“I don't know… it contradicts”: identity construction and the use of English by high school learners in a desegregated school space

This article explores the English language practices of four Grade 10 learners in a desegregated Johannesburg high school, as well as the ways in which the learners position themselves and others as users of English and other languages. The overall design of the research was qualitative, using ethnographic methods and drawing on the traditions of school ethnography. It draws on a post-structuralist theorising of language and identity in thinking about the relationship between language and identity, with an emphasis on the productive force of language in constituting identity. The article argues that English plays a significant role in how learners imagine themselves as members of the school community and, for some learners, constitutes an important part of their identities. It explores how multiple, and at times contradictory, identities are continually being constructed and reconstructed through learners' language practices and positioning of themselves and others as speakers of different languages. Further, it highlights processes of inclusion and exclusion that may be taking place in schools through language. An important implication of the study for schooling in South Africa is to see English as a ‘commodity in great demand’.