Disputes in Child L2 Learning *

This article concerns how peer disputes are involved in classroom language learning. Drawing from data collected in a longitudinal study of six young English language learners in Canadian public school classrooms, the article shows how two girls (one of Polish background and one of Punjabi Sikh background) differentially engage in disputes. Disputes appeared to provide the Polish child with occasions to negotiate new meanings or to negotiate or display her powerful position in relation to classmates. By contrast, the Punjabi Sikh girl was often bested in disputes, and thus they were occasions on which her power and competence were displayed as subordinate to those of other children. Her opportunities for participation in activities and conversations in her classroom seemed concomitantly reduced. The article argues that teachers need to address questions of domination and subordination directly in classrooms. By recognizing the differential expertise of students, teachers might better assist students in speaking from powerful and desirable positions. If teachers were to approach assessment with the aim of discovering children's competencies, they might be able to increase their understanding of practices that display students from a variety of positions.