Cromdal2003

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Cromdal2003
BibType ARTICLE
Key Cromdal2003
Author(s) Jakob Cromdal
Title The creation and administration of social relations in bilingual group work
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Conversation Analysis, Children, Group Work, Bilingual, Power, Social Relations
Publisher
Year 2003
Language
City
Month
Journal Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Volume 23
Number 1-2
Pages 56–75
URL Link
DOI 10.1080/01434630308666489
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

While recent studies of task-focused activities in bilingual groups of students focus on the social nature of knowledge construction as part of the (language) learning process, they sometimes leave out the role of such bilingual practices as language choice and alternation in the interactional accomplishment of social relations. The present study highlights the bilingual aspects of social interaction in a group of four Danish-Turkish students engaged in creating a cartoon strip. In-depth analysis of a 45-minute session reveals some organisational features of the group's work. First, the construction of the cartoon is informed by a storyline, which is narratively produced throughout the best part of the session. Second, the narration of the storyline is in turn informed by a linguistic division of labour, specifying that narrative contributions are produced in Danish and leaving language choice open for other types of actions. Third, it is shown that participation in narrative activities may be exploited to regulate the group's work, and the analysis highlights participants' use of language choice and code-switching in forming alliances and opposing contestable actions in relation to story narration. Thus, to some extent, participation in the group's work is asymmetrically organised, and the analysis is discussed in terms of 'power' as an interactionally accomplished feature of the students' social conduct.

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