Ethnography in the Study of the Teaching and Learning of English

During the past decade, research in English education has seen an increased use of ethnography to document teaching and learning of language arts in classrooms and other naturalistic settings. What are the particular features and purposes of ethnography as a research genre and of anthropology as a disciplinary guide? What contributions has ethnography made to research in the teaching and learning of English? A number of difficult challenges face the ethnographer. Which of these challenges are particularly perilous, and how can they be resolved? This article addresses these questions, illustrated by methodological features of a year-long ethnography of two high school English classes.