Investigating language and inequality in a seemingly equal educational context
-
Anne Larsen
and
Lian Malai Madsen
Abstract
In this article, we reflect on criticality in contemporary inequality research through a discussion of the significance of marginalising class discourses in Denmark to the everyday schooling experience of a group of high school students. The article is based on an investigation of how language, class and educational success are linked in public as well as more local discourses among teachers and students in a provincial Danish high school. Based on three case studies of students whose parents do not have a gymnasium degree, it is argued that such discourses affect the students’ identification practices in the gymnasium. Our theoretically informed and class-focused analyses of the wider discourses and the situated classroom practices leads us to a final discussion of the consequences and fairness of our approach. We contemplate the risk of contributing to reaffirming class-related marginalisation against the quest for uncovering excluding social processes. Ultimately, we argue that the task for critical researchers may, in fact, be considered to be not to assume, but to embrace a knowledgeable position in order to fulfil this quest.
Resume
I denne artikel reflekterer vi over kritisk ulighedsforskning gennem en diskussion af betydningen af marginaliserende klassediskurser for en gruppe elevers hverdagsoplevelser i gymnasieskolen. Artiklen er baseret på en undersøgelse af hvordan sprog, klasse og uddannelsessucces forbindes i offentlige og mere lokale diskurser der cirkulerer mellem lærere og elever på et dansk provinsgymnasium. Med udgangspunkt i tre casestudier med elever, hvis forældre ikke har en gymnasial uddannelse, argumenteres der for at sådanne diskurser påvirker elevernes identifikationspraksisser i gymnasiet. Vores teoretisk baserede og klassefokuserede analyser af de bredere diskurser og de situerede klasserumspraksisser leder os til en afsluttende diskussion af konsekvenser af og fairness i vores tilgang. Vi diskuterer risikoen for at bidrage til at reproducere klasserelateret marginalisering i forhold til målet om at synliggøre ekskluderende sociale processer. Endelig argumenterer vi for at det kan ses som opgaven for den kritiske forsker ikke at antage, men at omfavne en position som vidende for at opnå dette mål.
Transcription conventions
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Abc | Emphatic stress |
| : | Prolongation of sound |
| (.) | Micropause (less than 0.3 s) |
| (0.5) | Pause measured in seconds |
| [ | Overlap begins |
| ] | Overlap ends |
| - | Interruption of word or sentence |
| °Abc° | Speech with low volume |
| °°Abc°° | Speech with very low volume/whisper |
| ABC | Speech with high volume |
| Abc | Reported speech and stylisation |
| Xxx | Inaudible speech |
| {Abc} | Speech hard to determine, author’s guess |
| ((Comments)) | The author’s comments on the transcript |
Interviews have been transcribed without markings of overlaps, pauses and minimal responses. //has been inserted at possible line breaks to ease the reading.
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