Our modern and ever-changing world has compelled us to re-consider and re-imagine the symbiotic relationship between language and society. In the United States, demographic shifts have urged educators to seek new ways to address the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse populations; however, participants in educational settings are influenced by their backgrounds and notions of race/ethnicity and language even as they undertake professional development (PD) to engage with these social constructions. Using ethnographic methods, this case study investigated how the interactions between PD facilitators and participants (teachers) revealed the perceptions, enactment, and negotiation of the tenuous intersections of race/ethnicity and identity through language use in this space.
Through discourse analysis, I analyze how the voiced perceptions and interactions of educators and PD facilitators wove a rich tapestry of socially constructed notions manifested in this setting. Examining the communication patterns of a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and areas of expertise revealed how social constructions impacted PD facilitators and participants in three specific ways: (1) the way they enact social identities, (2) the way they enact national identities, and (3) the way they use language as a “tool” to say something, do something, and be something (Gee, 1999). My own experiences, as Latina and “border-crosser” (international student in the United States), were intriguing at times and thought-provoking, as I realized my own positionality and identity enactment in this space.
This type of analysis is particularly urgent given that rapidly transforming demographics worldwide are producing heightened social contentions and (re)positioning the interconnection between language and society (the “multilingual turn,” May, 2014; “super-diversity,” Vertovec, 2007). This investigation sheds light on the social and linguistic complexity contained in dissimilar learning contexts. Through the exploration of the intricate crosscutting dynamics at play in this space, this study considers how to better support educators in diverse schools.
References:
Gee, J. P. (1999). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. London:Routledge.
May, S. (ed.) (2014). The multilingual turn: implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education. Routledge Press: New York NY.
Vertovec, S. (2007) Super-diversity and its Implications, Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024-1054.
