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7 - Making the Familiar Change

Language Socialization via Contrapuntal Interaction in a US High School Language Arts Class

from Part II - Socializing Identities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2020

By
Betsy Rymes  and
Andrea Leone-Pizzighella
Edited by
Matthew J. Burdelski  and
Kathryn M. Howard
Matthew J. Burdelski
Affiliation:
Osaka University
Kathryn M. Howard
Affiliation:
California State University, Channel Islands
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Summary

This chapter explores the contrapuntal nature of school and peer socialization among honors eleventh graders and their teacher in a US high school classroom as they negotiate expertise and identities over a lesson, across changing speech events and participation frameworks. The analysis shows how certain epistemic stance markers ratify or challenge peers’ knowledge and display flexible and relative understandings of expertise across shifting participation frameworks, and how students’ engagement with course material involves simultaneous identity displays to peers. Paradoxically, these identity displays, while done in ways that may index counterpositions to the teacher, also serve as points of classroom engagement. The analysis deconstructs the distinction between “unofficial” peer socialization and “official” academic learning, illuminating how an experienced teacher and gifted teens build classroom community and learning through contrapuntal discourse that accomplishes both goals. The findings suggest that teachers and administrators concerned with classroom management might do well to consider building this contrapuntal rhythm, rather than muting students’ contribution to it.

Keywords

IRE sequencespeer socializationhigh schoolparticipation frameworkunderlifecommunicative repertoire
Type
Chapter
Information
Language Socialization in Classrooms
Culture, Interaction, and Language Development
 , pp. 132 - 157
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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