inferential communication. Moreover, the result of the study represents a high number of students flouting the maxim of relevance in educational group chats by giving irrelevant responses, specifically by asking questions, providing instructions or information, and providing reasons. In the end, this study emphasizes that interlocutors should avoid flouting the maxim of relevance to prevent confusion and to communicate successfully, especially in educational group chats.