Universität Duisburg-Essen

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1 Constance Ellwood More on Acts of Identity: Code-Switching in Classroom Peer Group Talk Series A: General & Theoretical Papers ISSN Essen: LAUD 2006 Paper No. 673 Universität Duisburg-Essen

2 Constance Ellwood University of Western Sydney (Australia) More on Acts of Identity: Code-Switching in Classroom Peer Group Talk Copyright by the author Reproduced by LAUD 2006 Linguistic Agency Series A University of Duisburg-Essen General and Theoretical FB Geisteswissenschaften Paper No. 673 Universitätsstr. 12 D Essen Order LAUD-papers online: Or contact: laud@uni-due.de

3 Constance Ellwood More on Acts of Identity: Code-Switching in Classroom Peer Group Talk The paper discusses relationships between code-switching and student identities in an intercultural communication setting in an Australian university and draws out some implications for teachers practices. It focuses on some identity-related uses of codeswitching in classroom peer group talk among students from a variety of Asian and European backgrounds. These uses of code-switching highlight the significance of identity and the relevance of identity issues for pedagogy. To date, most classroom-based research into code-switching has focused on its use by teachers and on its role in learning (Martin-Jones, 1995). The focus here is purely on student talk, and the paper will examine what the students in this study were perceived to gain by presenting themselves to peers through languages other than English within an English language learning classroom context. In so doing, the paper looks at some processes of student identity construction. Identity and Code-Switching The approach taken here begins with the idea that identities are performed and negotiated through language (Antaki & Widdicombe, 1998; Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2001; Sebba & Wootton, 1998). As such, identities are highly contingent and therefore multiple. In any particular context or interaction, an individual s linguistic repertoire is employed to negotiate towards, or away from, particular social identities. For the most part, these identities are provided by society through regimes of knowledge (Antaki, Condor, & Levine, 1996; Foucault, 1971, 1978). In other words, society makes available numerous identity categories with which individuals, in a drive to be, seek to align, or dis-align. These movements towards alignment and dis-alignment are supported or disrupted by others who, at the same time, are participating in their own identity negotiations and performances, and who may seek to impose identities on their interlocutors. It is in this way that notions of social identity and social structure come together, and multiple identities come into being in each individual. This approach differs then from Scotton s who specifically rejects the idea that code choices can fashion new persons out of speakers (Myers-Scotton, 1993: 151). Rather, code choices reiterate old identities, create new identities, and reject or accept imposed identities. Scotton s early claim was that speakers use code choices to negotiate their wants about relationships, with different choices symbolising different wants (Scotton, 1983: 116). Among these wants about relationships I would include wants to be ; that is, these 1

4 wants are wants to be recognised as existing, as extant, in a certain way, as a certain kind of being. This view de-emphasises the maintenance of the other s face (Brown & Levinson, 1978) and instead puts an emphasis on the maintenance of one s own face. Concerns with maintaining the face of the other are largely concerns, then, with supporting one s own face/identity. In this case, a type of negotiation principle (Scotton, 1983) is in operation but this negotiation is more focused within the Speaker and his/her identity than on the Hearer who becomes something of an accessory to the identity building project of the Speaker; in other words, the negotiation in this instance is between required and rejected identities rather than between the interactants. This view is not meant to imply an egotistical self absorption on the part of the Speaker or to denigrate the humanity of human interaction and exchange, but rather suggests that issues of identity are another key player in conversation and communication. It also allows us to recognise that it is not solely the membership categories to which we lay claim that are important; it is also the categories which we reject. The examples of code-switching discussed here illustrate how acts of identity are not always attempts to align with a particular identity but may be attempts to reject, resist or seek to modify an imposed identity. Specifically, the paper will seek to show that the use of alternate linguistic varieties in this context can index acceptance, but more often resistance or unwillingness, to commit to any normative rights-and-obligations set for the language classroom. In this sense then, I may appear to return to the position taken in much early research in the second language acquisition field which construed code-switching negatively, as incompetence and interference (Gumperz, 1982: 64-65). However, my approach attempts to see the productive aspects of this code-switching and seeks to know its relevance for language pedagogy. Identity-Related Code-Switching in these Classrooms A classroom provides a highly differentiated context with its own specific constellation of rules and roles, and where the expected performances of participants are interlinked in relatively codified ways. While these constellations manifest cultural differences, some aspects of classrooms can be seen as typical if not pervasive. At the simplest level, a classroom has students who are positioned in a complementary relationship with a teacher. As a result, we can expect to see a cluster of identities around the role category student. Specifically, we can expect examples of code switches which not only align students with archetypal notions of a good student, discussed below, but which also reveal resistance to the codified structures of the classroom and display something of the classroom underlife of students (Canagarajah, 1993). In addition, the fact that the classrooms in this study were globalised, that is, made up of a range of nationalities coming together in a time of global flows, can lead us to predict some grappling with notions of global identities. The data analysed here were gathered as part of an ethnographic enquiry into identities of fifteen students and four teachers participating in an English language program which 2

5 was part of a university to university exchange. Most of the students, from China, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, were in their early 20s and were enrolled, for either one or two semesters, in all or part of the language program. The program targeted students whose English level was IELTS 5-6. See Appendix 1 for an overview of student information and Appendix 2 for teachers demographics. The research involved classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students, and classroom audio-recordings of both whole class and small group activities. Forty classroom hours were recorded at intervals over a 13 week period, with up to three recorders in operation at any one time. I draw here on the audio recordings of students as they interacted during the small group activities in class. I contextualise this peer group talk by referring to my classroom observations and the interview data with students to support my understandings of the code-switching which occurred during these activities. Indeed, my discussion will demonstrate the importance of taking participants own explanations into account and the value of ethnographic research for the elucidation of motivations for codeswitching (Rampton, 1998; Sebba & Wootton, 1998). I will seek to show, in my discussion of the data, that while notions of identity such as student identity and a global identity provide a hermeneutic which enables some sense to be made of the multiplicity of identities, examples of code-switching in this data both reflect and exceed such pre-given categories. It is important to recognise that there is no one-to-one mapping of identities and code switches, but rather a highly mobile relationship between roles and their linguistic expression. Indeed, the heterogeneity and specificity of the classrooms under discussion meant that norms of language use within this particular community of language learners were complex. Some of the parameters of this specificity include the students affective isolation in the new country, the impacts of globalisation, and the students ages, as well as indetermined impacts of the presence of a researcher in the room. Factors influencing the heterogeneous nature of the group, which in turn influenced the amount and kind of data collected on each student, included students cultural backgrounds and a diversity in learners language levels, differences in enrolment patterns across the whole language program and differing attendances at the interviews 1. Switches from English to French, Japanese, German and Italian occurred in the peer group talk data, with switches to French or Japanese being most numerous. The switches were not always switches to students native languages. Instances of crossing (Rampton, 1998) also occurred, in which students use the languages of other students in the class, even though their fluency in those languages was limited. 1 Student enrolment varied from 20% to 100% of the English program and not all students attended all three scheduled interviews. Because of these factors, my classroom data privileges the six Japanese students and three of the French students. 3

6 Defining Code-Switching in this Context Three main factors are of relevance to the definition of code-switching employed here: a focus on identity over the more common concerns of code-switching research, a desire to differentiate student-student code-switching behaviour from other types of classroom interaction, and English as unmarked choice. I see identity as a key hermeneutic for interpretation of the code switches which occurred in this study. While I acknowledge a range of functions for the excerpts discussed here, I am not concerned to document the more common concerns of code-switching studies, such as structural constraints, discourse functions in topic change, accommodation to co-participants, differentiation between intra-sentential, mid-turn, or turn final switches, or code-switching as an attempt to renegotiate the language of interaction. In fact, many of the examples I will discuss do not conform to familiar definitions of code-switching as, for example, the alternating use of two or more codes within one conversational episode (Auer, 1998: 1). Additionally, while this discussion draws on the sequential environment of the conversation event, it will illustrate at times a lack of correlation between the language chosen for one speech activity and that chosen for the preceding or following utterance. The focus of this paper derives from the need to discover what is interpretively relevant (Auer, 2005: 404) in student-student code-switching behaviour and what differentiates it from student-teacher code-switching behaviour. Whereas teaching involves a very particular type of conversation, code switches between students, rather than between teacher and student, as I will claim, index different kinds of identities and give rise to different issues for code-switching scholars. Part of the reason for this difference can be seen in the fact that teachers must be otheroriented. By virtue of their teacher role, they must orient to students and adjust to learners language abilities and communicative resources (Martin-Jones, 1995). This teacher role dominates, and other identities have reduced significance in the classroom. Students, on the other hand, are situated differently in relation both to others and to their multiple identities. Many of the students in this study, as I hope to demonstrate, were concerned with displays of self to other students. These displays indexed their developing claims to new identities which derived both from their age, on the cusp of adulthood, and from the student exchange situation where new relationships and new identities were possible. Therefore while typologies of participant-related switching and discourse-related switching 2 (Auer, 1995) provide relevant descriptors of teacher code-switching behaviour, they may be inadequate for a full description of student-student code-switching behaviour. Many of the switches in 2 Auer (1988; 1995) uses the term language alternation to distinguish between code-switching and transfer. He differentiates between participant-related switches which display either competence in the language chosen or the participant s preference for one language over another, and discourse-related switches which may include, for instance, changes between formal and informal modes, shifts to or from subordinated talk, or changes in participant constellation in which, for example, code-switching is used to include or exclude co-participants. 4

7 this context were indeed discourse-related, insofar as, in employing a code which would be understood by their interlocutor/s, students could be seen to be seeking to accommodate at least some of those present. However, as I will seek to show, identity concerns were paramount and identity-related code-switching (Sebba & Wootton, 1998) is a parameter of significant interpretive relevance. Finally, this study was carried out in an English-medium university in an Englishspeaking country. English language learning was the prime goal and the only language held in common in the classrooms observed. Therefore, English was considered by teachers and students to be the unmarked choice of code and this is the ground from which I begin. I treat any instance of the use of another language as an example of code-switching and the speaking of languages other than English in the context of the study discussed here is considered to be marked behaviour. This somewhat controversial application 3 of the term code-switching on the grounds of it being the prime goal in these classrooms can be justified in terms of Myers-Scotton s definition: the unmarked choice is safer, conveys no surprises, [and] indexes an expected interpersonal relationship (1993: 75). English as the unmarked choice indexed an expected student role both from the teacher s point of view as well as from the point of view of students, as I discuss below. Teachers expect students who are learning English to use it, and this view is supported by assumptions about the importance of speaking the target language in the classroom. These assumptions have tended to dominate the English language teaching scene. Only relatively recently have scholars begun to question this orthodoxy (Cook, 1991, 2001; Turnbull, 2001), acknowledging that code-switching is a vital communicative resource for managing teaching and learning. Nevertheless, these assumptions have taken strong root and many language teachers continue to insist that students use the target language. In any case, since the teachers in this program were effectively monolingual, there was no bilingual teaching possible, although two of the four teachers had some facility in either Italian or French. The use of English was also an expectation which students in these classes placed upon themselves. Almost without exception, the students expressed in the interviews strong desires to make the most of this opportunity to improve their English. A commitment to use English was especially intense on the part of five of the six Japanese students who, in an attempt to maximise the opportunity to improve their English language skills, sought to restrict their use of Japanese with Japanese-speaking peers even in non-classroom contexts. Additionally, as the only common language of this heterogeneous group, English had to be relied on as the currency for the development of interpersonal relationships. Particularly for these students, who in coming to Australia as international exchange students had left their families and most other familiar affective links behind, dealing with the vulnerability of 3 Edmondson (2004) also suggests that this is a special case of code-switching. 5

8 having to redefine themselves (Rizvi, 2000: 209) in the development of new interpersonal relationships was a priority. In the following section, I discuss excerpts from the data which illustrate a number of identities, including the student and global identities mentioned earlier. Discussion of the Data Acts of Classroom Alignment: The Data The first two excerpts relate to student identities and illustrate in complex ways what I am calling acts of classroom alignment or resistance. These excerpts are taken from a pronunciation class in which the teacher had asked the students to listen to a model text and then record themselves reading the text 4. They were then to listen to their own pronunciation on the recording and to self-correct with the aid of a partner who, following a random pairing activity, was often from the same language background. As the excerpts below reveal, many of the students struggled to know how to achieve the task. In both Excerpts 1 and 2, the students attempted unsuccessfully to get more direction from the teacher who was moving around the room assisting the students in their pairs. I include extended sections of two transcripts in order to present the context, to draw out the implications for pedagogy, and for comparative purposes. Of relevance here is the probability that the task itself may well have contributed to the students code-switching. The task foregrounded a focus on phonology, thus deleting any sense of communicative purpose in English. The all-but nonexistent interaction in English between the pairs indicates that the communicative function of language fell to the students mother tongues. The first excerpt begins when the two students in this pair are discussing how to do the task. Excerpt 1 5 : Antonio (French male: FrM), Roland (FrM), Teacher Antonio: Roland: comment veux-tu juger toi-même? il faut que ça soit quelqu un d autre qui (???) [How can you judge yourself? It must be someone else who (???)] ça devait pas être l inverse qu on devait faire? [It isn t the opposite that we have to do?] 4 The text was as follows: I m enrolled in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. I m a PhD candidate and I m very interested in organic chemistry especially in natural products so my field of study and research is the chemical and biological aspects of natural products and I like this field very much. (Source unknown). 5 See Appendix 3 for transcription conventions. 6

9 Antonio: Hmm? Roland: c est pas l inverse qu on devait faire? [It s not the opposite that we have to do?] Antonio: ouais (.) moi je te juge et toi tu me juges [Yeah. I judge you and you judge me] (xxx) (Teacher arrives) Teacher: so you re trying to- the idea of this is that you are trying to (.) help each other. Antonio: /it s very difficult to analyse// Roland: /to- to-// to fill in the (.)? Teacher: yes to help each other Roland: yeah? Teacher: you see that s /umm-// Roland: /but it s-// Teacher: it s hard to hear it yourself /but the other person (.)// Roland: /and it s ard to// it s ard to judge euh (.) because euh (.) /when-// Teacher: /but don t// do anything too complic- if you feel- if you hea:rd- you know I mean if you heard a couple of consonants (.) not quite right (.) well then you can just say well yes (.) just listen for L B V T TH (.) (.) (.) L B V T TH just listen for those (.) they re ones that- just listen for those- they re ones that commonly (???) and also consonant clusters (...) (Teacher departs) (...) (They record themselves on tape as instructed, reading a text. Then they listen to it) Antonio: nice! Roland: ouais, mais je trouve toujours pas d erreurs enfin (.) de truc à mettre [Yes, but I still can t find any errors or things to put] Antonio: ça va quoi on est étranger (alors). [It s all right, well, we re foreigners] Roland: ouais franchement- [Yeah, really-] Antonio: ça m étend ou quoi? [Does this test me or what?] Roland: c est sûr qu on a un accent et tout ça [And we certainly have an accent and all that] Antonio: ça va [That s right] Roland: ça va [That s right] Antonio: le plus important c est que les gens nous comprennent quand on parle [The most important thing is that people understand us when we speak] Roland: oui c est vrai ça (.) puis au pire tu parles avec les mains ha ha ha [Yes, that s true. Then at worst you speak with your hands. ha ha ha.] 7

10 Antonio: he he The second excerpt begins when the teacher has just arrived to check on the progress of this pair. Prior to this there has been no conversation. The students have merely recorded themselves on to the tape reading the required text. Excerpt 2: Teacher, Katsuyuki (Japanese male: JM), Noboru (JM) Teacher : okay so (.)(.) if (.) (.) have- you ve been able to fill this in? Katsuyuki: no(.) (.) (.)(.) it s hard for me to: (.) Teacher: to know Katsuyuki: to know yuh Teacher: okay so is it the vocabulary? Katsuyuki: uhm? Teacher: so have you heard yourself here? Katsuyuki: yes (.)(.) but (.)(.) I don t know (.)(.) whether I can do it or not (.)(.) I can t judge Teacher: you can t hear it Noboru: could you make a program with consonants? Teacher: yes well we ll do all that okay well this is what I want to know I want to get a bit of feedback where you feel your weaknesses are Katsuyuki: mm Teacher: see (.) what we do (.) when we do the course (.) I listen to you all (.) I say you need to practise this or you need to practise that (xxx) Noboru: what are we supposed to make? Teacher: I want you to hear if you can work out where your mistakes are Noboru: you show my mistakes (.) you mean you show my mistakes Teacher: you mean you want me to show you: your mistakes? yes but I want you to listen to see if you can hear them Noboru: okay Teacher: where you think when you listen here you re not pronouncing them quite the right way see see (Teacher leaves briefly. Students rewind the tape and listen again). Teacher: now the idea of this is that you re trying to help each other (.) he s trying to help you and you re trying to help him (.) identify your strengths and your weaknesses in your pronunciation Noboru: okay (Teacher leaves. Students rewind the tape and listen again) Katsuyuki: わかんない (Wakannai) [I don t get it] 8

11 Noboru: わかんないよな (Wakannai yona) [I don t get it either] Katsuyuki: 全然わかんない (Zenzen Wakannnai)[ I really don t get it] Noboru: おれも (Oremo)[ Me too] Katsuyuki: ぽぽぽって (???) (Po po po tte) [It s like papapapapapa (???)] (They rewind tape and listen again) Katsuyuki: わからず (Wakarazu) [I don t get it!] Noboru: ん (Nnnn)[Mm] Katsuyuki: h h h h あははわかんない (Aha ha ha Wakannai) [ I don t get it!] (They rewind tape and listen again) Katsuyuki: わかる? 何がわるいのかわかんねえ (Wakaru? Naniga waruinoka wakaranee) [Do you get it? I don t get what s bad.] (After this the students rewind the tape and listen again several times without further comment) Acts of Classroom Alignment: Discussion Excerpts 1 and 2 illustrate not only the students failure to understand the task but also their failed attempts to clarify their misunderstandings with the teacher. Some of the students lines clearly addressed the issue of not understanding; such as Noboru s What are we supposed to make?, and Antonio s But it s very difficult to analyse. Nevertheless, they are unable to get the teacher to explain the task more clearly, even though Noboru s phrase you mean in you mean you: show my mistakes is correctly interpreted by the teacher; her gloss in the next line shows her understanding. A number of different identities are indexed here, and in complex ways, by the students switches. There are different kinds of attempts to align with a good student identity; that is, with what I am calling acts of classroom alignment as well as some evidence of acts of classroom resistance. Acts of classroom alignment are linked to norms of classroom behaviour. One such norm is that students behave in a student-like manner and desist from presenting identities that are not institutionally desired (Canagarajah, 2004: 120). Students prefer to be seen as good by their teachers and seek to avoid the exclusion and marginalisation which can derive from any kind of negative student identity (Miller, 1998). A good student is one who conforms not only to notions of capability, and, by implication, intelligence, but also to certain culturally influenced attitudes and behaviours. Acts of classroom alignment are thus those in which the student attempts to align both with the task and the role of student. Good student behaviour appears to be an expectation of most teachers and the students attempts to understand the task through code-switching into their own languages display an alignment with this good student identity. The first exchange in Excerpt 1, where Roland and Antonio discuss how to do the task, can be seen in this way. The teacher has distributed the task and the students try their best to 9

12 do it; that is, they seek to perform the role of student, in this case, through code-switching into French, when they discuss what they are supposed to do, and following that, through English, when they confront the teacher with requests for clarification of the task. The final switches in both excerpts effectively conceal the students continued failure to understand what to do, insofar as they are expressed in a language not known by the teacher. This has the effect of continuing to align the students with a good student identity since the teacher appears to have assumed that they have understood. Similarly, in the final stages of Excerpt 2, where the students switch into Japanese, there is a sense in which the students seek to hide their ignorance from the teacher, and possibly from other students. Their expressions of frustration have only a centripetal force. However, importantly, the teacher plays a part in the construction of the acts of classroom alignment produced by the students in both these excerpts. Her language can be read as indexing a teacher identity of being knowledgeable and infallible. Her clear and confident delivery, her use of the minimiser just in just listen in Excerpt 1, and, in Excerpt 2, her phrase, what we do, when we do the course, position her as an expert delivering a well-founded curriculum. The certainty invoked by her language and tone of voice contrasts with the confusion experienced by the students. Her responses positioned the students as already understanding and effectively silenced them. The students final switches, into Japanese at the end of Excerpt 1 and into French at the end of Excerpt 2, can be seen to demonstrate the teacher s positioning of the students in a way which leads them to conceal their inability to achieve the task, effectively aligning them with a normative classroom identity. However, from the students point of view, the teacher has been ineffective and the students implied criticisms in Excerpt 1, and frustration in Excerpt 2, are also expressed in and through their code-switching. Indeed, the majority of the code-switching in this study may be understood in terms of student resistance to norms of the good student and it is to this type of switch that I now turn. Acts of Classroom Resistance: The Data Many student switches can be seen as off-record criticisms expressed in a language not understood by the teacher. Such switches allow expression of student identities which are normally constrained in this context. They also provide an example of a safe house (Canagarajah, 2004), an alternate classroom site which allows expression of the complexity of student identity. In Excerpt 1, the final segment of code-switching into French indexes a resistive act of classroom identity; the students comments express resistance to various positionings, but in a way which is hidden from the teacher. Their recognition that they will necessarily have an accent, their focus on the importance of communication, and their laughter all index resistance not only to their positioning as students of English phonology but also to their 10

13 positioning as language students. Roland s comment: au pire tu parles avec les mains [at worst, you speak with your hands] resists the language student identity by suggesting that language is unnecessary and that it is possible to communicate by gesture alone. Antonio s question, ça m étend ou quoi? [Does this test me or what?], implies that the task lacks relevance, and that it requires a kind of student identity to which he does not relate. The code-switching in Excerpt 1 can be seen to index an act of classroom alignment as well as resistance to the norms of good student. The next three excerpts index these resistive acts of classroom identity in less equivocal ways. They occurred during periods of quiet reading, when little other conversation was taking place. Excerpt 3: Dominique (French female: FrF), Sai da (FrF) The students had been working silently in groups for an extended period, reading a text. Not long before this excerpt, Dominique had risen from her seat with a yawn, strolled from the room, and returned with a cup of water from the water cooler just outside the classroom. Her studied walk and gestures indexed a strong lack of interest in the task. Shortly afterwards the teacher had left the room to do some photocopying. Dominique (to Sai da): j ai trop envie de me casser, je te jure [I want to get the hell out of here, I swear] Excerpt 4: Dominique (FrF), Sai da (FrF) The topic of this lesson was common abbreviations used in notetaking and the teacher was going through the answers with the class who had previously worked together on a task in pairs. Dominique (whispering to Sai da): j ai envie de Prozac (.) je te jure (???) [I need Prozac. I swear to you (???)] Excerpt 5: Sai da (FrF), Dominique (FrF), Yoko (JF), Teacher The students had taken notes from sentences which the teacher had read aloud, using the abbreviations mentioned in Excerpt 4. Sai da and Yoko had worked together to compare their results. Dominique was seated next to Sai da. Sai da (whispering to Dominique): j en peux plus uh [I can t take any more] (.) (.) (.) Yoko: ha ha ha Sai da (whispering to Yoko): it s recorded! 11

14 Yoko: ha ha ha (.) (.) Sai da (whispering to Dominique): quelle heure il est? [What time is it?] Teacher: okay (.) who s happy with the way they wrote the notes (.) are you happy? Sai da: (whispering): no Acts of Classroom Resistance: Discussion Acts of classroom resistance involve active resistance or rejection of student roles, and, by extension, imply criticisms of some aspect of the classroom activity. The comments by both Dominique and Sai da j ai trop envie de me casser; j ai envie de Prozac; j en peux plus [I want to get the hell out of here; I need Prozac; I can t take any more] - clearly express resistance to some aspect of the class although it is not clear without further details precisely what the students are resisting. Similarly quelle heure il est? [what time is it?] implies that Sai da is looking forward to the end of, what is by implication, an unenjoyable lesson. Resistive acts are often manifested through a flaunting of the conventions of good student bodily behaviour. A subtle display, through gesture and body language, may be offered for the benefit of other students while a display of good student is performed for the teacher, who may or may not correctly interpret it. There is evidence that the criticism expressed in the code switches in Excerpts 3 and 5 is supported through gesture and body language such that the students attitudes are displayed for all to see. In Excerpt 3, Dominique s yawn and lazy exit from the classroom indexes her attitude. In Excerpt 5, Yoko s laughter indexes a correct reading of Sai da s body language which was expressive of boredom and dissatisfaction. In the resistive act, the student s switch expresses a rejection of an imposed identity. We saw this in Excerpt 2 where Antonio and Roland reject the teacher s pressure for perfect pronunciation; they talk of being foreigners, of the necessity of having an accent, and of the possibility of talking with one s hands. The aspect of the class which Sai da and Dominique reject in Excerpts 3, 4 and 5 is illuminated by their interview comments in which they reveal themselves to be critical of the teachers and of the teaching approach. Dominique had highly negative assessments of the teachers who figured in these two excerpts, saying of one, I don t like the teacher but I like the person and of the other, I don t like her. I like people with a bit of [ gesture of a rising fist]. These statements contrasted with her description of another teacher on the program: actually she s the only teacher who really treats us like um um grown-ups. By the end of the semester, both Sai da and Dominique had begun to criticise the capacity of the first teacher mentioned above to teach her subject. Sai da stated But frankly I don t think she s competent enough to do that [teach the subject] and Dominique questioned both the teacher s teaching methodology I often say it gets um how can I translate it like pipikaka [wee-poo] the way 12

15 she does it makes it really superficial uh like sometimes you just think ahhhrg!!, and her teaching qualifications yeah I m not sure if she s really uh qualified for this. The students appear to be rejecting a number of different identities here. On one hand, they do not want to be treated like children; on the other, they want to be treated as intelligent, not as superficial. Looking at students attendance records over the semester of this study, both Dominique and Sai da were noteworthy for the number of absences they took from classes. Dominique in particular was highly critical of the overall value of the classes for her, stating in her final interview that she felt she had wasted her time: it s still frustrating when youyou spent like half- like uh- a term of learning nothing, you know, its frustrating so.... And indeed there is an argument for the fact that she was misplaced in this course since she alone of the group had completed her secondary schooling in England. In this sense the students can be seen to be rejecting their positioning as being less capable than they believe they are; these switches are claims for an intelligent identity. Both Dominique and Sai da flaunt the conventions of good student through these code switches which express criticism of the classes; that is they sometimes chose to perform bad student through code-switching. At the same time, they refer in interview to the ways in which they manage their student identities in order to appear good. Sai da for example referred to times in the past when she had expressed critical opinions: before when I didn t like something I just showed it [my feeling] to the teacher but, she said now I try to behave myself and just to be like teacher wanted me to be, apparently it worked because it depends on when I- when I feel OK in my mind to do it, I just do it, you know, like somewith [the teacher], just smile at her like that and try to be(.) like hypocrite, you know. Similarly, Dominique, in relation to a class in which students had to report back on their observations of Australian life, said I m just lying and just saying things that never happened you know (xxx) Yeah or I m just you know exaggerating stuff. Students believe they know how to perform the role of good student for the teacher while secretly performing bad to their peers but the underlife performance (Canagarajah, 1993) is sometimes more explicit than they realise; Dominique was described by each of the four teachers as a difficult kind of a character, a bit problematic in that group, impatient and the most difficult person. Acts of Classroom Resistance: The Data Complexified Comments such as those made by Dominique and Sai da in Excerpts 3, 4 and 5 have been interpreted here as critical of aspects of the classroom. However, similar comments by Antonio, when interpreted in the light of interview data, reveal a different reason for resisting alignment with a classroom identity. Over a period of a few minutes after a reading task had been handed out by the teacher, Antonio made several disparaging comments similar to those made by Dominique 13

16 and Sai da in Excerpts 3, 4 and 5. He also used a number of digressionary tactics to avoid the task including making an offer to the only Japanese student in the group to continue learning French. To what extent are these comments acts of classroom resistance? Note that his initial comments to the small group were not audible to the teacher who was standing at some distance and whose instructions were recorded on a separate tape recorder. Excerpt 6: Antonio (FrM), Noboru (JM), Teacher, Sai da (FrF) Antonio: I am a-very fine, and you? I don t ava any accent. Noboru: thank you Antonio: thank you ve::ry much Teacher: so there s just a little bit of uh reading for each of you (.) in each group and then /there s some questions// to get the discussion going Antonio: /ça m emmerde// [This gives me the shits] Teacher: I don t know if it s a topic you know much about Antonio: ça m prend la tête (.) ça m endort (???) [It drives me nuts, it sends me to sleep (???)] Noboru: comment ça va? [How are you going?] Antonio: he he he (.) ça va bien [he he he good] Noboru: (???) French Antonio: do you want to learn more- you want to learn more French? (xxx) (Antonio is reading the text aloud to other members of the group) Sai da: I can t hear you Antonio: oui mais j ai pas envie que tout le monde m entende [Yes but I don t want everyone to hear me] Sai da: ha ha ha [xxx] Antonio: je suis trop feignant I m so so lazy I don t like reading at all, but I- I like talking (.) (.) (.) moi il faut que- I have to read it in my head for me to understand something. [I m so lazy. I m so so lazy I don t like reading at all, but I like talking. For me I have to- I have to read it in my head for me to understand something] Sai da: you can do it? Antonio: hmm? Sai da: you can do it in your head? Antonio: il faut que je dise dans ma tête pour (.) euh (.) je comprends quelque chose [I have to say it in my head for me to understand something] 14

17 Sai da: so you can think (???) Antonio: c est vrai (???) [That s true (???)] Acts of Classroom Resistance, the Data Complexified: Discussion Antonio s comments - ça m emmerde; ça m prend la tête; ça m endort [it gives me the shits; it drives me nuts; it sends me to sleep] - appear at first sight to be delivered in the same vein as those given by Dominique and Sai da in Excerpts 3, 4 and 5; that is, they appear to be criticisms or to index some kind of resistance to the teacher or the task. His subsequent resistance to reading, expressed in j ai pas envie que tout le monde m entende; je suis feignant [ I don t want everybody to hear me; I m lazy], also appears as a resistance to the task. Indeed, the extract above illustrates a common classroom role taken up by Antonio of fooling around and refusing to stay on task. However, the interview data permits a complexification of this apparent act of classroom resistance. Antonio s comments, and the cause of this apparent resistance to the task, can be found in an interview in which Antonio had revealed that he was dyslexic and struggled with reading in any language. Indeed, during the task above he intimated this in a number of comments, referring to his reading strategies and difficulties with reading: Il faut que je dise dans ma tête [I have to say it in my head] and I don t like reading at all. Antonio s dyslexia makes it possible to hypothesise a different reason for his resistance of the good student role, namely, because of doubts about his capabilities. Thus although Antonio s code switches could easily be read in the same way as those of Dominique and Sai da, they are of a different order and these different identity claims which are occasioned by language alternation demonstrate the flaws which arise when any essentialist typologies are applied. This different order is further borne out by the interview data in which both females expressed criticism of the classes and the teachers whereas Antonio explicitly resisted saying anything that could be construed as negative. When asked, for example, to comment on a fellow student who had been problematic for others, he began to speak and then said No but I don t have any feeling against anyone. Also, like Dominique and Sai da, Antonio was concerned to maintain an impression of good student in his attitude and application. However, his attitude was qualitatively different. Speaking on one occasion of his intention to not miss classes he said I try not to be a- I don t want them to have a bad view of me, I don t want them to feel that I m not um- that I m not a good student or something or someone who takes everything as a joke, that s the main reason why I don t skip. We can therefore conclude that Dominique and Sai da seek to challenge the identity of good student while doing the minimum to appear to perform it whereas Antonio seeks to align himself with such an identity. Questions of proficiency may arise here. While it is possible that Antonio may not know expressions such as it gives me the shits in English, switching into French 15

18 nevertheless enables the expression of his negative response to the task, and code-switching appears to provide a third method with which to, relatively covertly, express this negative response. Reading aloud in a low and mumbling voice, and offering to teach Noboru French are the two other methods he employs. All three of these methods index his resistance to the task. The only examples in my data of clearly resistive acts of identity using code-switching came from French students. Given the limitations on achieving good-quality classroom sound recordings of small-group interactions, which are notable for their overlaps and asides, it may not be valid to say that only French students expressed dissatisfaction overtly. However, there were no examples retrievable from my data of students from any other language background expressing their dissatisfaction through code switches, although criticisms of these same two teachers were expressed in the interviews by the other two French students and one of the German students 6, who said, for example, of one of the teachers: I was more bored by [her] classes [ ] she always treated us like kids sometimes and it was a bit annoying. There may be cultural reasons for the absence of similar resistive acts on the part of the Japanese students. However debates about the influence of Japanese cultural characteristics on the classroom behaviour of international students are ongoing. Studies of educational practices in Japan and the way these impact on identity (see for example LoCastro, 1996; McVeigh, 2002; Nakane, 2003; Turner & Hiraga, 2003; Yoshimoto, 1998) have tended to support the attribution of particular characteristics to Japanese students. Explanations for their verbal reticence, given by students in my study and confirmed in the literature, include the fear of making mistakes, a conformity to certain patterns of turn taking, a valuing of silence, politeness strategies, and not wanting to stand out from the group. Whilst these characteristics may have contributed in some ways to the Japanese students differential uses of code-switching in this study, I have argued elsewhere that unreflective teacher practices may also impose and reproduce these stereotypes (Ellwood, 2004). Identities in a Global World: The Cachet of Multilingualism The next group of excerpts index aspects of what I am calling global identities. Like the good student identity, this concept provides a tool for thinking about the switches seen in this data. It recognises, on the one hand, that within the macro processes of globalisation individuals and groups seek to annex the global into their own practices (Appadurai, 1996: 6), and that this can be achieved at the micro level through code-switching. Flows of students across national borders have become increasingly common in recent times, particularly in higher education, and these educational flows play a part in the 6 The other German student had declined to participate in interviews. 16

19 cosmopolitan and hybrid identities, and new cultural formations which are characteristic of global times (Appadurai, 1996; Bhabha, 1990; Jacquemet, 2005). The global contact zones of international classrooms make available new identities but they also increasingly undermine commonsense understandings of culture and cultural identities as homogeneous, stable, and ineluctably tied to a specific nation (Auer, 2005; Kubota, 2002; Rampton, 1998; Singh & Doherty, 2004). The making and remaking of identities (Clifford, 1997: 7) may be resisted, but many students actively seek this redefinition, desiring to develop global thinking and a global imagination (see also, for example Rizvi, 2000). Students in my study expressed this in terms of a desire to be multilingual, international, open-minded or to see with new eyes. I see several uses of code switches in the data as being broadly related to this concept of a global identity, and it is because of the critical mass brought about by the combined impact of these uses in combination with participants interview statements that I see this identity as interpretively relevant. Consideration of this data also seeks to participate in Jacquemet s call for an engagement with globalisation theory (2005: 260). Excerpts 7 to 9 illustrate this global identity, one which can be seen as within the ambit of Rampton s adoption of alternative or competing ethnicities (1998: 300). In these excerpts students make use of phrases from the languages of peers, both in conversation and in a mock-teaching context. Excerpt 7: Giovanni (Italian male: IM), Antonio (FrM) This interaction occurred in the same class as Excerpt 5, where the students were required to take notes using abbreviations. Giovanni: Antonio: Giovanni: Antonio: Giovanni: I don t understand me neither euhhh (.) (.) okay non capisco (.) non capisco niente [I don t understand. I understand nothing] me too Excerpt 8: Antonio (FrM), Teacher, Ursula (German female: GF), Tomoko (JF) In a conversation activity, students were to respond to some statements as either optimists or pessimists. The teacher had modelled the task to clarify what the students should do. Antonio: Teacher: it s becoming difficult. see how you go. 17

20 Antonio (reading): Teachers aren t strict enough no they are (.) okay let s change (reading) I hate starting school at 8 in the morning okay let s change- Ursula: oh no no no (.) (answering) But if you start school late, you have to stay until the evening Antonio: es ist sehr schwer (.) (.) [It s very difficult (.) (.)] Ursula: sich n Namen zu machen [To make yourself a name] Antonio: er.. entschuldigung [Er.. excuse me?] Ursula: excusez-moi [Excuse me?] Antonio: das habe ich nicht verstehen [I didn t to understand that] Tomoko: ha ha Excerpt 9: Giovanni (IM), Katsuyuki (JM), Rie (JF), Antonio (FrM) This excerpt is drawn from a class early in semester when a small group interacted in several off-task exchanges throughout a lesson. This is one such exchange. I have not included translations into English as the conversation is adequately self-explanatory. Giovanni: Katsuyuki: Giovanni: Katsuyuki: Giovanni: Rie: Giovanni: Rie: Katsuyuki: Giovanni: Katsuyuki: Rie: Giovanni: Japanese is? suiyoobi 水曜日 suiyoobi suiyoobi 水曜日水曜日 what it means- Monday is? Monday is getsuyoobi, 月曜日 ge? ge/tsuyoobi// 月曜日 /getsuyoobi// 月曜日 gets/uyoobi// 月曜日 /getsuyoobi// 月曜日 today is (.) Thursday so mokuyoobi 木曜日 mokuyoobi (.) ah ma yoobi is a day? 木曜日曜日 Rie: yah, day (.) Giovanni: okay Katsuyuki: /or (.) you have (???)// Rie: /getsu ka// sui moku kin doo nichi. okay 月 火 水 木 金 土 日 Giovanni: Rie: Antonio: Katsuyuki: /ho ho ho ho oh// /he he he he// /ho ho ho// /okay// 18

21 Rie: /ha ha ha ha// Katsuyuki: fine settimata- mana fine settimana Giovanni: fine settima- ah! fine settimana Katsuyuki: fine settimana Rie: what does it mean? Giovanni: /is weekend// Katsuyuki: /weekend// Rie: weekend Katsuyuki: settimana ru-me-n-te settimana rumente Giovanni: settimanalmente is (.) uh (.) weekly Antonio: ha settimana vente Katsuyuki: sa ru da te Giovanni: sa? Katsuyuki: sa ru da re (.) sa ru da re Antonio: salutare? Giovanni: ah saldare Antonio: ah salda- Giovanni: saldare this saldare (.) saldare when you (.) (.) you take two iron parts and uh you put together with a fire you know (.) this is is saldare Katsuyuki: ah okay Giovanni: you understand? Katsuyuki: yeah Giovanni: but you have two part of iron /and for// Rie: /I don t know// Antonio: to put them together, you put fire in it and Giovanni: put the fire and Rie: oh Antonio: it s it s soldare Giovanni: saldare Antonio: saldare Giovanni: saldare ha ha ha Katsuyuki: (???) Antonio: ha ha ha it doesn t have nothing to do with Katsuyuki: /ha ha ha// Rie: /he he he// Giovanni: /yah okay and// now next point i:s saldare = to solder 19

22 Global Identities: Discussion A knowledge of other languages is one of the many symbolic resources which become available in the global flow of people across borders. Globalisation makes this knowledge both available and desirable. At the same time, the dominant position of English as a world language evokes not only desires for it but also resistances to it, producing renegade desires to know languages other than English (Pennycook, 2001). In Excerpts 7 and 8, and in Excerpt 6, students employed isolated phrases, sometimes incorrectly, from the language of a peer; that is, a language which was neither their own language nor the target language. This use of code-switching relates to Rampton s notion of crossing which refers to the use of a language which isn t generally thought to belong to the speaker (1998: 291). This form of crossing was more than the mere consequence of an attempt to add some ethnic flavour to one s everyday language (Auer, 2005: 405). Indeed it appeared to be a significant practice in the formation of the multilingual, international identity which was of concern to students. The proficiency displayed in these exchanges is clearly limited. Nevertheless, as a number of writers have discussed, proficiency is perhaps not at issue (Auer, 1988; Myers- Scotton, 1993). Indeed, such switching is more associated with familiarity with using the languages together than it is necessarily associated with high proficiency (Myers-Scotton, 1993: 119). Phrases such as Non capisco niente [I understand nothing], Es ist sehr schwer [it s very difficult], Das habe ich nicht verstehen [I didn t to understand that] (although grammatically incorrect), Excusez-moi [excuse me] and also, Comment ça va? [how are you going?], used by Noboru in Excerpt 6, index an identity which carries a potentially positive association, a type of cachet (Myers-Scotton, 1993: 122), la marque d une identité linguistique originale (Lüdi, 1990: 130). Antonio had written in a survey at the beginning of semester that he was multilingual in French, Portuguese and English and commented on the extent to which he valued multilingualism, both his own, where he commented I quite well speak different languages, kind of a good point for me and in general, referring, for example to a teacher he had had in France as being very very clever like he spoke I don t know how many languages. Such switches can be often seen in Antonio s use of other languages, such as, for example, in a small group discussion about environmental pollution, he had been able to contribute the Italian word for pollution, inquinamento, as well as the German word, Umweltverschmutzung. A second way in which students appeared to seek connection with this global identity was through off-task peer teaching and learning of basic phrases and lexis from the languages of peers in small groups, as seen in Excerpt 9. This peer group teaching of languages also occurred outside the classroom. In this excerpt, we see Giovanni s interest in learning Japanese, Katsuyuki s interest in displaying his knowledge of Italian, and further examples of Antonio s knowledge of Italian. Rie s relative lack of interest - she is the only one who does not attempt to learn any 20