Refusal from Authoritative Metalanguage in English Teacher’s Work

The article examines recent transformations in the modality of grammatical models that are frequently employed by teachers of English. These changes are examined as the outcome of wider social influences shaped by key historical and societal developments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In addition to long-standing social factors, including generational change, the study considers a set of extralinguistic conditions that arose in the aftermath of World War II and evaluates their role in shaping developments within the English language, with particular emphasis on grammatical structure. The post-war social environment is largely defined by processes of humanization and democratization, which contributed to the emergence of value orientations centred on politeness, reciprocity, and respect in interpersonal communication. The article argues that the expression of these values does not occur solely through phonetic or lexical means; the language also relies on a set of grammatical mechanisms that serve to express speakers’ attitudes in communication. The grammatical means under consideration did not arise as entirely new forms but evolved from pre-existing linguistic units whose meanings were gradually reinterpreted, though at varying rates. Such semantic reanalysis has led to broader, system-wide morphological shifts in English. The study provides a detailed account of grammatical devices that support non-imposing and polite teacher’s discourse, including modal verbs, modal expressions, and grammatical and lexical hedging strategies. Particular attention is given to semantic shifts and the changes in pragmatic functions of modal constructions commonly used in classroom interaction—namely can, may, should, ought, have (got), need, and must. A shared trait of these changes is a movement toward reducing hierarchical distance between speaker and addressee, thereby promoting a more equal communicative stance between teachers and students. The findings of the article can be applied in a classroom to help teachers of English exclude or at least minimize authoritative overtones and adopt more balanced and respectful modes of professional communication.