Questão 66961

A professor of applied linguistics is training future language teachers in advanced linguistic analysis. The goal is for the trainees to be able to analyze authentic language data from a pragmatic-discursive perspective, rather than a purely syntactic one. The professor presents a real-life scenario: A student submits a draft of an essay to their professor. The professor returns it with a single written comment at the end: 'I'm not sure this is what I was looking for.' The professor of applied linguistics then asks the teacher-trainees to analyze this utterance. He wants them to go beyond the literal meaning and analyze it as a speech act, considering its politeness implications and its function as feedback. He provides them with a theoretical framework based on Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory, which introduces the concept of 'face' (the public self-image that every person wants to claim for themselves) and 'Face-Threatening Acts' (FTAs). The framework states: 'Criticism is a classic FTA, as it threatens the 'positive face' of the addressee (their desire to be approved of). Speakers often use politeness strategies to mitigate or soften FTAs. Negative politeness strategies, such as being indirect, questioning, or hedging, are common in academic feedback to soften the threat to the student's face.'

Analyze the professor's feedback ('I'm not sure this is what I was looking for.') using the concepts from Politeness Theory:

I. The utterance is a direct, bald-on-record criticism, as it clearly states that the essay is wrong.
II. The utterance is an example of an 'off-record' indirect speech act. The professor is performing the FTA of criticism, but indirectly, by expressing uncertainty ('I'm not sure') rather than stating the criticism directly ('This is wrong').
III. This use of negative politeness strategies (indirectness, hedging) is a conventionalized way to give feedback in many academic cultures, aiming to soften the criticism and encourage revision without causing the student to lose face completely.

Which of the statements provide a correct analysis based on the pragmatic framework?