Discourses of Student Success by Leone-Pizzighella, Andrea R.;

Short description:

This book offers a linguistic ethnographic account of secondary schooling in Umbria, Italy, examining the complex intersection of language, socioeconomic class, social persona, and school choice to provide a holistic portrait of the situatedness of student "success."

Long description:

This book offers a linguistic ethnographic account of secondary schooling in Umbria, Italy, examining the complex intersection of language, socioeconomic class, social persona, and school choice to provide a holistic portrait of the situatedness of student “success.”

The book explores the everyday sociolinguistic practices at the three types of Italian secondary schools in Umbria—the lyceum, the technical institute, and the vocational school—and the language ideologies and de facto language policies associated with them. An analysis of narrative, interviews, and classroom discourse unpacks the ways in which students are socialized by both peers and teachers into specific academic discourses and specialized forms of knowledge throughout their school careers. In those close analyses of the micro-interactional contexts of three classrooms, drawing on a corpus of naturally occurring classroom discourse, the volume illuminates the ways in which certain forms of talk are exalted while others policed and how students either submit to or resist the social labels ascribed to them. This account contributes new insights into the ways in which educational institutions are constructed and maintained via talk.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in educational linguistics, linguistic anthropology, classroom discourse, streamed-tracked education systems, and education policy.

Table of Contents:

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES AND TRANSCRIPTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER 1: ENTERING THE WORLD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION IN ITALY

Introduction

Getting to know Cittadina and finding my place in it

CHAPTER 2: WHAT DOES AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE TELL US ABOUT SCHOOL AND SOCIETY?

Getting to know the field sites

Transcription

CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL PERSONAE AND SCHOOL CHOICE IN CITTADINA

Introduction

Representations of School Types Circulating via Social Media

Student Narratives of School Choice

The Technical School

The Vocational School

The Classical Lyceum

Discussion

CHAPTER 4: PUBLIC PERFORMANCES OF SCHOOLED KNOWLEDGE IN CITTADINA

Data Presentation and Analysis

Interrogazione in Latin Class at the Classical Lyceum

Interrogazione in Mechanical Systems Class at the Technical Institute

Lab Sessions in Fashion Design at the Vocational School

Discussion

CHAPTER 5: PEER-TO-PEER PERFORMANCES OF EXPERTISE

Introduction

Ventriloquating "School Voice" in Language Play

"Outside Voice" for School Topics

Using "Nonstandard" Language Features to Talk about Schoolwork

Peer Commentary on the Surprise Performance of ‘Good Student’ Persona

Refusing to Accept Expert Positioning

Discussion: Underlife, Communicative Repertoire, and Double-Voicing in Peer-Peer Performances of Expertise

CHAPTER 6: EVERYDAY DEFINITIONS AND EVALUATIONS OF ‘THE GOOD STUDENT’ ACROSS THE THREE SCHOOLS

Introduction

Defining Evaluative Terms: "bravo" and "scolarizzato"

Uses of the Terms across the Three Schools

Examples of bravo used spontaneously in the classroom

Other Ways of Describing Students and Student Performance

Conclusions and Implications of Using Overdetermined Language in Student Evaluations

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION

How do students perform knowledge for peers and teachers?

What does "success" look and sound like within and across the three school types?