A longitudinal study of students’ negotiation of language, literacy and identity
2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 29; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2989/16073614.2011.633366
ISSN1727-9461
Autores Tópico(s)EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
ResumoAbstract Abstract The article is based on a longitudinal, qualitative case study of 20 Social Science students at a historically 'white', English-medium, South African university. The participants in the study are all from disadvantaged educational backgrounds and/ or are speakers of English as a second language. Post-structuralist theory is used to analyse students' shifts in language and literacy attitudes and practices and in constructions of self over the course of their undergraduate years. The paper describes students' ambivalence as they attempted to constitute appropriate subjectivity and become academically successful within the discourses of the academy, whilst retaining connections to home discourses. The participants used their linguistic resources and social science discourses to process, rationalise and neutralise their ambivalence. The paper describes how they started off trying to maintain a notion of single identity, but over time became adept, self-conscious and less conflicted about shifting identities across contexts. Notes 1 It is impossible to contextualise fully the imbrications of South African language and educational backgrounds without using the Apartheid-era racial classification ('African', 'coloured', 'Indian' and 'white'). However to signify our own beliefs that these categories are to some degree at least, artificially constructed, we will use quotation marks. In this paper we use the category 'black' inclusively to refer to 'African', 'coloured' and 'Indian' students. 2 English is an additional language for 16 of the students and their home languages include isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati and Afrikaans and Chinese. Four of the 'coloured' students identified English as the main medium of communication in their homes, but they spoke a mixture of English and Afrikaans as is common on the Cape Flats. 3 Elsewhere, we have focussed more on individual students' experiences (Bangeni & Kapp, 2005; Bangeni & Kapp, 2006; Bangeni & Kapp, 2007; Kapp & Bangeni, 2009). 4 We are grateful to Dr Sally Frankental and Prof. Mugsy Spiegel for pointing out this notion of situational identity in our data (see Spiegel, 2007). 5 The only exception to this was Yandisa, who had attended an exclusive private school and hardly spoke his home language in the everyday environment. In his first year, he found it easier to associate with 'white' students, though this changed later on. 6 This is originally an American term used to refer to a 'black' person who is perceived as acting 'white'. 7 The university's official discourse characterises the institution as 'excellent' and, drawing on Jesse Jackson, the notion of a 'rainbow' nation is a dominant description used by politicians to describe a putative unity in the 'new' South Africa. 8 Students' writing and interview statements often contradicted each other and the contradiction worked both ways (indicating that this was not a function of the mode of data collection and their sense of audience). 9 In the case of five of our participants whose families were starting to straddle class positions, this hostility was not evident 10 When we realised that most of our participants were members of this organisation, one of us attended a few sermons. 11 One of the participants, Sisanda, stands out as an exception in our data because she maintains her strong allegiance to 'Zulu' culture and language and resists consumerism on an intellectual level and in practice. For a detailed analysis, see Bangeni and Kapp (2005). 12 Kwaito is a local music form which Nuttall (2004: 433) describes as 'a potent blend of city and township sound that emerged after the democratic transition in 1994, mixing up the protest dancing and chanting known as toyi-toyi with slow-motion house, local pop ('bubblegum') and a dash of hip-hop'.
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