Making and Using "Quiet Student" Identities in an English‐Medium Classroom: A Translanguaging and Flow Perspective

• In Event: Embodied, Multiscalar, and Mediated Translanguaging Across Spaces, Identities, and Technologies

Abstract

This study examines how a “quiet student” identity is co-constructed, resisted, and pedagogically mobilized in a U.S. graduate TESOL classroom. Drawing on a translanguaging and flow perspective (Lemke & Lin, 2022) and sociocultural identity theory (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005; Wortham, 2006), the study analyzes 26 hours of video-recorded classroom interaction, complemented by ethnographic fieldnotes and recall interviews. Multimodal conversation analysis reveals how a Chinese international student’s quietness was initially registered through humor and silence and later invoked by the instructor to scaffold complex academic concepts like “investment.” Findings highlight how identities shaped in historical speech events can become translanguaging resources in future classroom interactions. The study advances understandings of identity-in-interaction and advocates for more inclusive, responsive classroom practices.

Author

• Gengqi Xiao, University of Wisconsin-Madison