tailieunhanh - Discursive construction of power in students’ anonymous feedback

The study aims to find out how students actually do their power through linguistic choices by looking at some pragmatic aspects such as speech acts, addressing terms and politeness strategies (Yule, 1996). The study found that students explicitly do power in this discourse; besides, negotiation of traditional roles was also present. | DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF POWER IN STUDENTS’ ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK Nguyen Thi Thu Ha*, Nguyen Huong Giang, Vu Minh Huyen Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English-speaking Countries, VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Pham Van Dong, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 05 March 2017 Revised 05 May 2017; Accepted 18 May 2017 Abstract: This study was conducted on more than 400 negative anonymous comments, in which students convey some complaint or express discontent about their teachers. The study takes a poststructruralist approach to discourse analysis, positioning that power is contructed and negotiated through discourse (Foucault, 1972; Fairclough, 2010; Mills, 1997). The study aims to find out how students actually do their power through linguistic choices by looking at some pragmatic aspects such as speech acts, addressing terms and politeness strategies (Yule, 1996). The study found that students explicitly do power in this discourse; besides, negotiation of traditional roles was also present. This reflects the complexity of the teachers – students power relation in a comtemporary Vietnam, in which there exist both market economy’s definition of education and traditional perception of teaching and Keywords: anonymous feedback, discursive construction of power, poststructuralism 1. Introduction (1) In light of post-structuralist discourse analysis theory, this article examines an aspect of the power relation between teachers and learners in the context of contemporary Vietnam. In particular, it critically looks into the discourse of anonymous feedback given by students on their university lecturers. This social practice gives students the chance to evaluate their lecturers’ performance and express their opinions concerning what should be improved in the lecturers’ teaching. The practice itself reflects a change in the view of teacher – learner relationship in the education setting whereby students are made active * .