Communicative Strategies in Educational Management Consultation: A Discourse-Analytic Study of Psychologist-Teacher Interactions
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Yuening Song1, Mohammad Qasim Ayaz2, Shichao Wang3
1College of International Chinese Education, Northeast Normal University.
Abstract:
Effective collaboration between educational psychologists and teachers is essential for addressing students' academic, social, and emotional needs. This study examines how consultation interactions are organized into distinct discourse modes and how these shape professional relationships, knowledge exchange, and power dynamics. It hypothesizes that identifiable interactional modes are strategically used to negotiate roles, establish shared understanding, facilitate problem-solving, and construct professional identities. The study analyzed 47 naturally occurring consultation sessions involving 38 professionals (12 educational psychologists and 26 teachers) across 32 psychologist-teacher dyads in primary and secondary schools. Audio-recorded consultations were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a multi-theoretical framework integrating critical discourse analysis, systemic functional linguistics, interpersonal pragmatics, and positioning theory. Four primary discourse modes emerged: informative, directive, collaborative, and reflective, each serving distinct communicative and relational purposes. Educational psychologists frequently used open-ended questioning, reframing, and joint problem definition to encourage teacher agency, shared decision-making, and collaborative problem-solving. Teachers displayed collaborative, deferential, and resistant orientations, influenced by professional experience, institutional hierarchy, and perceived differences in expertise. Shifts between discourse modes functioned as deliberate strategies for responding to evolving interactional demands and negotiating professional authority and identity. Consultation practices were also shaped by structural inequalities, including professional status, institutional hierarchies, and ableist assumptions. These findings highlight the value of discourse awareness and strategic communication training in promoting more equitable, reflective, and effective educational psychology consultation.
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