Politeness in Online Educational Discourse: Exploring Relational Work Strategies in Online Teacher-Student Interactions

Abstract

The current study explores politeness in computer-mediated communication from the perspective of online educational discourse. Focusing on the use of language in teacher-student interactions, we collect data that consist of 117 naturally-occurring conversations from three online language courses in Dingtalk, one of the most popular online educational platforms in Mainland China. Data are analyzed using an adapted version of politeness theory and the notion of relational work. The results show that the management of relational work and the realization of politeness through certain strategies. The preferred relational work strategies employed by teachers and students are positive relational work strategies, negative relational work strategies, and emoji relational work strategies. The preference for these strategies indicates that teachers and students are concerned about constructing politeness by considering their positive and negative face. In addition to contributing to the existing literature on politeness and relational work in computer-mediated communication, the present study offers practical implications for using relational work strategies to do polite and appropriate relational practices to maintain politeness in the online education community.