Florence Bonacina-Pugh

Categories and language choice in multilingual classrooms: the relevance of ‘teacher-hood’

This paper introduces Membership Categorisation Analysis to the study of language choice in multilingual classrooms. Building on the argument developed in studies of bilingual talk in non-educational settings that language choice is a category-bound activity, it aims to investigate the extent to which categories are relevant to language choice and alternation acts in multilingual classrooms. The discussion is based on a case study of an induction classroom for newly arrived immigrant children in France where multiple languages are used in addition to French, the language prescribed by the school language policy. A Membership Categorisation Analysis of a corpus of interaction audio-recorded in this classroom shows that the category ‘teacher-hood’ (a term I propose to refer to ‘doing being’ the teacher) is relevant to language choice and alternation acts. More specifically, in this classroom, language choice acts are bound to the category ‘teacher-hood’ and the co-selective relationship between ‘teacher-hood’ and language choice is used by the classroom participants as a ‘practiced language policy’; that is, as a way to know what language(s) is appropriate in interaction. I further show how the classroom participants creatively play with the performance of ‘teacher-hood’ to allow multiple languages in interaction.

Legitimizing multilingual practices in the classroom: the role of the ‘practiced language policy’

ABSTRACT This paper revisits the notion of ‘legitimate language’ [e.g. Bourdieu 1977. “The Economics of Linguistic Exchange.” Social Science Information 16 (6): 645–668] as it relates to multilingualism in educational contexts. Since Heller [1996. “Legitimate Language in a Multilingual School.” Linguistics and Education 8: 139–157] developed the notion of ‘legitimate language’ to encompass issues of language choice, there has been a consensus that a legitimate language is a language that is appropriate in a given situation. However, a crucial issue remains to be addressed, namely that of knowing what benchmark do classroom participants use to know when a language is appropriate, that is, legitimate or not. To address this issue, this paper takes as an example the case of an induction classroom for newly-arrived immigrant children in France where multiple languages have been observed. A Conversation Analysis of a set of audio-recorded interactions reveals that whilst languages other than French are not legitimised by top-down language policies and ideologies held at the societal and institutional levels, they are nevertheless seen as legitimate according to the local ‘practiced language policy’ [Bonacina-Pugh 2012. “Researching ‘Practiced Language Policies’: Insights from Conversation Analysis.” Language Policy 11 (3): 213–234]. This paper thus argues for a multi-layered understanding of legitimacy and shows how in the classroom under study, and possibly in other multilingual classrooms, practiced language policies play a key role in the legitimisation of multilingual language practices.