Language Socialization in the Second Language Classroom

This paper examines the kinds of cultural messages a second language teacher displays through classroom interaction. The study analyzes teacher/student interaction in two beginning ESL classes in light of the language socialization perspective articulated by Ochs and Schieffelin, (1984; cf., Schieffelin 1986b; Ochs 1988). This approach views the acquisition of linguistic and sociocultural knowledge as integral to one another, and points to the pervasive influence of cultural norms and ideologies on various forms of expert‐novice communication. The data demonstrate that routine interactional sequences in these classrooms are consistent with a number of Ochs and Schieffelin's interpretations of middle class American caregiver language and suggest that a teacher's language behavior is culturally motivated to an extent not generally acknowledged in most L2 literature. Discussion will focus specifically on how classroom discourse features encode cultural norms and beliefs with respect to (a) expert accommodation of novice incompetence, (b) task accomplishment, and (c) the display of asymmetry.