Through the Lens of Discourse Analysis: Transformational Leadership as a Leverage Point for Promoting Educational Sustainability

This exploratory qualitative study sought to understand the role of transformational leadership in promoting educational sustainability (ES) through examining three classroom critical incidents. For this undertaking, the study employed a quadratic method integrating four theories: Ethnomethodology (particularly indexicality and contextualization), Flanders’ Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC), Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS), and Transformational Leadership (TL). Two of the three incidents took place during face-to-face classes, while the third transpired online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses of teachers’ TL and communication strategies were administered, and each respective event was unfolded, explored, and evaluated qualitatively through a bidirectional model designed by the researchers. Data were collected and the study revealed that teachers demonstrated varied levels of TL based on their perceptions of incidents, the awareness of their professional roles as leaders, and the linguistic choices they made. In addition, analyzing the results of teachers’ discourses, TL was demonstrated to be a leverage point for promoting educational sustainability. Proven to be an effective tool, the bidirectional model can be advocated by policy makers to help teachers assume their roles as leaders, and even to qualify them as leaders.