Birrell, Sandra Helen2026-05-292026-05-291999https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23956The language, structure, and gestures used by teachers to reprimand children in grades 6 to 8 were examined. These reprimands were defined as teacher-student conflicts and Deutsch's (1994) theory of cooperative and competitive conflict management was applied as the theoretical framework. This study examined both the structure of teacher communication (literal/non-literal) and its social messages (cooperative/competitive). Videotapes of 4 teachers in a total of 9 middle school classes were scored for conflict episodes, teacher communication, and student variables such as gender, number, and frequency. Results showed teachers were 3 times more likely to use a non-literal reprimand than a literal one when dealing with an individual student (male or female), but only slightly more likely to use a non literal reprimand when addressing student groups. Most significantly, teachers engaged i n more conflicts with male students, and when they did, they elected to use competitive strategies almost 91% of the time.enAvailable to the World Wide WebThesis