Socialization Through Teacher Talk In An English Bilingual Class

This paper analyses the language practices of a teacher in an English bilingual class. The children were learning English in Year One of elementary school. The teacher consistently spoke English with the children. The description of the teacher's talk shows how she used English for classroom management, for instructions, for teaching subject content and for personal exchanges. The analysis reveals the significance of ongoing classroom activities for language learning. English was spoken in contexts familiar to students and consistent with and coherent with school practices. Students heard and observed English as part of normal classroom activities. English was embedded in the social practices of classroom encounters. The paper proposes that children's experiences of classroom talk socialize them into the discourses of classroom activities and of school subjects. The children learnt English through observation and participation. This was a process of apprenticeship into using English for making meaning in social practices. From this perspective, the children were learning to mean in English through their participation in the social practices of the class.