Categories and language choice in multilingual classrooms: the relevance of ‘teacher-hood’

Abstract

This paper introduces Membership Categorisation Analysis to the study of language choice in multilingual classrooms. Building on the argument developed in studies of bilingual talk in non-educational settings that language choice is a category-bound activity, it aims to investigate the extent to which categories are relevant to language choice and alternation acts in multilingual classrooms. The discussion is based on a case study of an induction classroom for newly arrived immigrant children in France where multiple languages are used in addition to French, the language prescribed by the school language policy. A Membership Categorisation Analysis of a corpus of interaction audio-recorded in this classroom shows that the category ‘teacher-hood’ (a term I propose to refer to ‘doing being’ the teacher) is relevant to language choice and alternation acts. More specifically, in this classroom, language choice acts are bound to the category ‘teacher-hood’ and the co-selective relationship between ‘teacher-hood’ and language choice is used by the classroom participants as a ‘practiced language policy’; that is, as a way to know what language(s) is appropriate in interaction. I further show how the classroom participants creatively play with the performance of ‘teacher-hood’ to allow multiple languages in interaction.