LINGUOPRAGMATIC FEATURES OF DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS IN TEACHERS’ DISCOURSE IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK

Abstract

Directive speech acts are an inseparable part of classroom communication because teachers constantly use language to guide students, organize activities, manage behavior, give advice, and encourage participation. This study explores how directive speech acts are expressed in English and Uzbek teachers’ discourse, with particular attention to their linguopragmatic features. The analysis focuses on commands, requests, instructions, suggestions, advice, and prohibitions, as well as the linguistic forms used to realize them. Special attention is given to directness and indirectness, politeness strategies, mitigation, and the influence of sociocultural norms. The study adopts a qualitative contrastive approach supported by pragmatic, contextual, and discourse analysis. The comparison shows that both English and Uzbek teachers rely on a range of directive strategies, but the two languages differ in the way politeness, authority, and social distance are linguistically expressed. English teacher discourse frequently uses modal interrogatives and conventionally indirect forms, while Uzbek makes broader use of imperative morphology, respectful verb forms, and culturally established politeness markers. The findings suggest that teacher directives should be interpreted not only as grammatical constructions, but also as context-dependent communicative actions shaped by institutional roles, interpersonal relations, and cultural expectations.