Abstract
The study of pragmatic identity has been a trend in the field of pragmatics. The primary schools in China have carried out online education in the spring of 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, and this study focuses on two primary pupils and their teachers and parents, paying attention to the pragmatic identities constructed and the discursive devices used by the primary school teachers, pupils and their parents in this special online communication process. It is found that the teachers in this case study tend to construct four types of pragmatic identities in the online teaching activities, namely the knowledgeable scholars, instructional technicians, activity organizers and performance evaluators. The pupils participated in this study mainly build two types of pragmatic identities, namely the study explorers and atmosphere enliveners. The parents involved in the study tend to construct three pragmatic identities – teaching assistants, facility supporters and co-learners – in the online education context. Some discursive devices are used to construct these pragmatic identities, including the devices of language style, speech act, address, vocabulary selection and paralinguistic means. This study also yields some interesting findings on the interaction among teachers, pupils and parents during the process of identity construction in the online teaching and learning environment.
Highlights
The control of the novel coronavirus pneumonia has been the top priority in the first season of 2020 in China
We have discussed some of the types as well as the discursive devices of pragmatic identities constructed by primary school teachers, pupils and parents in online teaching and learning practice
It has been found that teachers tend to frequently use four types of pragmatic identities, namely the knowledgeable scholars, instructional technicians, activity organizers and performance evaluators
Summary
The control of the novel coronavirus pneumonia has been the top priority in the first season of 2020 in China. The local education departments have done a lot of work to promote the “online teaching and learning” in primary and secondary schools during the epidemic prevention and control period. Distant or online teaching and learning has become more and more popular among colleges and universities in China, such a novel way of teaching and learning can seldom be seen in most of the public primary and secondary schools across the country. Kindergartens, colleges, institutions and universities shut down because of the current epidemic, the teaching concepts and learning modes of the primary and secondary schools in China are having a series of big changes, and the identities of both teachers and students, even the parents of the students, are undergoing big changes. This study, focusing on the pragmatic identities of Chinese primary school teachers, pupils and parents in online courses, will explore their identity types and discourse construction strategies, aiming at further enriching and expanding the relevant research of pragmatic identity, promoting the development of identity research in online courses, and providing theoretical support and practical guidance for primary school online teaching and learning
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