{"title":"Asymmetrical listening practices and hegemonic aurality in a dual-language kindergarten classroom","authors":"Kristina Wirtz","doi":"10.1111/jola.12433","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Listening practices among kindergarteners in a two-way bilingual elementary school reveal how asymmetries between incoming “English speakers” and “Spanish speakers” shape children's emerging language attitudes. My ethnographic study of a US Midwestern public school (2013–2017) shows that objectifying the two languages was a central project of the school that children embraced. This metapragmatic understanding is most evident in their listening, as opposed to speaking, practices. I argue that a hegemonic aurality privileging English and monolingualism emerges in students' differential attunements to language as <i>sounds</i> or as a <i>communicative code</i>, thereby reinforcing the social dominance of English monolingualism over Spanish bilingualism.</p>","PeriodicalId":47070,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Linguistic Anthropology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Linguistic Anthropology","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jola.12433","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Listening practices among kindergarteners in a two-way bilingual elementary school reveal how asymmetries between incoming “English speakers” and “Spanish speakers” shape children's emerging language attitudes. My ethnographic study of a US Midwestern public school (2013–2017) shows that objectifying the two languages was a central project of the school that children embraced. This metapragmatic understanding is most evident in their listening, as opposed to speaking, practices. I argue that a hegemonic aurality privileging English and monolingualism emerges in students' differential attunements to language as sounds or as a communicative code, thereby reinforcing the social dominance of English monolingualism over Spanish bilingualism.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Linguistic Anthropology explores the many ways in which language shapes social life. Published with the journal"s pages are articles on the anthropological study of language, including analysis of discourse, language in society, language and cognition, and language acquisition of socialization. The Journal of Linguistic Anthropology is published semiannually.