LINGUOPRAGMATIC MANIFESTATIONS OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN STUDENT -TEACHER INTERACTION
Abstract
This study investigates the linguopragmatic manifestations of politeness strategies in student–teacher interaction within institutional educational discourse. Grounded in Brown and Levinson’s (1987) Politeness Theory, Leech’s (1983) Politeness Principle, and institutional discourse theory (Drew & Heritage, 1992), the research analyzes authentic classroom data collected from English-medium university classes in Uzbekistan and compares them with examples from English-speaking academic contexts. The study employs qualitative discourse analysis to examine speech acts such as requests, directives, feedback, disagreement, and clarification moves. The findings reveal that student speech predominantly reflects negative politeness strategies due to power asymmetry, whereas teachers combine positive politeness and mitigated directives to maintain pedagogical authority and relational harmony. Cross-cultural comparison indicates stronger explicit deference markers in Uzbek academic discourse, while English discourse demonstrates greater reliance on indirectness and egalitarian framing. The research contributes to linguopragmatic studies by demonstrating how politeness functions as a dynamic regulatory mechanism in institutional interaction.