Bonacina-Pugh2013

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Bonacina-Pugh2013
BibType ARTICLE
Key Bonacina-Pugh2013
Author(s) Florence Bonacina-Pugh
Title Categories and language choice in multilingual classrooms: the relevance of ‘teacher-hood’
Editor(s)
Tag(s) Membership Categorization Analysis, EMCA, Multilingualism, Classroom, Language Choice, French
Publisher
Year 2013
Language English
City
Month
Journal Language and Education
Volume 27
Number 4
Pages 298–313
URL Link
DOI 10.1080/09500782.2013.788021
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

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.

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