VOICE, DUTY, AND TEACHER AGENCY: A PRAGMATIC READING OF A DOCUMENT PROVIDED TO INSTRUCTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICES IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Abstract

This article examines how an educational document provided to instructors constructs institutional voice, duty, and teacher agency through enunciative choices. We conducted a qualitative pragmatic analysis, segmenting the text into utterances and annotating speech acts, deontic modality, implicitation, and perlocutionary effects, as well as readability cues. Findings show a predominance of directives with high obligatory force, often chained to descriptions and justifications that guide action; recurrent use of implicit meaning (presuppositions and implicatures) to stabilize adherence; indirect addressee construction that effaces the agent in impersonal passages; and dense segments that require additional inferential effort. Based on these results, we propose pragmatic refinements: labeling the gradation of enunciative force (mandatory/recommended/optional); making means–end reasoning explicit in support boxes; adding “For the Instructor” sections with operational steps; mapping responsibilities (“who does what”); and applying a readability layer organized as task→why→how to check. We conclude that making the relations between voice, duty, and decision room visible strengthens teacher agency without undermining the genre’s regulatory function, thus supporting informed adherence and effective pedagogical action.