Global Positioning: Language Ideologies and Multimodality in a Classroom With Chinese American English Language Learners

• In Event: Enacting Ideologies: Studies of Multimodal Discourse in Mediating Macro- and Micro-Social Worlds

Abstract

Objectives: This study builds upon the idea of micro-macro relationships in education by examining a sixth-grade classroom consisting of mostly Chinese-American ELLs. It attempts to understand how the teacher, also Chinese American, positions herself in relation to her students on both the classroom level as well as a larger macro-historical level, how this positioning mediates learning, and how these micro-macro relationships are contested and preserved. It explores how language is essential in mediating this micro-macro relationship, but makes it a central objective to move beyond the linguistic mode alone to explore how other semiotic systems are used in the social organization and positioning of this sixth grade classroom.

Theoretical framework: While the language ideologies framework (Irvine & Gal, 2000; Razfar, 2005) had been used most notably in the examination of language practices, here it is used as a framework to encompass other semiotic systems as well. I seek to understand the common sense notions of language, and semiotics more broadly and how they are used to position the teacher and students in this study. Positioning theory (Harré & Moghaddam, 2003) is critical to understanding discursive practices that mediate learning in this context. Finally, this study draws on cultural-historical activity theory (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006) as a foundational framework.

Methods: This study was conducted using several qualitative data collection procedures and analyses. The primary analytic methods used were critical discourse analysis (Luke, 1995), and multimodal discourse analysis (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001) of classroom discourse and focus group interviews. In addition to classroom and focus group discourse, student work, teacher work for the professional development, and observational data are used to triangulate the findings.

Data and Context: As a part of a larger study around a professional development program in which the teacher was involved, the data for this study includes classroom video tapes of lessons and small group work, focus group interview data involving the teacher, weekly study meetings in which the teacher was involved, field notes from both the researcher and the teacher, and student work. The primary data sources will be the classroom videos and the focus group videos. Secondary sources include the weekly study meeting when this teacher interacted with other teachers regarding the professional development.

Results: The teacher positions herself in the position of authority in a variety of ways, including through language use. She positions her students and their families as “outsiders” both in the classroom and in society through classroom narratives, discourse, and even visits to the students’ homes. In her own reflections as a Chinese American she implicitly separates herself from the experiences of her Chinese American students both on the local classroom context as well as in the global context.

Signifcance: This study fits into the growing discussion of language ideologies but continues to push the discussion to involve multimodalities. It also will appeal to the growing call for an explicit look at micro-macro relationships found in the classroom and how the interplay between these different levels mediate student learning.

Author

• Joseph C. Rumenapp, University of Illinois at Chicago