Power and identity: negotiation through code-switching in the Swiss German classroom

• Author / Creator

  Kidner, Keely

• This thesis focuses on the negotiation of power and identity
  between Swiss students and instructors in the Swiss classroom. Although Schriftdeutsch1 is the official language of secondary schools in Switzerland, speakers often practice code-switching, which serves many
  conversational functions (Auer 1998). This paper examines how Germans-peaking Swiss use code-switching strategies to negotiate power and identity in the classroom. My data is drawn from interactions in the classroom and a short interview. Using a constructivist methodology based
  on conversation analysis (Antaki & Widdicombe 1998; Meinhof & Galasinski 2005; Pavlenko & Blackledge 2004), I analyse classroom discussion in terms of the discourse functions of code-switching and how Swiss German is used to negotiate power and identity in interaction. This thesis reveals an unmarked classroom situation and shows that codeswitching
  fulfills important functions in classroom discourse.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Power
  • discourse analysis
  • identity
  • Switzerland
  • code-switching
  • German

• Graduation date

  Spring 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DW9Z

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.