Linguistic Anthropology of Education

Education 545-004 , Spring, 2000

Tuesdays 2-4PM, GSE C-11

Stanton Wortham

GSE C-19, 8-6307

Linguistic anthropologists study the role language plays in culturally patterned behavior. Over the last decade, linguistic anthropology has become a particularly fertile field both in its theoretical insights and in its empirical contributions. The field has emerged from the shadow of the formalist (Chomskyan) revolution in linguistics, as many linguists and others have realized that the cultural contexts of language use intertwine with language’s structural properties. To study most aspects of language, it turns out, one must attend to cultural and interactional factors. But the best contemporary linguistic anthropology has maintained the linguists’ emphasis on theoretical systematicity and empirical rigor, while applying this to understand culturally-embedded verbal behavior.

At the same time that linguistics has become more interested in culture, other social sciences have become more interested in language. Cultural anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists and others have increasingly been using language and discourse as explanatory constructs in their theories of culture, identity, learning and other central human processes. Because of its systematic approach to language, linguistic anthropology is well positioned to contribute in important ways to these theories.

Scholars and practitioners of education have also been interested in theories of culture, identity, and learning. Some have begun to study the role language plays in these and related processes. But few have taken advantage of recent theoretical and empirical work in linguistic anthropology. The sub-field “linguistic anthropology of education” would use theoretical insights and empirical approaches from linguistic anthropology to explore issues of central concern to education. But this sub-field does not really exist in any coherent way at the moment. This course tries to remedy that situation, by surveying central issues in contemporary linguistic anthropology and exploring how these theoretical insights and empirical approaches have been or could be used to study topics of concern to scholars and practitioners of education. The goal is to uncover useful tools that contemporary linguistic anthropology has to offer educational research.

The course has three parts. Weeks 1-3 cover important early theories in the field, focusing both on the central insights that continue to influence current work and on the shortcomings of these earlier theories. Weeks 4-8 develop the core semiotic framework used for understanding language and culturally patterned behavior. This framework draws on central insights from earlier theories, but it integrates them in an original way. Weeks 9-15 apply the core framework to particular topics of interest both to linguistic anthropologists and educational researchers, focusing on how the framework can facilitate research on the social and cultural contexts of education.

Assignments

Because the linguistic anthropology of education is not well articulated as a field in the literature, much of the learning in this seminar will happen in classroom discussions. For this reason students must consistently do the reading and come to class. Students will do three types of assignments during the term. (1) Each week one student will write a response paper on that week’s readings and post the paper by Monday at noon to the class listserv (educ545-004-00A). Particular weeks will be assigned early in the term. (2) Students will do a few brief data analysis exercises that will be distributed in class. (3) Students will write a longer paper at the end of the semester, describing how they might apply some aspect of contemporary linguistic anthropology to an educational issue. These papers may be theoretical or empirical. It is important to select an original topic, not mimic one that has already been done in the literature. The final paper is due the last day of class, 5/9/00. Grades will be determined using the following rule-of-thumb: 65% final paper; 25% in-class and written report on weekly readings; 10% class participation (quality, not quantity).

Primary Readings

There are no books assigned for this course, only articles. The following primary readings are available in a bulkpack at Campus Copy Center. These are the most central readings. The secondary readings, listed in the next section below, are available on reserve in the library. All students are expected to read the primary readings each week. In the week s/he is preparing the response paper, a student is expected to read both primary and secondary readings.

1. Structure (January 18)

Foley, W. 1997. Anthropological Linguistics: An Introduction. Malden: Blackwell.

(Ch. 1).

Duranti, A. 1997. Linguistic Anthropology. (Ch. 6). New York: Cambridge University

Press.

2. Speech Act Theory & the Ethnography of Speaking (January 25)

Austin, J.L. 1997 [1962] How to Do Things with Words. (Lectures 1-2, 5, 7-8, 11-12).

Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Rosaldo, M. 1982. The Things We Do with Words. Language in Society, 11, 203- 237.

Philips, S. 1972. Participant Structures and Communicative Competence. In

Cazden et al. (eds.), Functions of Language in the Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

3. Performance & Verbal Art (February 1)

Basso, K. 1979. Portraits of the Whiteman (pp. 37-64). New York: Cambridge University.

Champion, T. 1997. “Tell me Somethin’ Good.” Linguistics & Education,9, 251-286.

Gee, J. 1989. Two Styles of Narrative Construction and their Linguistic and

Educational Implications. Discourse Processes, 12, 287-307.

4. Semiotics and Indexicality (February 8)

Weinreich, U. 1968. ‘Semantics and Semiotics.’ International Encyclopedia of

Social Science, 14, 164-169.

Sebeok, T. 1990. ‘Indexicality.’ The American Journal of Semiotics,

7(4), 7-28.

Silverstein, M. (1976). ‘Shifters, Linguistic Categories, and Cultural Description’ in

Keith Basso and Henry Selby (Eds.), Meaning in Anthropology.

Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

5. Contextualization (February 15)

Gumperz, J. 1982. ‘Contextualization Conventions.’ Discourse Strategies.

New York: Cambridge University Press pp. 130-152.

Rymes, B. 1996. Rights to Advise: Advice as an Emergent Phenomenon in Student-

Teacher Talk. Linguistics & Education, 8, 409-437.

Silverstein, M. (1992). The Indeterminacy of Contextualization: When is Enough

Enough? In P. Auer & A. DiLuzio (Eds.), The Contextualization of Language.

Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

6. Metalanguage (February 22)

Lucy, J. 1993. ‘Reflexive Language and the Human Disciplines.’ Reflexive

Language, John Lucy, (Ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Mertz, E. 1993. Learning What to Ask. In J. Lucy (Ed.), Reflexive Language. New

York: Cambridge University.

Bateson, G. 1972 [1954]. ‘A Theory of Play and Fantasy.’ In Steps Towards an

Ecology of Mind. New York: Ballentine Books.

7. Entextualization & Ritual (February 29)

Silverstein, M. & Urban, G. 1996. “The Natural History of Discourse." In M.

Silverstein & G. Urban, Natural Histories of Discourse. Chicago: University of

Chicago.

Parmentier, R. 1997. “The Pragmatic Semiotics of Cultures.” Semiotica, 116, 1-42.

Wortham, S. (forthcoming). Maintaining the Self in First-Person Discourse.

8. Dialogicality (March 7)

Bakhtin, M. 1935/1981. Discourse in the Novel (pp.259-366). In M. Bakhtin, The

Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas.

Wortham, S. (forthcoming) Autobiographical Dialogue (Overview to Part I & Ch.5).

Rampton, B. 1995. Language Crossing and the Problematisation of Ethnicity and

Socialization. Pragmatics, 5, 485-513.

9. Pronouns & Deixis (March 21)

Beneviste, E. (1971). Problems in General Linguistics. University of Miami

Press. ‘The Nature of Pronouns,’ pp.217-222; ‘Subjectivity in Language,’ pp. 223-230.

Wortham, S. (1996). Mapping Participant Deictics: A Technique for

Discovering Speakers’ Footing. Journal of Pragmatics 25, 331-48.

Keogh, J. 1997. Pronouns as Positioning Practices in Home-School Communications.

Linguistics & Education, 9, 1-23.

10. Linguistic Ideology (March 28)

Woolard, K. 1998. Introduction. In B. Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity

(Eds.), Language Ideologies. NY: Oxford University.

Mertz, E. 1998. Language Ideology and Praxis in US Law School Classrooms. In B.

Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (Eds.), Language Ideologies. NY: Oxford University.

Bucholtz, M. 1999. You da man: Narrating the racial other in the production of

white masculinity. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3, 443-460.

11. Language Socialization (April 4)

Ochs, E. & Schieffelin, B. 1984. Language Acquisition and Socialization. In R.

Shweder & R. LeVine (Eds), Culture Theory. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Goodwin, M. 1990. Tactical Uses of Stories. In A. Grimshaw (Ed.) Conflict Talk.

NY: Cambridge University.

Miller, P. 1986. Teasing As Language Socialization and Verbal Play in A White

Working-Class Community. In B. Schieffelin & E. Ochs (Eds.), Language

Socialization Across Cultures. NY: Cambridge University.

12. Social Reproduction (April 11)

Bourdieu, P. 1977. ‘The Economics of Linguistic Exchanges.’ Social Science

Information, 16 (6), 645-668.

Mehan, H. 1996. The Construction of an LD Student: A Case Study in the Politics of

Representation. In Michael Silverstein & Greg Urban, Natural Histories of Discourse.

Heath, S. 1996. ‘What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills at

Home and School.’ In Donald Brenneis & Ronald K.S. Macaulay (Eds), The

Matrix of Language: Contemporary Linguistic Anthropology.

13. Social Identity (April 18)

Goodwin, M. 1999. Constructing Opposition within Girls’ Games. In M. Bucholtz, A.

Liang & L. Sutton (Eds.), Reinventing Identities. NY: Oxford University Press.

Urciouli, B. 1996. Exposing Prejudice (Ch. 2 & 4). Boulder: Westview.

Mendoza-Denton, N. 1996. “Muy Macha.” Ethnos, 61, 47-63.

14. Literacy (May 2)

Collins, J. 1996. Socialization to Text: Structure and Contradiction in Schooled

Literacy. In Michael Silverstein & Greg Urban (Eds), Natural Histories of Discourse. University of Chicago Press.

Street, B. 1998. New Literacies in Theory & Practice. Linguistics & Education, 10, 1-

24.

Orellana, M. 1999. Good Guys and “Bad” Girls. In M. Bucholtz, A. Liang & L.

Sutton (Eds.), Reinventing Identities. NY: Oxford University Press.

15. Academic Discourse (May 9)

Wortham, S. (in press) Interactionally Situated Cognition. Cognitive Science.

O'Connor, M. & Michaels, S. 1993. Aligning Academic Task and Participation Status

through Revoicing. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 24, 318-335.

McCreedy, L. 1998. The Effect of Role and Footing on Students’ Oral Academic

Language. In S. Hoyle & C. Adger (Eds.), Kids Talk. NY: Oxford University.

Secondary Readings

These articles and chapters are on reserve at Rosengarten in Van Pelt. If you are particularly interested in a given topic, or if you do not understand the primary readings for a given week and want to take a look at something else, please consult these. Authors of response papers are expected to read the secondary readings for their week.

1. Structure (January 18)

Saussure, F. de. 1966 [1915]. Course in General Linguistics. (Selections: Part

1, Chapter I, ‘Nature of the Linguistic Sign,’ pp. 65-70, and Part II ‘Synchronic

Linguistics,’ Chapters I-V only, pp. 101-127.) New York: McGraw Hill Book

Company.

Jakobson, R. 1971. ‘Boas’ View of Grammatical Meaning.’ Selected Writings

of Roman Jakobson, Volume 2, pp. 489-96. The Hague: Mouton.

2. Speech Act Theory & the Ethnography of Speaking (January 25)

Michaels, S. 1985. Hearing the Connections in Children’s Oral and Written

Discourse. Journal of Education, 167, 36-56.

Au, K. 1980. Participation Structures in a Reading Lesson with Hawaiian Children.

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 11, 91-115.

Erickson, F. & Mohatt, G. 1982. Cultural Organization of Participant Structures in Two Classrooms of Indian Students. In. G. Spindler (Ed.), Doing the Ethnography of Schooling. NY: Holt, Reinhart & Winston.

Shultz, J., Florio, S. & Erickson, F. 1982. Where's the Floor? In P. Gilmore & A.

Glatthorn (Eds.), Children In and Out of School. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.

3. Performance & Verbal Art (February 1)

Gee, J. 1986. Units in the Production of Discourse. Discourse Processes, 9, 391-422.

Hymes, D. 1996. Ethnopoetics and Sociolinguistics. In D. Hymes, Ethnography,

Linguistics, Narrative Inequality. Bristol, PA: Taylor & Francis.

4. Semiotics and Indexicality (February 8)

Peirce, C. 1932. ‘Division of Signs.’ & ‘The Icon, Index, and Symbol.’

Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. (Volume 2). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

5. Contextualization (February 15)

Zentella, A. 1998. Multiple Codes, Multiple Identities. In S. Hoyle & C. Adger

(Eds.), Kids Talk. NY: Oxford University.

Goffman, E. 1964. The Neglected Situation. The American Anthropologist, 66,

133-6.

Gumperz, J. 1986. ‘Interactional Sociolinguistics in the Study of Schooling.’ In

Jenny Cook-Gumperz (Ed.), The Social Construction of Literacy. New York:

Cambridge University Press.

6. Metalanguage (February 22)

Urban, G. 1996. Metaphysical Community (Ch. 1). Austin: University of Texas.

Silverstein, M. 1993. Metapragmatic Discourse and Metapragmatic Function. In J.

Lucy (Ed.), Reflexive Language. New York: Cambridge University.

Wortham, S. & Locher, M. 1999. Embedded metapragmatics and lying politicians.

Language & Communication, 19, 109-125.

7. Entextualization & Ritual (February 29)

Mertz, E. 1996. “Recontextualization as Socialization”. In Michael Silverstein, &

Greg Urban, Natural Histories of Discourse. Chicago: University of Chicago.

McDermott, R. & Tylbor, H. 1995. On the Necessity of Collusion in Conversation. In

D. Tedlock & B. Mannheim (Eds.), The Dialogic Emergence of Culture. Urbana:

University of Illinois.

Silverstein, M. 1985. On the Pragmatic “Poetry” of Prose. In D. Schiffrin (Ed.),

Meaning, Form and Use in Context. Washington: Georgetown University.

8. Dialogicality (March 7)

Scollon, R., Tsang, W., Li, D., Yung, V. & Jones, R. 1997. Voice, Appropriation and

Discourse Representation in a Student Writing Task. Linguistics &

Education, 9, 227-250.

Hicks, D. 1996. Learning as a Prosaic Act. Mind, Culture & Activity, 3, 102-118.

Wortham, S. & Locher, M. 1996. Voicing on the news: An analytic technique for

studying media bias. Text, 16, 557-585.

9. Pronouns & Deixis (March 21)

Hanks, W. 1992. ‘The Indexical Ground of Deictic Reference.’ In

Rethinking Context, Alessandro Duranti & M. Goodwin (Eds). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Friedrich, P. 1986. Social Context and Semantic Feature: The Russian Pronominal

Usage. In D. Hymes and J. Gumperz (Eds.), Directions in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Blackwell.

10. Linguistic Ideology (March 28)

Gal, S. 1998. Multiplicity and Contention among Language Ideologies. In B.

Schieffelin, K. Woolard & P. Kroskrity (Eds), Language Ideologies. NY: Oxford

University.

O’Connor, K. (in press). Communicative Practice and Identity in Geographically Distributed Service Learning. Linguistics & Education.

Silverstein, M. 1985. Language and the Culture of Gender. In E. Mertz & R.

Parmentier (Eds.), Semiotic Mediation. Orlando: Academic Press.

11. Language Socialization (April 4)

Duranti, A. & Ochs, E. 1986. Literacy Instruction in a Samoan Village. In B.

Schieffelin & P. Gilmore (Eds.), The Acquisition of Literacy. Norwood, N.J. :

Ablex.

Rymes, B. 1997. Second Language Socialization: A New Approach to Second Language Acquisition Research. Journal of Intensive English Studies, 11, 143- 155.

12. Social Reproduction (April 11)

Eckert, P. 1989. Jocks & Burnouts (Ch. 1, 4). NY: Teachers College Press.

Eckert, P. & McConnell-Ginet, S. 1992. Think Practically and Look Locally. Annual

Review of Anthropology, 21, 461-490.

13. Social Identity (April 18)

Heller, M. 1995. Code-switching and the Politics of Language. In. L. Milroy & P.

Muyksen (Eds.), One Speaker Two Languages. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Silverstein, M. 1998. Contemporary Transformations of Local Linguistic Communities. Annual Review of Anthropology, 27, 401-426.

Rampton, B. 1999. Deutsch in Inner London and the animation of an instructed

foreign language. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3, 480-504.

14. Literacy (May 2)

Gee, J. 1990. Social Linguistics and Literacies. (Ch. 3, 6). NY: Falmer.

15. Academic Discourse (May 9)

Wortham, S. 1995. Experiencing the Great Books. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 2, 67- 80.

Ochs, E., Gonzales, P. & Jacoby, S. 1996. "When I Come Down I'm in the Domain State": Grammar and Graphic Representation in the Interpretive Activity of Physicists. In E. Ochs, E. Schegloff & S. Thompson (Eds.) Interaction and Grammar. NY: Cambridge University Press.