Balancing cooperation and power: politeness strategies in parent-teacher interactions

Analysing parent-teacher interactions from a linguistic perspective is crucial because revealing the underlying patterns of language choices provides significant insights into parent-teacher interactions by testing educational ideals against realities. The study investigates the perceived nature of parent-teacher interaction in Turkiye by analysing politeness strategies through teachers’ and parents’ written responses to interactional scenarios. Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory was adopted to investigate interactional dynamics including self-positioning, social power and face-management strategies. To gain a comprehensive understanding of parent-teacher interaction, two different Written Discourse Completion Tasks for parents and teachers were designed. Each task included ten scenarios reflecting topics that could arise in these interactions. WDCTs were applied to 80 parents and 80 teachers. A total of 1,786 politeness strategies were identified, showing that both parties are willing to collaborate even in the most face-threatening situations. Teachers, who use more direct strategies, prioritize their professional roles and position themselves as the more powerful actors. Although they experience greater face loss, parents, who mostly use indirect strategies, acknowledge teachers’ power. They also employ pseudo-agreements and use politeness strategies manipulatively to satisfy teachers' face needs. Lastly, both parties focus more on presenting themselves as ‘good parents’ and ‘good teachers’ than on issues concerning students.