Rapport in Practicum Supervisors’ Directive Strategies in WhatsApp Group Chats

Text messaging applications manage and support the lack of face-to-face interaction. Considering the lack of studies on rapport management in online group communication, interlocutors in an asymmetrical power relationship may often be uncertain about the strategies and forms of language use to manage rapport. This study addresses WhatsApp communication between Malaysian practicum supervisors and their TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) trainee teachers and presents an analysis of a total of 479 WhatsApp text messages containing directive speech acts sent by nineteen practicum supervisors to their trainee teachers in their group chats. It examines strategies and lexical downgraders in the practicum supervisors’ orders and requests. The findings show that they use direct strategies with a significant number of lexical downgraders to manage rapport. The lexical downgraders in most of the orders could signify an effort to maintain rapport in the group chats. The illocutionary domain of Spencer-Oatey’s (2008; 2015) rapport management model is used to highlight the appropriate handling of orders and requests to maintain harmonious relations in the WhatsApp group chats.