Introduction
Linguistic anthropologists investigate how language use both presupposes and creates social relations in cultural context (Agha, 2006; Duranti, 1997; Silverstein, 1985). Theories and methods from linguistic anthropology have been productively applied to educational research for the past four decades. This chapter describes key aspects of a linguistic anthropological approach and reviews research in which these have been used to study educational phenomena. Readers should also consult the chapter by Betsy Rymes on Language Socialization and Linguistic Anthropology of Education, in Volume 8 of the Encyclopedia, for a review of linguistic anthropological research in the language socialization tradition.
Almost all education is mediated by language use. The linguistic and paralinguistic signs that compose educational language use have both referential and relational meanings. When educators and learners speak and write, they signal things, not only about the subject matter...
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Wortham, S. (2008). Linguistic Anthropology of Education. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_64
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