Synopses & Reviews
The study of teenagers in the classroom, and how they interact with one another and their teachers, can tell us a great deal about late-modern (contemporary) society. In this revealing account, Ben Rampton presents the extensive sociolinguistic research he carried out in an inner-city high school. Through his vivid analysis of classroom talk, he offers answers to some important contemporary questions: does social class still count for young people, or is it in demise? Are traditional authority relationships in schools being undermined? How is this affected by popular media culture? His study, which provides numerous transcripts and three extensive case studies, introduces a new way of perceiving established ideas in sociolinguistics, such as identity, insecurity, the orderliness of classroom talk, and the experience of learning at school. In doing so, Rampton shows how work in sociolinguistics can contribute to some major current debates in sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and education.
Synopsis
The study of teenagers in the classroom, and how they interact with one another and their teachers, can tell us a great deal about late-modern (contemporary) society. In this revealing account, Ben Rampton presents the extensive sociolinguistic research he carried out in an inner-city high school. Through his vivid analysis of classroom talk, based on transcripts and case studies, he offers answers to some important contemporary questions. In doing so, he shows how work in sociolinguistics can contribute to some major current debates in sociology, anthropology, cultural studies and education.
Synopsis
Provides a sociolinguistic account of classroom interaction, based on research in an inner-city high school.
About the Author
'Ben Rampton is Professor of Applied and Sociolinguistics at Kings College London.'
Table of Contents
1. Introduction; Part I. Urban Classroom Discourse: 2. Talk in class at Central High; 3. Popular culture in the classroom; Part II. Performances of Deutsch: 4. Deutsch in improvised performance; 5. Ritual in the instruction and inversion of German; Part III. The Stylization of Social Class: 6. Language and class I: theoretical orientations; 7. Language and class II: empirical preliminaries; 8. Schooling, class and stylization; 9. Classed subjectives in interaction; Part IV. Methodological Reflections: 10. Reflections on generalization, theory and knowledge construction.