Abstract
Research on language choice and symbolic domination in schooling can be seen as one approach to one of the major sociological questions regarding education, namely the role of education in social and cultural reproduction. Sociologists and anthropologists of education have long argued that, while schooling often is supposed to be a major means of meritocratic, and hence democratic, access to social success, in fact its evaluation procedures favour the already successful. In other words, schooling simply reproduces existing social hierarchies, whether based on class, ethnicity, race, religion or gender.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Au, K. & Jordan, C.: 1981, ‘Teaching reading to Hawaiian children: Finding a culturally appropriate solution’, in H. Trueba, G. Guthrie & K. Au (eds.), Culture in the Bilingual Classroom: Studies in Classroom Ethnography, Newbury House, Rowley MA, 139–152.
Bereiter, C. & Engelmann, S.: 1966, Teaching Disadvantaged Children in the Pre-School, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ.
Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J.-C.: 1972, La reproduction: éléments pour une théorie du système d’enseignement, Minuit, Paris.
Collins, J.: 1988, ‘Language and class in minority education’, Anthropology and Education Quarterly 19(4), 299–326.
de Castell, S. & Walker, T.: 1991, ‘Identity, metamorphosis and ethnographic research: What kind of story is ways with words?’, Anthropology and Education Quarterly 22(1), 3–20.
Delpit, L.: 1988, ‘The silenced dialog: Power and pedagogy in educating other peoples’ children’, Harvard Educational Review 58(3), 280–298.
Erickson, F.: 1993, ‘Transformation and school success: The politics and culture of educational achievement’, in E. Jacob & C. Jordan (eds.), Minority Education: Anthropological Perspectives, Ablex, Norwood NJ, 27–52.
Erickson, F. & Shultz, J.: 1982, The Counsellor as Gatekeeper: Social Selection in Interviews, Academic Press, New York.
Gumperz, J.: 1982, ‘Socio-cultural knowledge in conversational inference’, in J. Gumperz (ed.), Discourse Strategies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 153–171.
Gumperz, J.: 1986, ‘Interactional sociolinguistics in the study of schooling’, in J. Cook-Gumperz (ed.), The Social Construction of Literacy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 45–68.
Heath, S.B.: 1983, Ways With Words, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Heller, M.: 1995a, ‘Code-switching and the politics of language’, in L. Milroy & P. Muysken (eds.), One Speaker, Two Languages: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Code-switching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 158–174.
Heller, M.: 1995b, ‘Language choice, social institutions and symbolic domination’, Language in Society 24(3), 373–405.
Jaffe, A.: 1993, ‘Obligation, error and authenticity: Competing cultural principles in the teaching of corsican’, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 3(1), 99–114.
Jensen, A.: 1969, ‘How much can we boost IQ and scholastic Achievement?’, Harvard Educational Review 39, 1–123.
Jordan, C.: 1984, ‘Cultural compatibility and the education of ethnic minority children’, Educational Research Quarterly 8(4), 59–71.
Labov, W.: 1972, ‘The logic of non-standard English’, in W. Labov (ed.), Language in the Inner City, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 201–240.
Labov, W.: 1982, ‘Objectivity and commitment in linguistic science: The case of the black English trial in Ann Arbor’, Language in Society 11(2), 165–202.
Martin-Jones, M.: 1995, ‘Code-switching in the classroom: Two decades of research’, in L. Milroy & P. Muysken (eds.), One Speaker, Two Languages: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives on Code-switching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 90–111.
Martin-Jones, M. & Heller, M. (eds.): 1996a, ‘Education in multilingual settings: Discourse, identities and power, Part 1: Constructing legitimacy’, Special issue of Linguistics and Education 8(1).
Martin-Jones, M. & Heller, M. (eds.): 1996b, ‘Education in multilingual settings: Discourse, identities and power, Part 2: Contesting legitimacy, Special issue of Linguistics and Education 8(2).
McCarty, T., Wallace, S., Lynch, R. & Benally, A.: 1991, ‘Classroom inquiry and Navajo learning styles: A call for reassessment’, Anthropology and Education Quarterly 22(1), 42–59.
McDonald, M.: 1990, We Are Not French, Routledge, London.
Michaels, S.: 1981, ‘“Sharing time”: Childrens’ narrative styles and differential access to literacy’, Language in Society 10(3), 423–442.
Ogbu, J.: 1993, ‘Variability in minority school performance: A problem in search of an explanation’, in E. Jacob & C. Jordan (eds.), Minority Education: Anthropological Perspectives, Ablex, Norwoord NJ, 83–112.
Pennycook, A.: 1994, The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language, Longman, London.
Philips, S.: 1972, ‘Participant structures and communicative competence: Warm springs children in community and classroom’, in C. Cazden, V. John & D. Hymes (eds.), Functions of Language in the Classroom, Teachers College Press, New York, 370–394.
Phillipson, R.: 1992, Linguistic Imperialism, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Vogt, L., Jordan, C. & Tharp, R.: 1993, ‘Explaining school failure, producing school success. Two cases’, in E. Jacob & C. Jordan (eds.), Minority Education: Anthropological Perpsectives, Ablex, Norwood NJ, 53–66.
Williams, G.: 1987, ‘Bilingualism, class dialect and social reproduction’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 66, 85–98.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Heller, M. (1997). Language Choice and Symbolic Domination. In: Davies, B., Corson, D. (eds) Oral Discourse and Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4417-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4417-9_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-4930-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4417-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive