Abstract
Language is used to communicate and 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, and lazy, 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. 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 language. Therefore, this study seeks to explore teachers’ attitudes to negative language, reasons for using such language, and ways of reducing the use of such language. Data collected through a narrative inquiry from 20 teachers in Pakistan’s Sindh province has been qualitatively analyzed to demonstrate how negative language and its perception are shaped by teachers. Findings show that teachers tend to use negative language for several reasons, not always necessarily with the explicit intent of motivating students to improve. As humans, teachers carry anger, annoyance, and irritation issues from the home and relationship domains to the classroom. 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 negative language, which, in many cases, is detrimental to students’ well-being.
Recommended Citation
David, Maya Khemlani; Ali, Ameer; Dumanig, Francisco Perlas; and Abbasi, Muhammad Hassan
(2023)
"Exploring Teachers’ Reflections and Narratives of Negative Language,"
Journal of English and Applied Linguistics: Vol. 2:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59588/2961-3094.1066
Available at:
https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/jeal/vol2/iss2/3
