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Abstract

Language is used to communicate, express feelings and emotions. In the teaching context, teachers use language to share knowledge and information with students. Teachers’ use of negative language, such as ‘duffer’, ‘stupid’, ‘lazy’, etc. may result in students feeling mistreated, discouraged and worthless. Such language can also negatively affect students’ cognitive processes, feelings and emotions and blunt their curiosity, and their interest in performing better may be reduced. The responses of students to negative language used by teachers has been documented but reasons for the use and purpose of such language by teachers has not been documented. Although much of the previous research has demonstrated the cause-effect relation between negative teacher talk and students’ unsatisfactory performance, none of the studies, to the best of our knowledge, explored teachers’ reflections and narratives of negative/positive language. Therefore, this study seeks to explore teachers’ attitudes to negative/positive language, reasons for using such language and ways of reducing the use of such language. Data collected through narrative inquiry from twenty teachers in Pakistan’s Sindh province will be qualitatively analyzed to demonstrate how negative language and its perception is shaped by teachers. Findings show that teachers tend to use negative language for a number of reasons, not always necessarily with the explicit intent of motivating students to improve. As humans, teachers do carry over to the classroom some anger, annoyance and irritation issues from the home and relationship domains. It is hoped that the findings will make teachers aware of their use of negative language and hopefully such awareness will reduce the use of such language which in many cases is detrimental to students’ well-being.

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