Vocational education and verbal interaction: the function of the modal verb “poder” in teacher-student dialogue

Abstract

“Would it be more difficult to work with adult students than with young ones?”. This was the question raised and discussed by the teachers of a training center for railroad workers, which was getting ready to receive students over 18 in its classrooms for the first time. The consensus among these teachers was that the interaction with adults would be more difficult and complex. This article presents part of the results of a research whose aim was to verify to what extent the teachers were right. Four classes of the same teacher, two with young students and two with adults, were recorded and transcribed. Based on the Bakhtinian concepts of word and of self-other relationship, and on some notions of modality, the function of the verb “poder” was analyzed in different interactions. The conclusions allowed us to question the teachers’ consensus, causing the continuation of the discussion among them.