Sociolinguistics and Language Education.pdf

430 Part 5: Language and Identity
((student stands)) OK. Can you tell me what this is ((with a fl ashcard
of the picture pepper))
Ss: Pepper.
T: Pepper. Very good. 26. Where is 26? Ok, what is this?
Ss: ((silence))
T: OK, everyone stand up. Stand up. If you keep quiet, please sit down.
That’s okay, if you want to stand up, it’s all right. I know you want to chat.
That’s fi ne. Our rule is that, if you want to talk, you have to stand up.
T: Ok, it’s ok. 26. What is this?
Sa: (xxx)
T: In English. No Chinese.
Ss: Butter . . ..
(adapted from Tien & Barnard, 2009: 92)
Not surprisingly, in all three contexts, the teacher demonstrates his or
her authority and control, from the fi rst sign that the lesson has begun.
However, in Excerpts 1 and 2 student monitors also play the role of initiating
opening sequences and managing classroom behavior, by telling their
peers to sit up straight and bow (Excerpt 1, in Japan), and modeling how
the teacher should be formally greeted (using Arabic and English in
Excerpt 2 in Brunei, not the Malay vernacular). They are also socializing
their peers and mediating communication between the teacher and the
class. Excerpt 3 begins more abruptly with students being asked, after just
one opening move by the teacher, to stand up and answer questions about
the English lesson, even though the responses seem to be part of a chorus
of student voices. In the same excerpt, students are referred to by numbers,
not by their names, and are expected to speak during the instructional
phase in English, not Mandarin Chinese or Taiwanese (local
languages the students are bilingual in). We also observe that students are
required to comport themselves physically in particular ways, standing
when speaking to the teacher in some cases, bowing at the beginning of
the lesson (Excerpt 1), putting their hands up to identify themselves as
potential speakers, but not speaking unless standing up; and otherwise
sitting attentively. Ideologies of respect, the sociolinguistics of polite greetings
between teachers and students, and questioning patterns for classroom
instruction are all being modeled (see also Howard & Lo, 2009).
Students are being socialized in each case into the local norms and practices
– and the languages, registers and speech acts – of their school cultures
and lessons.
Such opening routines in classroom lessons no doubt vary in some
respects across languages and cultures but tend to demonstrate certain
commonalities related to focusing students’ attention on the day’s lesson
or on a particular activity, as well as on the teacher’s (or a guest speaker’s
or student presenter’s) instruction. The routines also help manage
turn-taking.