Gendered choices
codeswitching and collaboration in a bilingual classroom
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v3i2.181Keywords:
Gender Identity, Codeswitching, CollaborationAbstract
This paper examines the use of Spanish and English, as well as collaborative discourse sequences, of four fourth graders in a bilingual classroom in terms of how they are used to construct gender identity. The analysis shows how language practices can become gendered through both societal and interactional norms and practices. The two girls’ use of English to construct their identities as best friends becomes part of the construction of femininity through the influence of both macro-social gender roles and the girls’ own linguistic repertoires and behavior in this community of practice. Further, both boys and girls use collaborative speech, but their aims of collaboration differ in ways that draw on hegemonic masculine roles in society as well as the personal agendas of the speakers.
References
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Quiroz, Pamela (2001) The silencing of Latino student ‘voice’: Puerto Rican and Mexican narratives in eighth grade and high school. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 32: 326–349.
Schilling-Estes, Natalie (2004) Constructing ethnicity in interaction. Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(2): 163–195.
Swann, Joan and David Graddol (1988) Gender inequalities in classroom talk. English in Education 22(1): 48–65.
Swigart, Leigh (1991) Women and language choice in Dakar: A case of unconscious innovation. Women and Language XV: 11–20.
Talbot, Mary M. (1998) Language and Gender: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tannen, Deborah (1993) The relativity of linguistic strategies: Rethinking power and solidarity in gender and dominance. In Deborah Tannen (ed.) Gender and Conversational Interaction 165–188. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thorne, Barrie (1993) Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Buckingham, Open University Press.
Winters, Joanne and Anne Pauwels (2005) Gender in the transmission and construction of ethnolinguistic identities and language maintenance in immigrant Australia. Australian Journal of Linguistics 25(1): 153–168.
Becker, Ruth R. (2001) Spanish-English code switching in a bilingual academic context. Reading Horizons 42: 99–115.
Bowles, Hannah Riley, Linda Babcock and Lei Lai (2007) Social incentives for gender differences in the propensity to initiate negotiations: Sometimes it does hurt to ask. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 103: 84–103.
Bucholtz, Mary (1999) ‘Why be normal?’ Language and identity practices in a community of nerd girls. Language in Society 28: 203–223.
Bucholtz, Mary (2000) Gender. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9: 80–83.
Chan, Grace (1992) Gender, roles, and power in dyadic conversations. In K. Hall, M. Bucholtz, and B. Moonwomon (eds) Locating Power: Proceedings of the Second Berkeley Women and Language Conference 57–67. Berkeley: University of California.
Cheshire, Jenny and Penelope Gardner-Chloros (1996) Code-switching and the sociolinguistic gender pattern. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 129: 5–34.
Coates, Jennifer (1995) Language, gender and career. In S. Mills (ed.) Language and Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives 13–30. London: Longman.
Coates, Jennifer (1996) Women Talk: Conversation Between Women Friends. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Coates, Jennifer (2003) Men Talk. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Cook-Gumperz, Jenny and Margaret Szymanski (2001) Classroom ‘Families’: Cooperating or competing – girls’ and boys’ interactional styles in a bilingual classroom. Research on Language and Social Interaction 34(1): 107–130.
Davies, Julie (2003) Expressions of gender: An analysis of pupils’ gender discourse styles in small group classroom discussions. Discourse and Society 14(2): 115–132.
DeFrancisco, Victoria Leto (1998) The sounds of silence: How men silence women in marital relations. In Jennifer Coates (ed.) Language and Gender: A Reader 176–184. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Eckert, Penelope (2000) Linguistic Variation as Social Practice. Oxford: Blackwell.
Eder, Donna, Catherine Colleen Evans and Stephen Parker (1995) School Talk: Gender and Adolescent Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Fishman, Pamela (1983) Interaction: The work women do. In B. Thorne, C. Kramarae, and N. Henley (eds) Language, Gender, and Society 89–102. Newbury House, Rowley, MA.
Fuller, Janet M. (2007) Language choice as a means for shaping identity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 17(1): 105–129.
Gal, Susan (1978) Peasant men can’t get wives: Language change and sex roles in a bilingual community. Language in Society 7: 1–16.
Goodwin, Marjorie Harness (2002) Building power asymmetries in girls’ interaction. Discourse and Society 13(6): 715–730.
Hadi-Tabassum, Samina (2002) Language, Space and Power: A Critical Ethnography of a Dual Language Classroom. Dr of Ed dissertation, Teachers’ College, Columbia University.
Kiesling, Scott (2001) ‘Now I gotta watch what I say’: Shifting constructions of masculinity in discourse. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 11: 250–273.
Kroskrity, Paul (2000) Identity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9: 111–114.
Lakoff, Robin (1990) Talking Power: The Politics of Language. San Francisco: Basic Books.
Litosseliti, Lia (2006) Gender and Language: Theory and Practice. London: Hodder Arnold.
Lo, Adrienne (1999) Codeswitching, speech community membership, and the construction of ethnic identity. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3(4): 461–479.
Madsen, Lian Malai (2003) Power relationships, interactional dominance and manipulation strategies in group conversations of Turkish-Danish children. In Jennifer Norman Jorgensen (ed.) Bilingualism and Social Relations: Turkish Speakers in North Western Europe 90–101. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Maltz, Daniel and Ruth Borker (1982) A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In John J. Gumperz (ed.) Language and Social Identity 196–216. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mendoza-Denton, Norma (2002) Language and Identity. In J. K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes 475–499. Oxford: Blackwell.
O’Barr, William and Atkins, B. K. (1980) Women’s language or powerless language? In Jennifer Coates (ed.) Language and Gender: A Reader 377–387. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Ochs, Elinor (1992) Indexing gender. In Alessandro Duranti and Charles Goodwin (eds) Rethinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon 335–358. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Piller, Ingrid (2001) Identity constructions in multilingual advertising. Language in Society 30: 153–186.
Pilkington, Jane (1998) ‘Don’t try and make out that I’m nice!’ The different strategies women and men use when gossiping. In Jennifer Coates (ed.) Language and Gender: A Reader 254–269. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Potowski, Kim (2007) Language and Identity in a Dual Immersion School. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Potowski, Kim (2004) Student Spanish use and investment in a dual immersion classroom: Implication for second language acquisition and heritage language maintenance. The Modern Language Journal 88(1): 75–101.
Quiroz, Pamela (2001) The silencing of Latino student ‘voice’: Puerto Rican and Mexican narratives in eighth grade and high school. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 32: 326–349.
Schilling-Estes, Natalie (2004) Constructing ethnicity in interaction. Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(2): 163–195.
Swann, Joan and David Graddol (1988) Gender inequalities in classroom talk. English in Education 22(1): 48–65.
Swigart, Leigh (1991) Women and language choice in Dakar: A case of unconscious innovation. Women and Language XV: 11–20.
Talbot, Mary M. (1998) Language and Gender: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tannen, Deborah (1993) The relativity of linguistic strategies: Rethinking power and solidarity in gender and dominance. In Deborah Tannen (ed.) Gender and Conversational Interaction 165–188. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thorne, Barrie (1993) Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Buckingham, Open University Press.
Winters, Joanne and Anne Pauwels (2005) Gender in the transmission and construction of ethnolinguistic identities and language maintenance in immigrant Australia. Australian Journal of Linguistics 25(1): 153–168.
Published
2010-06-02
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Fuller, J. M. (2010). Gendered choices: codeswitching and collaboration in a bilingual classroom. Gender and Language, 3(2), 181-208. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v3i2.181
