The Discursive Co-construction of Knowledge, Identity, and Difference: An Ethnography of Communication in the High School Mainstream

Abstract

This article describes the ethnography of communication as a viable, context‐ and culture‐sensitive method for conducting research on classroom discourse. I first provide an overview of the method and its role in applied linguistics research and then present a study of discourse in mainstream high school classes with a large proportion of students who speak English as a second language. Drawing on social constructivist views of language learning and socialization that recognize the role of participation in language‐mediated activities in people's development as fully competent members of sociocultural groups, I examine the macro‐ and micro‐level contexts of communication within one content‐area course. I focus on the discourse and interactional features associated with teacher‐led whole‐class discussions, examining the sequential organization of talk, including turn‐taking and other features of participation, and explicit and implicit references to cultural identity and difference. The paper reveals the contradictions and tensions in classroom discourse and in a teacher's attempts to foster respect for cultural identity and difference in a linguistically and socioculturally heterogeneous discourse community. I conclude with a poststructural commentary on the ethnography of communication.