HEDGING THE UNSAYABLE: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS OF TEACHER DISCOURSE IN FACILITATING INTERETHNIC LITERARY DISCUSSIONS IN NORTHEAST NIGERIAN CLASSROOMS

Abstract

Teacher discourse about interethnic dialogue in conflict-affected classrooms is rarely examined for its linguistic texture. Using a qualitative interpretive design, this study presents a pragmatic analysis of interview and observational data from nine literature teachers and nine school administrators in Borno, Adamawa, and Taraba States, Northeast Nigeria, collected during a twelve-week literary intervention programme. Using politeness theory and hedging research, the study identifies three recurrent discourse patterns in teacher discourse about facilitating discussion of ethnicity: mitigated invitation, hedged questioning that opens discussion without imposing; deflective avoidance, topic-shift devices that redirect discussion away from face-threatening ground; and negotiated repair, clarification and reformulation that manage face-threatening student contributions in real time. Teachers' capacity to sustain interethnic literary dialogue is inseparable from their command of these pragmatic resources for managing face in high-stakes classroom talk. Implications for language teacher preparation in conflict-affected multilingual contexts are discussed.