Departing from a functional perspective of language use, we have investigated linguistic strategies of a school supervisor and their acceptance by teachers. Such study tries to offer insights on the modalization of language in professional interactions. Thus, we have applied principles of Politeness (1978) allied to the Speech Acts Theory (1962) to come to the conclusion there is an inverse proportion between the level of politeness and the quality of comments made: the more politeness strategies used, the less positive the comments made and vice-versa. Attitude tests reveal high level of acceptance of comments by teachers, what might indicate that more politeness and modalization of language in situations of supervision are highly desirable for more effective professional actions.
Communicative Strategies; Politeness; Supervisor; Teacher
