Criticising as a disciplinary action: A problem for learners of Chinese as a foreign language?

Abstract

In this study, we examine how criticising as a disciplinary action is conventionally realised in Chinese classroom contexts. By so doing, we provide a two-fold contribution to the current special issue dedicated to Willis Edmondson. First, we examine criticising in an innovative way, by going beyond its traditional interpretation as a speech act, that is, we approach it as an interactional phenomenon which is conventionally realised by a cluster of expressions and speech acts. Second, we propose a bipartite approach to examine why and how instances of criticism as a disciplinary action in Chinese may puzzle foreign learners of Chinese.