Seen from a broad point of view, this research, based on the theoretical frame of interactional sociolinguistics and the ESA (Exchange Structure Analysis) approach developed by Kneser, Pilkington and Tresure-Jones, aims at contributing to a growing understanding of the difficulties in establishing a good relationship between teachers and students in computer mediated environments, as well as investigating to what extent this problem is related to the teacher’s modus operandi. In order to do so, we sought to investigate the teacher’s actions - the way she dealt with the student’s criticism and expectations in relation to her performance, the way she reacted to face threats and, at last, to what extend the distance education principles affected her performance and, consequently, her relationship with the students. Another point that draws our attention is that, apparently, it seems easier for the students to make use of impoliteness and to threat the teacher’s face in computer mediated environments. Since there is no face to face interaction, both impoliteness and face threats seem to be less compromising. Therefore, this research intended, through the analysis of the interactions, to contribute to a more reflexive teaching, especially in what concerns the roles that teachers are supposed to perform in teaching and learning online contexts.