We consider discursive shadowing as methodology in linguistic ethnography and how it refines our analyses of participants' situated practices. In addition to the constant and extended company the researcher and key participant keep with one another in the field, shadowing in a linguistic ethnographic approach includes the ubiquitous…

This article reports communicative interactions with a focus on the body as a dimension of the semiotic repertoire. The research context is a four-year, multi-site linguistic ethnography which investigates how people communicate in superdiverse cities in the UK. In the setting of a butcher's stall in a city market we consider three interactions at…

This paper considers the construction of social difference in the interactions of a couple as they communicate at home and work, with one another, their colleagues, and strangers in a superdiverse English city. In our linguistic ethnographic approach we observed, wrote field notes, audio-recorded key participants, took photographs, made…

This article adopts a Bakhtinian analysis to understand the complexities of discourse in language-learning classrooms. Drawing on empirical data from two of four linked case studies in a larger, ESRC-funded project, we argue that students learning in complementary (also known as community language, supplementary, or heritage language) schools…

This paper considers the processes of using folk stories for the teaching of community languages in a UK complementary school. We look at the appropriation of folk stories by teachers to teach young people Mandarin while also considering their possibilities as heritage texts. We consider how the teacher and students use the folk story as…

In this paper we question key terms which appear frequently in discussions of language teaching and learning: "language" and "heritage". The paper draws on empirical data from one of four linked case studies in a larger project funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), "Investigating Multilingualism in…

Introduces this special issue of the journal. All of the articles but one were presented in a colloquium at the Third International Symposium on Bilingualism at the University of the West of England. The theme of the conference was the multilingual classroom and specifically the complex interrelationships, interactions, and ideologies within such…

Focuses on the roles, relationships, and talk of two kinds of teachers--language specialists and subject specialists--in multilingual and multicultural mainstream English secondary school classrooms. An analysis is undertaken of how the teachers are differently constructed through their discursive, pedagogic classroom practices. (Author/VWL)

In England an inclusive language and educational policy is implemented which intends to give bilingual/EAL (English as an additional language) students access to a national curriculum studied by all students. Bilingual/EAL children are placed in English mainstream secondary school classrooms where their language and learning needs are to be met by…

Examines the construction of two bilingual English as an additional language teachers' positionings during a 2-day student staged protest against a perceived racist incident in a London secondary school. Examines how these bilingual teachers' ethnicity and language resources in Turkish and English are employed by the school to reproduce a…