[dill_day]

Interesting, but I think there are some good comments (at the article) too -- pointing out that it also just seems to make sense -- like,

Undergraduates write to professors with singular first person pronouns because they are often requesting information, or this sort of thing... understandable then that there's less reason for I, me, and my in the professor's response (and easy to imagine similar situation in other relationships).

Still, a cool article. Interesting research.

[TeMPOraL]

Also, (at least where I'm from) there's an expectation that as an undergraduate, you'll address professors using proper tone. This way, you end up writing lots of "I'd like to ask (...)", ", "is it possible for me to", etc. The writing gets full of fixed-phrases with lots of "I" and "me" - the author's "I-word salad". And academics I know tend to reply directly, without any formally required style of writing, so their communcation is more natural.

[wisty]

Also, the student is trying to get the professor to understand things from their perspective. "I am having trouble with ...", "I don't understand why ...". They want the professor to sympathise with their position.

The professor is giving instructions - "you should check the course website ...". They don't care if the students understands their position. They could try to justify "I can't help you with this, because if I did I would have to make exceptions for everyone"; but they don't need to.