Pedagogic ventriloquation: Projected constructed direct reported speech in teacher talk

Abstract

Abstract Drawing on an interactional sociolinguistic approach to classroom talk, I conceptualize pedagogic ventriloquation: representation of students linguistic actions which have not actually happened but which are framed as potential or likely through quotatives and paralinguistic features, for the purposes of instruction. Using data from audio-recordings of a 9th grade ELA classroom in Southern California, I demonstrate the teacher s use of this form i) to provide an evidentiary base for claims about students classroom work habits and, ii) as indirect criticism which allows the teacher/speaker to simultaneously distance or detach themselves from the censure. I argue for conceptualizing the use of this speech form as participating in broader post-traditional social transformations (Bauman, 2000; Collins, 2004; Giddens, 1998), marked by the renegotiation of institutional authority relations.