Negotiating relational goals in PhD vivas: A multimodal, interpersonal-pragmatic analysis of how examiners manage supervisors’ face

Abstract

In PhD vivas, examiners are often confronted with the challenge of meeting expectations as ‘gatekeepers’ and managing the face needs of candidates’ supervisors (whose supervisory expertise also indirectly comes under scrutiny) without sacrificing rigour. This notwithstanding, virtually none of the limited research on relational work in PhD vivas in English for academic/specific purposes (EAP/ESP) has investigated how examiners negotiate such critical moments successfully to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships with candidates’ supervisors. Moreover, with few exceptions, most studies on PhD vivas have focused solely on linguistic features, although communication is often conceptualised as a multimodal phenomenon among many applied linguists. The current paper thus employs Spencer-Oatey’s (2000) rapport management framework, underpinned by Tetteh’s (2025a, b) approach, to study how examiners negotiate such complex situations in 11 video recordings (992 min and 10 s) of PhD vivas conducted at a Ghanaian institution. Analysis foregrounds relational strategies that examiners in the context of the study employ to manage supervisors’ face—affirming the supervisors, shifting responsibility away from them, and strategically realigning with them. Analysis also highlights examiners’ use of embodied communicative resources to perform interactive, pragmatic and modal functions, the latter of which intensify both face-enhancing and face-aggravating speech acts. Findings demonstrate that, in such high–stakes interactions, examiners employ rapport strategies to manage not just the supervisors’ quality and identity face, but also the intergroup face of the panel and faculty. The study contributes to research on relational work in ESP/EAP contexts and has practical implications for the development of early-career academics and the training of doctoral students.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. English for Specific Purposes, 2026 · DOI ↗