ABSTRACT

In state-controlled primary-school classrooms in mainland China, student leaders are often appointed by the class teachers (班主任) to maintain class order, to collect and grade homework or to assist the teachers in various ways. As observed by both authors of this chapter, student leaders from one public primary school in Guangdong Province of China have used a lot of harsh and coercive language to command and threaten their peers during noon breaks. Such atypical language use is, possibly, the result of an imbalanced power relationship between students caused by authoritative management on the part of teachers.