Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-2438

Title: Children’s Peer Cultures in Dialogue
Subtitle: Participation, hierarchy, and social identity in diverse schools
Series Title: Dialogue Studies 34
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: John Benjamins
http://www.benjamins.com/
Book URL: https://benjamins.com/catalog/ds.34

Author(s): Nicola Nasi

Reviewer: Caren Yvonne Nelson

Please write or copy and paste your review of Children’s Peer Cultures in Dialogue here.

SUMMARY

In Children’s Peer Cultures in Dialogue, Nicola Nasi explores children’s peer interaction and its role in language acquisition in the second language (L2) classroom. This exploration considers the various semiotic devices (linguistic and otherwise) that children use, which stimulate learning and development. The book is enhanced by analysis of in-class conversations by students and by photographs (taken during Nasi’s own ethnographic fieldwork), as well as similar data from other countries drawn from secondary sources. The book is set out in seven chapters; however, an annex presenting conclusions can be considered an eighth. In addition, there is an extensive reference list spanning pp. 165–197.

The Introduction (pp. 1–12) is used to provide context. Here Nasi paints a picture of the changing Italian landscape, which, in modern times, is characterized by a large proportion of immigrants of various nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. This aggregation of ethnicities is also evident in schools, especially public primary schools, which form the focus of Nasi’s study. The increasing number of immigrants has implications for teaching and learning, particularly because of the need of learners who are themselves immigrants or the children of immigrants to acquire the language of instruction, which is for them an L2. Nasi contends that interaction with their peers is an important and, implicitly, often undervalued element in children’s language acquisition. He underscores peer interaction as a key tool that can be harnessed by teachers.

The concepts of diversity and inclusion are central to Nasi’s book and, in Chapter 1: “Dialogue, intersubjectivity, and diversity in education” (pp. 13–31), Nasi addresses head on the issue of diversity within the reality of the contemporary Italian public school system. Diversity extends to characteristics such as language and country of origin, in addition to the usual factors of gender, socioeconomic background, and personal interests. Language is identified as a unit of analysis, and the concept of the community of practice (CoP) is introduced to underscore the role of groups in human interaction.

Similar to observations by Coleman (1961) and Eckert (1989), Nasi notes—in the context of school as an institution of acculturation—that the values embraced and upheld by the school, as well as its social expectations, may not coincide with those of the home. This is particularly relevant in what Nasi terms the “heterogeneous classroom”, a term that he never defines.

In Chapter 2: “A social perspective on children’s development” (pp. 32–51), Nasi focuses on the centrality of language in socialization and social interaction. Practice, i.e., doing, is also proposed as having a critical role in language acquisition, which recalls the work of Lave and Wenger (1971) and the origins of the CoP. The chapter examines children’s agency within the school locus and their exploitation of linguistic means to establish and demonstrate ideology and identity, especially in the context of the L2 classroom. Also examined is teachers’ communication of various biases (positive and negative) through their use of language, and how difference—of varying types—may be misinterpreted as incompetence.

Chapter 3: “Children’s peer languages and cultures” (pp. 52–72) considers what is considered childhood, noting that it is usually looked upon as an “apprenticeship for adulthood” (p. 53). However, Nasi’s research shows that children are agentive and that they not only assert themselves within their peer groups, but also manipulate and negotiate interactions towards their own ends, either in alignment or disalignment with adults. Children use language as a tool to (i) align themselves within groups (thereby, disaligning from other groups) and (ii) align themselves to the larger world—mainly school—but also to their parents, their neighbourhood, etc. They establish peer group boundaries by delineating social group membership, or non-membership, on the basis of immigrant status, ethnic group, code-switching, language, linguistic variety, etc. Peer culture is reinforced through the role and use of language, where “[i]n and through their everyday dialogues, children co-construct and negotiate their respective identities, social roles, and local hierarchies” (p. 61). Thus, the school milieu is characterized by the juxtaposition between the various peer groups formed by the students, and their alignment or otherwise to the school, and the school’s need to serve its role of producing educated human beings with certain desirable characteristics. In some instances, the latter goal may include monolingualism.

Chapter 4: “(Mis)alignments to the school culture” (pp. 72–95) addresses how children, exercising agency, use and reuse communicative devices and expressions learnt from adults. The type of appropriation may depend on the intention to associate with or dissociate from a particular adult practice, ideology, or communicative device. Thus, they may use them in ways other than the examples they observe—such as in mockery. Introducing the term “subteaching” (p. 74), Nasi uses student conversation data to describe how children may assume the role of teacher in the classroom setting to establish a position of superiority relative to others. However, their ‘teacher role’ may or may not be in alignment with school culture. Thereby, Nasi shows that children do not ‘blindly’ reproduce adult-language patterns and roles, but appropriate them, as they see fit, to suit their particular purposes.

In Chapter 5: “Classroom asymmetries, Authority and power in the peer group” (pp. 96–113), children’s use of language and other semiotic devices to assert, establish and negotiate power and authority within their peer groups is discussed. Nasi notes the asymmetries that exist in the school milieu, manifested in different relations of power between individual students and other students, and between students and teachers. He notes that students are aware of these asymmetries and exploit ways of harnessing them to their advantage. Power and authority are negotiated through two main means: epistemic power (knowledge) and deontic authority (decision-making in different situations). Complementing epistemic power and deontic authority, are status and stance. For example, epistemic power usually resides in the teacher in a classroom setting, however, in a given interaction, the status ascribed to the teacher may be undermined by the stance taken by a student who challenges the teacher’s authority or knowledge.

Chapter 6: “Peer conflict, How children argue with each other” (pp. 114–138) presents conflict as a useful and possibly necessary device in children’s language acquisition and social development. In advancing the utility of conflict, Nasi refers to it as “a double opportunity space”, which, “[a]part from its role in the negotiation of the social organization of the peer group, […] is central to children’s learning and development” (p. 115). He also notes that it has particular relevance in the L2 classroom, as it gives children practice in negotiation, resolution, and a broadening of their linguistic repertoire.

Chapter 7: “Creativity in children’s peer dialogues” (pp. 139–154) is the book’s official final chapter, and Nasi discusses how children apply creativity in their use of language. This is mainly done through joke-telling and word play. He establishes that, in every situation, the use of language involves creativity, as language users are always repeating what they have heard before, employing innovation to tailor utterances to differences in context. Thus, this combination of repetition and innovation means language use is always creative. Like adults, children exploit these devices in their peer interactions. To demonstrate this, he provides examples of children using alliteration and other clever devices to amuse and entertain their peers. As always, he relates it to learning and development, showing how children in general, but also non-native children specifically, develop and learn to use language creatively through these practices.

A concluding section that follows Chapter 7 is titled “Some tentative conclusions…”. Nasi uses this section to consolidate all he has discussed throughout the book. It serves to summarize the key points made over the seven chapters, without the interruption of linguistic data, conversation analysis and photographs; therefore, it is a useful addition. Finally, the section concludes with some parting words for teachers, in what appears to be Nasi’s attempt to sensitize teachers who operate in the heterogeneous classroom to (i) the need to consider diversity in the classroom in different ways, (ii) children’s agency and artistry in the use of language, and (iii) an awareness of unconscious bias in the classroom.

EVALUATION

As many developed-world schools have become characterized, in recent decades, by student bodies with diverse ethnicities, Nasi’s book provides a useful resource on this persistent trend. His term for this modern phenomenon is the “heterogeneous classroom”, however, he does not define it for the benefit of his readers. His use of conversation data is effective in demonstrating how children manipulate language and other semiotic devices in different situations to serve their needs. However, in some instances, the level of detail appears superfluous, for example, it might have been more efficacious to present descriptions of the children’s conversations without the actual glosses. In addition, transcription conventions are only presented in an appendix at the end of the book, and nowhere is this referenced at the start; therefore, the reader wades through several short-hand notations without knowing what they mean. It is also not clear who the target audience is: the level of the language used suggests that it is pitched at academics; however, the short section at the very end “… and a few implications for teachers’ practice” (pp. 161–164) implies that it may be directed at public school teachers at the primary level. For the latter, a simplified version would be more appropriate.

These observations aside, the book conveys some lessons from the children’s dialogues which help to demonstrate the usefulness of Nasi’s study. It shows how children, through agency, use various dialogic devices creatively—such as conflict and humour—to reinforce group boundaries, and how the various devices they command contribute to their linguistic and social development, as well as modeling cultural assimilation for new immigrant students. This is a useful resource for academics who may have an interest in the heterogeneous classroom space.

REFERENCES

Coleman, J. S. (1961). The adolescent society, The social life of the teenager and its impact on education. The Free Press, a Corporation.

Eckert, P. (1989). Jocks and Burnouts, Social Categories and Identity in the High School. Teachers College, Columbia University. New York.

Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning, legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Caren Nelson is an MPhil student at The University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica), in the Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy. Her research interests include language and identity, adolescents, boys’ education, boys at the secondary school level, communities of practice, ethnography, and linguistic anthropology.