“You Know What I Mean?”: Metamessages, Silencing Speech Acts, and Symbolic Violence

Abstract This article uses the lens of symbolic violence to illustrate how juxtaposing metamessages with speech acts can help deconstruct hierarchical power relations in classrooms. Drawing on self‐reported online discussion data from 18 in‐service teachers enrolled in a two‐year MA TESOL program at a private metropolitan university in the U.S., this study addresses the following research question: How do TESOL teacher candidates interpret the utterance “You know what I mean” based on their lived experiences and classroom teaching practices? Findings reveal that this utterance was interpreted in multiple ways: As a genuine question checking for comprehension in a literal sense, a rhetorical question that is not meant to be answered but instead conveys hidden meanings, and a loaded question—a potentially pressuring prompt. The data further show that such utterance might enact symbolic violence through speech act silencing manifested as (1) locutionary muting—saying nothing/staring, (2) illocutionary disablement—saying no with confusion, and (3) illocutionary coercion—a verbalized silence—a forced agreement due to unintentional or sometimes intentional subjugation by performing illocutionary speech acts of shaming, threatening, degrading or bullying, which often made the authentic speech acts unspeakable. We suggest that TESOL educators should adopt a power‐with approach by using culturally responsive directive speech acts to reduce miscommunication, disrupt symbolic violence, and promote equity. Finally, we call for further critical inquiry into how everyday classroom discourse may exercise and reproduce symbolic violence through the integrated lens of metamessages and speech acts.