Carol N. Dixon

Interactional Ethnography: An Approach to Studying the Social Construction of Literate Practices

What counts as literacy in any group is visible in the actions members take, what they are oriented towards, for what they hold each other accountable, what they accept or reject as preferred responses of others, and how they engage with, interpret and construct text. This article examines the processes through which a set of literate practices were constructed and reconstructed by the teacher and students across five classes for a Year 11 student in a vocationally oriented school in Australia. The comparative analysis of the five classrooms examined what counted as literacy in the Mathematics, Industry Studies Metal, Hospitality and Food Technology and General English. Through analysis of what counted as text, as literate practices, and as participation in each class, we illustrate our research approach, Interactional Ethnography, and provide a theoretical discussion of the relationships between theory and method.

Talking Knowledge into Being: Discursive and Social Practices in Classrooms.

The history of the articles in this issue has two dimensions: the history of the articles themselves, and the history of research on the relationship of language and education grounding these articles. As guest editors, we feel that both histories are essential to understanding why this particular set of articles was selected and to locating these articles within a growing history of research on language and classrooms. The former is generally included in an introduction such as this one, the latter is often invisible, because reader knowledge of “the field” is often assumed. However, given the breadth of interest of readers of Linguistics and Education ,and the depth of research across the range of areas on the relationship of lin- guistics and education in the past three decades, we feel that both histories are needed to contextualize these articles and to illustrate the particular contributions of the studies represented by the articles in this special issue. The Local History and Organization of the Volume The local history of the articles is grounded in a program of research being conducted by the Santa Barbara Classroom Discourse Group. This community is composed of teachers, researchers, and students who are concerned with under- standing how everyday life in classrooms is constructed by members through their interactions, verbal and other, and how these constructions influence what students have opportunities to access, accomplish, and thus, “learn” in schools. The members of this community share a common background in writing process and language as social process. Four of the articles in this issue (Floriani, Heras, Lin, and Brilliant-Mills) are drawn from two classrooms (sixth and seventh grade), which, in turn, are part of a series of linked ethnographic studies in Grades 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12

Classroom discourse and opportunities to learn: An ethnographic study of knowledge construction in a bilingual third‐grade classroom

The present study examines how two teams of students in a bilingual third‐grade classroom co‐construct knowledge through their oral and written discourse. By analyzing the various interactional patterns, times, and spaces of the class members, the multiple and varied opportunities for learning become visible. We also explore the role of the teacher in constructing these opportunities for learning. Our findings demonstrate how a pair of female students and a triad of male students, through their interaction and talk, negotiate, shape, and reshape the common task of writing a draft of a “planet story.” Our data suggest that although a common task does not necessarily lead to common opportunities to learn, it may provide a wide range of opportunities for students to construct their own knowledge and thus to learn.

Evolution of qualitative research methodology: Looking beyond defense to possibilities

The authors discuss where qualitative research may be headed in the light of where it has been, situating their conversation in the current political context.

Critical Issues: What Counts When Context Counts?: The Uncommon “Common” Language of Literacy Research

Research into literacy published in journals such as the Journal of Literacy Research spans a range of disciplines and areas of study (e.g., reading, English education, composition). Even individual studies frequently take up interdisciplinary perspectives (e.g., anthropological, sociological, linguistic, educational, textual). The results are journals far ranging in their reach and rich in the knowledge they bring to literacy issues. However, such diversity of theoretical perspectives, research methods, and analytical methodologies also contributes to a confounding effect. In this article, we explore one such effect that occurs when a common term is used with different meanings. Although this may appear on the surface to be a problem easily remedied or even a rather trivial issue, in this article, we show just how consequential this practice can be when the goal is building knowledge from research that can inform practice, policy, and theory. This critical issue can be posed as a set of interrelated questions: Are we all talking about the same thing when we use words like literacy, reading, and even seemingly less resonant ones like context, the one addressed in this commentary? If we are, how do we know? And if we are not, what price are we paying for not considering the issue?

“I Used To Know That”: What Happens When Reform Gets Through The Classroom Door

Abstract This article places Proposition 227 in the context of the policy web formed by a series of legislative acts and policies at the national, state, and local school board levels; federal judicial decisions; state and local elections; changes in the local school district board and superintendent. We draw on our ongoing ethnographic study of a fifth-grade classroom to illustrate what happens when policies get through the classroom door. Through this analysis, we illustrate how policies constrained the bilingual teachers ability to make learning opportunities available to her linguistically diverse students in 1998–99.

From they are Japs to we are Returnees

Schools in the United States have historically served large numbers of immigrant students, and the population continues to grow today. Much research literature in education focuses on linguistic, academic and social issues around immigrant students from working-class families (e.g. Bettie, 2002; Flores-Gonzales, 1999); however, it is equally important to examine the experiences of upper/middle-class immigrant families in order to understand the dynamics of immigrants’ impact on schooling in the global context.

The Construction of Social Competencies through Talk

What counts as social competency? How are social competencies constructed in and through the everyday talk among members of a social group? These questions guide the discussion of the conceptualization of social competency that follows. The discussion begins with an historical overview of the general concept of competence across time and disciplines and then proceeds to an exploration of current perspectives to illustrate the complexity in defining this construct.