Epistemic and Deontic Authority in Parent–Teacher Conference: Referring to the Expert as a Discursive Practice to (Jointly) Undermine the Teacher's Expertise.

This article examines how teachers' authority is interactionally challenged and delegitimized during parent–teacher conferences (PTCs), focusing on the communicative practices of "quoting" and "referring to the expert." Using conversation analysis of a case involving a gifted child, it shows that parents strategically invoke expert knowledge to question teachers' epistemic (knowledge-related) and deontic (decision-making) rights, while teachers sometimes concede these rights by deferring to external experts. The study highlights how these micro-level interactions contribute to a broader erosion of teachers' professional authority and suggests implications for teacher education, emphasizing the need for training that enhances teachers' communicative competence in managing expert knowledge and maintaining their professional roles within family–school partnerships.