Mobile Instant Messaging Communication Etiquette: Educators’ Voices and Point of View

Communication using digital media has highly increased since the pandemic, including within education context. Different types of expectation between the involved parties sometimes causing communication challenge for both. This study aims to find out how educators viewed the courtesy shown by the students during interactions using instant messaging media. Specifically, it aims to find out politeness indicators, communication challenges, and educators’ expectations. The interview questions included the concept of appropriate and polite messages between students as well as the overall attitudes of students within WhatsApp communication. The interviews are transcribed and coded based on what is listed in the framework. The results of the study reveal that most lecturers agreed students are adept in establishing communication through WhatsApp, compared to those in the past by incorporating greetings to open a conversation, stating identity, thanking and closing to end the conversation. Aside from a small number of students having trouble following etiquette, challenges appeared mostly when educators did not set clear rules on what they expected regarding WhatsApp communication. Educators have lower expectations on WhatsApp use in non-academic context .


Introduction
Communication between humans has evolved in such a way, from the traditional to the ones harnessing technology. The digital era has made communication so easy as if without the limitations of distance and time (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2013). These benefits also become one of the factors why technology is also used for educational purpose (Al-Hamzi & Hamida, 2021) (Purwanto & Nurhamidah, 2021). Various web-based social platforms, chat, pictures, and even videos make it easier for users to establish communication between the people.
The Covid-19 pandemic has notably increased the use of digital communication media by the wider community. The Large-Scale Social Restriction Policy (PSBB) followed by the Implementation of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) by the Indonesian government followed by the policy of working and schooling from home forced almost all elements of society to minimize face-to-face communication. Various sectors such as business, education, government, and others maximize digital communication through the use of social media.
The various facilities offered by social media often lead to new problems. In the world of higher education, for example communication between colleagues which was previously relatively limited to occur on campus during working hours, can now happen anytime and anywhere. The communication that occurs between educators and their students does not differ so much. The factor of age and generation differences between the two often makes communication less able to run well because the expected communication expectations are different from what actually happened.
One of the most widely used digital communication platforms is WhatsApp. WhatsApp is an internetbased communication application that allows users to exchange information in different forms, including text, images, videos, to voice messages (Gasaymeh, 2017). This application was first introduced to the general public expectation is not met, it is very likely to cause misunderstandings when communicating. For this reason, speakers and speech partners need to have the same expectations for the communication they do.
In general, there are four politeness strategies in communication, namely bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off-record (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Bald on record is shown by directness and courage that generally sounds impolite and rude. This strategy is often applied to close friends and family. Positive politeness maintains a positive image of the interlocutor by expressing friendship through common goals or positions. This strategy aims to increase closeness with the other person by showing affection, warmth, and reciprocity. Negative politeness is oriented to the negative image of the interlocutor. This strategy is preferred in communication practice because it is relatively safer for listeners. Off-record occurs when the speaker allows the other person to interpret the meaning of any utterance during the communication. Related utterances can be interpreted in many ways because the off-record strategy provides guidance and freedom.
A person's involvement in a particular language community leads them to the archetypal assumption that the community accepts as something "normal" (Yus, 2011). Javanese society, for example, considers communication normal when it fulfills the principle of balance in group life, which is formulated in the four maxims of Javanese politeness (Gunarwan, 2007): kurmat (respect), andhap asor (humble), empan papan (aware of place), and tepa slira (tolerance). The kurmat maxim can be in the form of greeting mentions, such as 'Pak', 'Bu', 'Kak' ('Sir', 'Ma'am', 'Bro/Sis') or others, which are addressed to the second party. Maxim andhap asor are examples of expressions of thanks, sorry, and even the use of emojis in digital conversations. The maxim of tepa selira can be shown by expressions that contain empathy, such as giving encouragement or prayer and hope to the second party. Regarding communication norms in Java, there are also several other principles that need to be considered when communicating. Some of them: one must be friendly, patient, follow the language level of the party being spoken to (tepa selira), respect the social status of the other party (kurmat), pay attention to the purpose and topic of conversation (empan papan), apply appropriate speech acts (nuju prana), and use appropriate body language (suba sita) (Poedjosoedarmo, 2017).
So far there have been quite a number of studies related to communication via WhatsApp short messages. Among them, there are those that focus on differences in usage between the two generations (Sánchez-Moya & Cruz-Moya, 2015), the position and role of WhatsApp in improving the psychology of speakers (Bano et al., 2019), and communication within WhatsApp Groups as a topic. potential research (Jailobaev et al., 2021). Research related to the use of WhatsApp specifically in education has also been carried out by several researchers, such as focusing on the use of short messages by teenagers in Spain as a learning strategy (Costa-Sánchez & Guerrero-Pico, 2020), the use of WhatsApp by lecturers and International Relations students as a medium for learning English (Keogh, 2017), as well as the benefits and obstacles of using WhatsApp as a learning tool (Malecela, 2016). Regarding politeness in the use of WhatsApp, it has also been studied, especially regarding the speech act of request (Flores-Salgado & Castineira-Benitez, 2018). However, discussions related to ethics in communication using WhatsApp short message media, especially in the context of education between educators and students, have not received much attention. To fill this void, this study examines how educators perceive the etiquette and manners shown by students during interactions via text messages. In particular, this study aims to determine the indicators of politeness, communication challenges, and expectations of educators in the use of WhatsApp instant messages.

Methods
This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach to answer research questions. Data were collected by conducting semi-structured interview to a number of respondents. The subjects of this study were eight (8) educators at the Vocational College, Universitas Gadjah Mada. They were chosen using purposive sampling technique (Etikan, 2016). The educators in question have different study program backgrounds. The interviews were conducted to dig deeper into the views of educators on the ethics shown by their students when communicating using WhatsApp media. These interviews were conducted via video conference which was recorded with the consent of the respondents. The interview data obtained were then transcribed for later analysis using thematic analysis techniques (Alhojailan, 2012) (Nowell et al., 2017). This technique is used to find patterns from the collected data which is then used to look for potential categories. The steps include: (1) understanding the data set by reading and understanding the responses obtained; (2) precoded by attaching labels to different parts of the text; and (3) generate patterns by grouping different codes (Javadi & Zarea, 2016). Triangulation of interview data was then carried out to check the validity of the interpretation. The findings obtained were then compiled to look at the concept of etiquette in communicating using WhatsApp, especially from the point of view of educators.

Politeness Indicators in WhatsApp Communication According to Educators
Based on the explanations of a number of educators which have been analyzed and grouped by theme, student ethics related to the use of short WhatsApp messages can be seen from three categories: message content, language use and word choice, time to send messages, and use of emoji and stickers.

Message Content
Communication exists because there is a message that must be conveyed by one party to another. When the message is conveyed well, communication will run smoothly. Related to this, the messenger needs to have a strategy so that the message can be conveyed, one of which is by meeting the expectations of the party sent the message. In fact, communication between educators and students sometimes experiences obstacles. This obstacle often occurs because one of the parties, usually those with lower social status (students), fails to meet the expectations of educators.
The use of communication technology, such as WhatsApp short message media, in the world of education brings its own benefits and challenges. This media allows users to communicate with anyone at any time, as long as one party has the other party's WhatsApp contact information. Communication between educators and students, which was previously very limited in space and time, has now become as if there were no boundaries. It is not uncommon for an educator to feel overwhelmed by the sudden incoming WhatsApp short message, without any sender information and a clear introduction to the context, asking "is there any class?". When receiving a message like this, the relevant educator needs to clarify so that the information provided is not wrong. This requirement is quite inconvenient if the educator is in the middle of doing other things. Instead of being answered, the question may get buried under another incoming message and communication may fail.
For this reason, to ensure the communication runs well, there are at least a few things that students must include in short messages addressed to educators, namely greetings, salutations, introductions, requests, and closings.

Greetings
Greeting to open a conversation is needed as an intro in conveying a message. Greetings here can take various forms as expressed by several respondents. "So good morning or good afternoon or good evening, just 'evening' even." (MA) "... as far as I remember, there's still greetings, right..." (UY) "… whether it's "Good morning", "Assalamualaykum", or uh… any usual greetings." (ND) This strategy is in line with the concept of positive politeness by highlighting the friendly side (Brown & Levinson, 1987). This friendly concept (Poedjosoedarmo, 2017) is also found in the maxim of politeness in the context of Javanese society, to which the study was conducted. This concept aims to make the other party feel comfortable so that communication is expected to run smoothly. When students include greetings, like "good morning" or "Assalamualaykum" in their messages, educators will feel comfortable which make them willingly respond students' message.

Salutations
Salutations are needed when someone refers to the other person. Several common salutation forms in bahasa Indonesia such as 'Pak ...', 'Bu ...', 'Kak ...', and others reflect the kurmat maxim (Gunarwan, 2007) (Poedjosoedarmo, 2017), which means respecting the interlocutor. When this maxim is ignored, it is possible for the interlocutor to feel offended which can result in less fluent communication.
"Especially when not embedding salutations, it means like there is no 'Pak ...' or something, I feel that it's impolite and I don't like it." (GY) GY pointed out that in one or two occasions his students ignored this kurmat maxim while communicating using WhatsApp. This ignorance caused (GY) felt offended which then causing him to feel inconvenient in replying to the students' message. When someone feel inconvenient, the communication built between them most likely will be less fluent.

Introductions
After greeting, a student needs to introduce himself when contacting their educators via text message.
"...at least if you haven't communicated before, it would be better to introduce yourself first." (UY) "Then (they) don't introduce themselves, as what usually happens. Unknown, suddenly asked, 'Ma'am, are you coming in today or not?'" (ND) Unlike direct face-to-face communication where the parties involved can identify each other, this identification can be missing within WhatsApp communication especially when one has not saved another's contact number. Introduction is then necessary considering that often, educators do not save student contact information on their smartphones. To be able to answer questions like "... is there any classes today or not?" a certain information related to the sender of the message e.g., name and class are needed by educators as the recipients of those messages.

Requests
Usually, one contacts someone else because they need help from others. Within education context, student might contact their educators when they need some guidance, assistance, or other kind of help related to their study. In line with this, some educators gave their insights. "That's uh… 'please allow me to submit a final project report,' for example." (MA) "... it's good that at least the word 'please' exists, like that, or 'please help' like that." (UY) For the educator as the intended party to be glad to help, a student needs to follow the maxim of nuju prana, which is to apply the appropriate speech act (Poedjosoedarmo, 2017). This can be represented by adding the expressions 'please allow', 'please', and 'please help', which is also in line with the concept of positive politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987). When students follow this maxim, educators admitted that they would be happier to help compared to when one didn't incorporate the word 'please'.

Closing
After the main message is conveyed, this message should be closed with an expression of gratitude. This gratitude, which mentioned by the educator, is also in line with the concept of positive politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987).
"… have to get used to closing with an intro at the back, also closing with for example 'thank you.'" (MA) According to (MA), greetings, salutations, introductions, requests, and closings included in student short messages addressed to educators are some indicators of politeness which if shown can make both parties comfortable in communicating. This can also affect further communication, when students need lecturers in the future. Furthermore, (MA) added that introductions at the beginning as well as expression of gratitude found in WhatsApp messages by students also made educators become more receptive, being happy to help and serve their students.

Usage of Formal Language and Word Choice
Beside language content, educators also expect their students to use formal language in their instant messages. Communication practices related to academics in an educational institution naturally require the perpetrators to use a variety of formal languages. This includes communication between students and their educators. If this is done, the parties concerned have fulfilled the maxim of politeness empan papan (Gunarwan, 2007;Poedjosoedarmo, 2017), which means being aware of the place as well as being able to understand the purpose and topic of the conversation. To fulfil this maxim, (MA) mentioned that less standard words (slang) should be avoided.
"The use of words such as slang (unofficial and non-standard language variety) to lecturers…" (MA) Aside from slang, the choice of words used also affects the success of communication. In line with this, (UY) mentioned that when a message is not worded carefully, it is very likely to be received poorly.
"... regarding the choice of words, it might be like... 'I'm asking for approval on this. I'm waiting.' that sort of thing. Why do I think it's a bit lacking… not good enough, that's how it is… he's the one in needs, but he's the one who's… being pushy?" (UY) It might be better if students add some of the strategies mentioned in the previous sub-discussion and uses a tone of language that does not sound demanding. Positive politeness concepts (Brown & Levinson, 1987) such as adding apologies and expression of gratitude can be used to soften the message. Negative politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987) can also be used to make the request as subtle as possible by changing the sentence structure into a question, for example to 'Is it possible if I ask for approval regarding …?'

3.1.3
Time of the Day Educators themselves have different opinions regarding when students should send messages. Some said they had no problem receiving messages from students all day, even on weekends, as long as the students were polite. Even though they do not mind getting the message, (UY) objected if the students demand a quick response when students send the message outside working hours.
"'Please do', if you want to contact me at whatever time it is, but please note that I'll reply at my own time… But then what usually happens is, for example, in the morning, at 4 am, for example, (he) WhatsApp me asking for an e-mail immediately... and expecting an immediate the response, well, I'm sorry, I can't." (UY) Regarding messages that come outside working hours, some educators pointed out that answers to questions or assistance will be given the next day or when there is free time such as on weekends.
"For example, at ten o'clock that night they would have added, 'I'm sorry, ma'am, since I just remembered and was afraid that tomorrow, I'd forget…' I'm just going to reply the next day." (ND) "... I'm not limiting for example what time they want to text even on holidays. Because sometimes I use the holidays more for consultations, yes, because on normal days there are lots of meeting agendas and so on." (SN) When educators cannot immediately answer students' questions, according to (UY), short responses that guarantee when they will be helped, such as 'The day after tomorrow, okay?' or 'Tomorrow,' can give students a feeling of being respected, that they are 'appreciated'. This can indirectly lead to respect as well as closeness to the lecturer.
Meanwhile, several other respondents admitted that they objected if students sent messages related to academic life outside of working days and hours. They believe that students should be aware that educators are also human beings who need time off and have other roles besides being educators, and have the rights to carry out these roles without being disturbed by work.
"However, at 9 pm, then at dawn, it was there. That seems like uh… in my opinion, that's unethical." (R) "But when it's 10 o'clock at night, sometimes I get annoyed, right, that means you can't wait for WA (WhatsApp) tomorrow morning because it's time for a rest, right?" (NE) This difference on educators' preference on message time should be understood well by students. By understanding their educators' preference, both parties will feel convenient during the communication. Educators will not feel being disturbed outside their working hours. In the other hand, students will not need to wait for an uncertain reply.

The Use of Emojis and Stickers
Beside message content and messaging time, educators are concerned about the use of emojis and stickers used by their students in academic context. "It just so happened that there were a few of them, uh... and they're already using stickers." (UY) "That emoji huh, I guess we need to be careful using that. Because sometimes the written language can sometimes be misinterpreted. So, for formal communications I usually don't use it." (SN) WhatsApp instant messaging application offers emoji and sticker features to their users. These features facilitate the users who want to be more expressive in their messages. However, in the context of education, (UY) and (SN) emphasize that students should be careful in using it because it can lead to misinterpretation, especially when the recipient is not in a good mood. Therefore, educators suggest students to avoid emoji in formal communication, unless they are personally quite close to the educators and the communication happens in a less formal context.

WhatsApp Communication Challenges in Education Context
A number of respondents agreed that their students, coming from the class of 2018 and later, tend to be able to communicate using WhatsApp short messages with better etiquette than their predecessors. Some agreed that this is because those students had received communication training during student orientation period. This training was specifically related to how students should communicate with lecturers. In addition to several banners on campus corners, several principles and rules of good communication are also printed in student pocket books. Therefore, students are then become more aware on how they should communicate politely. Even (ND) said, it seems that when sending messages, almost all students always mention their name and class even though they had contacted a specific lecturer the previous day. This also happens even when the lecturer had saved the student's WhatsApp number. However, (R) pointed out that there are still some students who do not follow the etiquette standards issued by the Centre for Innovation and Academic Studies (PIKA) Universitas Gadjah Mada. However, the frequency is much less than before the training.
Although many efforts have been conducted, there are still some challenges related to the ethics of communicating using WhatsApp that involve educators and students. Viewed from the perspective of educators, through the exposure of respondents who have been analysed, these challenges can be divided into two major groups, namely student behaviour and social closeness between the two. This section describes some of the cases.

Students' Behaviour
Regarding the ethics of sending messages by students to their educators, there are several examples of incidents where those messages make the educators feel uncomfortable. This inconvenient mostly were caused by politeness maxim violation, both positive and negative politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987) as well as some politeness maxims in the context of Javanese society (Gunarwan, 2007;Poedjosoedarmo, 2017). These challenges involve being self-assertive or demanding, being inconsiderate, being passive-aggressive, no introduction, inappropriate timing, and no salutation. Some WhatsApp communication challenges faced by educators can be seen in detail in Table 2. Being self-assertive or demanding "They asked for an approval because they needed it to sign up for, uh... their Final Project presentation. I don't know what else to say about it, they said, 'Ma'am please sign my documents. the deadline is tomorrow at nine,' and that's like at 1 am..." (ND) "…right after they sent their revision, for instance, they immediately asked for an instant review without giving me time to even read, and that gives me pressure, so it seems impolite." (GY) 2 Being inconsiderate "…well, I explained my condition, and I really could not do it, they still expected me to respond fast. I promised them to do it (reviews) two days after, but they kept on asking the next day, they wanted me to respond immediately." (UY) 3 Being passive-aggressive "Some of them even said, 'If you don't approve my paper now, I will have to extend to the next semester, then I will have to pay my tuition for another semester.'" (ND) 4 No introduction "…even without name, so I had to ask, 'who is this? What subject?'" (R) "… I received a message, and it was too straight forward, like directly said, 'Can we have a discussion, Sir?' just like that, and there were some that was just like, 'Any class today, Sir?'" (GY) 5 Inappropriate timing "But, when it was at 9 p.m., and then at dawn, they texted me. To me, that's inappropriate." (R) "There was one time a student texted me at 1 midnight." (ND) 6 No salutations "...more over when they don't use salutations. I mean like no, 'Sir…' or whatever. I feel it impolite, and I don't like it." (G) To anticipate these challenges, several respondents (MA), (SN), and (UY) conveyed the idea of making an agreement in advance with their students regarding their expectations, such as time preference in receiving a message, how to deliver it, and expectation related to respond time. This agreement can be given on the first meeting of every class, during a meeting with the Academic Supervisor, or when providing guidance for field lectures and final project or paper. With an agreement at the beginning, both parties should know each others' expectations and communication can be established properly.
Some respondents also admitted that as educators they have a moral responsibility to guide their students, including those related to communication guidance with parties of higher social status, both with lecturers and with their superiors in the future. The communication guidance referred by educators for example is by giving an understanding of the importance of introducing yourself first when starting a digital conversation with new people. Another example is by explaining the importance of understanding people's preference, especially the ones related to communication through instant messages.

Social Closeness
To get to optimal learning, an educator often tries to build personal closeness with his students. In relation to the communication that exists between educators and students, (UY) and (AS) admit that students who are relatively close to them (as their academic supervisor, final project supervisor, and schemes) still show respect in communicating via WhatsApp. The student still greets, pays attention to the timing when they should send messages, uses appropriate diction, asks for time to consult, and so on.
However, sometimes this closeness can cause a backfire on the educators themselves. Like one of the students who might feel closer to (ND) since she is his final project supervisor. This student contacted (ND) around midnight and asked (ND) to approve his final assignment immediately to be eligible to register for the thesis defence which was due at nine in the morning. This is also experienced by (GY).
"... maybe he considers our relationship to be close, so then the language used is as if I was his friend." (GY) Educators should be aware about the possibility of this WhatsApp communication challenge. If they feel it is not appropriate, they should be able to educate their students as they have the responsibility of giving the communication guidance as pointed out by other respondents. This is needed so that communication between both parties can run smoothly without any inconvenience experienced by any.

Educators' Expectations towards WhatsApp Usage
As parties involved in communicating with their students, educators have certain expectations. They hope that their students could apply etiquette when communicating with their educators, by paying attention to several points in the previous sub-discussions. However, when the students do not heed the etiquette, the lecturers agree to respond well. Even though they feel annoyed, they think that an educator needs to have the ability to manage emotions wand try to answer all messages in a professional manner. This is because as educators, they are aware that their actions can be an example for their students For topics that are not related to academics, educators tend to be more flexible in expectations regarding when to send messages. When students comment on Instagram or WhatsApp stories, ask about health conditions as well as pray for them, share funny uploads from the internet, (ND) admits to lowering ethical standards regarding communication time via WhatsApp. When involved in the Student Creativity Program team, (R)'s expectation regarding his preferred time students should send messages was also lower. This is because, educators already see students as teammates, with more or less equal roles and social status in that context. This also applies to other committees that involve lecturers and students in one work unit.
On other occasions, when one needs help, especially from a higher social status, one must be able to position oneself according to the prevailing order and agreement. A number of respondents agreed on this. They