This dissertation is a linguistic ethnography of a high school Astronomy/Oceanography classroom in southern Arizona, where an exceptionally promising, novice, white science teacher and mostly Mexican-American students confronted issues of identity and difference through interactions both related and unrelated to science learning. Through close analysis of video-recorded, naturally-occurring interaction and rich ethnographic description, the study documents how a teacher and students accomplished everyday classroom life, built caring relationships, and pursued scientific inquiry at a time and in a place where nationally- and locally-circulating discourses about immigration and race infused even routine interactions with tension and uncertainty. In their talk, students appropriated elements of racializing discourses, but also used language creatively to "speak back" to commonsense notions about Mexicanness. Careful examination of science-related interactions reveals the participants' negotiation of multiple, intersecting forms of citizenship (i.e., cultural and scientific citizenship) in the classroom, through multidirectional processes of language socialization in which students and the teacher regularly exchanged expert and novice roles. This study offers insight into the continuing relevance of racial, cultural, and linguistic identity to students' experiences of schooling, and sheds new light on classroom discourse, teacher-student relationships, and dimensions of citizenship in science learning, with important implications for teacher preparation and practice.

Language attitude studies focussing specifically on native speaker perceptions of varieties of English speech have demonstrated consistently that standard varieties tend to be evaluated positively in terms of competence/ status whilst non-standard varieties are generally rated higher in terms of social attractiveness/ solidarity. However, the great majority of studies which have investigated non-native attitudes have tended to measure evaluations of ‘the English language’, conceptualised as a single entity, thus ignoring the substantial regional and social variation within the language. This is somewhat surprising considering the importance of attitudes towards language variation in the study of second language acquisition and in sociolinguistics. More specifically, there is a dearth of in-depth quantitative attitude research in Japan concentrating specifically on social evaluations of varieties of English, as the limited number of previous studies conducted amongst Japanese learners have either been qualitative in design or too small in scale. Moreover, the findings of these studies have been somewhat inconclusive. The present quantitative study, employing a range of innovative direct and indirect techniques of attitude measurement, investigated the perceptions of 558 Japanese university students of six varieties of English speech. The results obtained suggest that Japanese learners are able to differentiate between speech varieties within a single language of which they are not native speakers and hold different and often complex attitudes towards (a) standard/ non-standard and (b) native/ non-native varieties of English speech. For instance, the learners rated both the standard and non-standard varieties of inner circle speech more highly than varieties of expanding circle English in terms of prestige. In contrast, it was found that the learners expressed higher levels of solidarity with the Japanese speaker of heavily-accented English and intriguingly, with speakers of non-standard varieties of UK and US English than with speakers of standard varieties of inner circle English. Moreover, differences in the Japanese students’ gender, level of self-perceived competence in English, level of exposure to English and attitudes towards varieties of Japanese all had significant main effects on perceptions of varieties of English speech. However, the regional provenance of the informants was not found to be significant in determining their language attitudes. The results also imply that Japanese learners retain representations of varieties of English speech and draw upon this resource, whether consciously or unconsciously, in order to identify and evaluate (speakers of) these speech varieties. The findings are discussed in relation to the pedagogical and language planning implications for the choice of linguistic model in English language teaching both inside and outwith Japan and in terms of the methodological importance of the study for potential future attitudinal research in this area.

ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE IN THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POST-SOVIET KAZAKHSTAN DOgANAKSOY, ipek M.Sc., Department of Eurasian Studies Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. AySeg&uuml / l Ayding&uuml / n September 2008, 114 Pages The aim of the thesis is to analyze the relationship between language and the formation of national identity in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The launch of language policies in the Republic of Kazakhstan right after the break up of the Soviet Union aim to promote the status of Kazakh language as well as to support its use in state and public life spheres as a means of communication and to foster the national consciousness among the public. Although, official efforts combined with the discourses of the political elites aim to promote the status of the Kazakh language, various factors such as, the demographic structure, the quality of the Kazakh language and the rural and urban dichotomy, hindered the effective enforcement of these policies. The main argument of the thesis is that due to the existing factors which are mentioned above the usage of Kazakh language by the people of Kazakhstan as a means of communication in the short-run does not seem to be attainable. The Kazakh language, within the process of national identity formation, acts and would remain to act as a symbolic tool.

If you belong to the dominant culture of your society, it is relatively easy to build an identity and conform. You understand how things run, what is expected of you, and how to meet those expectations. You have freedom to decide whether or not you will fit in. But have you ever considered what it must be like to belong to a minority culture? I certainly didn't, even though the primary school I work in is multicultural. Sixteen years ago, when I arrived, I assumed that it was up to the Samoan students at our school to assimilate into the Anglo-Saxon education system I had grown up with, despite the fact that many of them had been born in Samoa. But something happened over the years. An almost instinctive awareness grew amongst the Samoan parent community about the importance of the maintenance of their children's first language and culture. As a result of much hard work, my school has a Samoan bilingual class, where students learn, and learn in, two languages. The goal of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of the bilingual class from the point of view of students who had left the class at least two years previously, and now attended secondary school. They shared insights into the life of the class, and what they believed were the long term effects for them. Most of what they shared about the class was very positive and affirming, and they attributed feelings of confidence and self esteem to the warmth and cultural nurturing of the class. The ability to speak fluently, and learn in, their first language promoted a sense of identity and self worth. They felt proud of their Samoan identify and equated their abilities in Samoan as crucial to that. This report, then, is about the journey from assimilation of a minority culture into the majority one, to the realization of the rights its members have to maintain their own identity, and the benefits that result.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the attitudes of South African expatriates in the Middle East towards the Afrikaans language. It also examines the reported language behaviour of South Africans when meeting and interacting with fellow South Africans irrespective of what their first language (L1) is. The participants who form part of the study all work in the educational, medical and business sectors in the Middle East. This study is particularly interested in what the language repertoires of South African expatriates are and whether these repertoires form part of how they define themselves as a group and contribute to their identity construction. Whilst Afrikaans has had a contested history within the South African context, and is often viewed as the language of the oppressor, it has undoubtedly also been a first language to some of the “oppressed” and has served a function as lingua franca (McCormick 2006). This thesis therefore focuses specifically on attitudes towards Afrikaans and the use of Afrikaans in linguistic identity construction. This research is informed by literature which views identity not only as complex, contradictory, multivoiced and multifaceted, but also as dynamic and subject to constant negotiation across space and time. The number of South African expatriates around the globe has increased to such an extent that the term “diaspora” (Kotze 2003: 63) has been used on occasion. While there have been some studies done on language repertoires of South African abroad, little is known about the attitudes and ideologies attached to these languages in diasporic contexts. This study uses a multimodal approach in data collection and analysis in an attempt to investigate the multi-semiotic nature of the linguistic identities of the participants. There are 33 participants in this study who are all South African citizens working or living in the Middle East. All participants are bi- and/or multilingual in mainly English and Afrikaans, with some speaking a third or fourth language such as another African indigenous language (for example, Zulu or Xhosa) or an Asian language (such as Urdu). In summary, this study finds that whilst English is clearly regarded as the global language of wider communication, people continue to identify strongly with their languages from “home” or their mother tongues, where these amplify their personal and group identities or are markers of their ethnolinguistic distinctiveness. Data collected in this research points to South African expatriate groupings that prefer communicating in Afrikaans and other indigenous languages outside the borders of South Africa as the languages give them a sense of comfort and belonging. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die houding van Suid-Afrikaners wat in die Midde-Ooste werk of woon, teenoor die Afrikaanse taal. Dit ondersoek verder die raporteerde gedrag van Suid- Afrikaners wanneer hulle mede Suid-Afrikaners teekom of ontmoet, ongeag wat hul moedertaal is. Die deelnemers aan die studie werk almal in die onderrig, mediese- of besigheidsektore in die Midde-Ooste. Die tesis is spesifiek gemik op die taal repertoire van die groep Suid-Afrikaners in die buiteland, met die fokus op die moontlike bydrae tot hoe die groep hulself defineer en selfs ook bydra tot die konstruering van hul identiteite. Alhoewel die geskiedenis van Afrikaans dikwels gekoppel is aan die van ‘die onderdukker’, dien dit sonder twyfel ook as eerste taal vir baie van die ‘onderdruktes’ sowel as die van ‘n lingua franca (McCormick 2006). Die tesis het dus ‘n spesifieke fokus op houding teenoor Afrikaans en die gebruik van Afrikaans in die skepping van taalidentiteite. Die studie gebruik as uitgangspunt literatuur wat ‘identiteit’ as kompleks, teenstellend, veelstemmig en dinamies beskou. Verder word ‘identiteit’ ook beskou as onderworpe aan konstante heronderhandeling in elke spesifieke situasie en konteks. Die getalle Suid-Afrikaners wat dwarsoor die wereld werk of woon het so vermeerder, dat die term ‘diaspora’ nou as beskrywing gebruik word (Kotze 2003: 63). Alhoewel daar al studies gedoen oor die ‘taal repertoire’ van Suid-Afrikaners in die buiteland, is daar min bekend oor die houding en ideologiee wat met die tale in ‘diasporiese’ kontekste gepaard gaan. Die studie probeer vasstel wat die volle taalrepertoire van elke deelnemer is en of die deelnemers hulself deur middel van taal identifiseer. Die studie maak gebruik van ʼn multimodale metode van data insameling en analise in ʼn poging om die multisemiotiese aspekte van die ‘taalidentiteite’ van die deelnemers te ondersoek. Die 33 deelnemers in die studie is almal Suid-Afrikaanse burgers wat in Midde- Ooste werk of woon. Die deelnemers is almal twee of meertalig, meestal in Engels en Afrikaans en sommige praat ‘n derde of vierde taal soos ‘n inheemse Afrika (byvoorbeeld, Zulu of Xhosa) of Asiese taal (soos Urdu). Opsommend vind die navorsing, dat al word Engels as die wereldstaal van wye kommunikasie beskou, mense nog steeds sterk identifiseer met hul ‘huis’ of moedertale wanneer dit hul individuele en groep identiteite beklemtoon, of n merker is van hul etnolinguisitiese andersheid. Data in hierdie navorsingstudie dui ook daarop dat hierdie Suid Afrikaanse groepe verkies om in Afrikaans of ander Suid Afrikaanse inheemse tale te kommunikeer terwyl hulle buite the grense van Suid Afrika woon en werk, want nie net troos dit hulle nie, maar besorg ook ‘n gevoel van erens behoort.

This study takes off in is its confirmation of the result of previous research: within the population of the Seychelles, the general attitude towards the French language is negative rather than positive. Such a state of affairs is uncommon to find in postcolonial countries, where the occidental languages tend to be highly esteemed. Through qualitative interviewing of Seychellois teachers, this study examines the reasons for said negative attitudes, combining the result of the interviews with sociolinguistic and postcolonial theories on language, attitude and identity. As reasons for the negative attitudes, the study points out the lack of domains in which to make use of French, as well as inadequate identification opportunities. The colonial heritage plays an active role in the shaping of linguistic attitudes in modern day Seychelles.

This dissertation explores the incorporation of Facebook into everyday live activities and practices of a group of young Turkish-American women affiliated with a faith-based movement, known as the Hizmet (volunteer's service) movement. In particular, I examine the emergent communicative practices and performances of these young women and how they create a sense of identity and community and mediate these via this online medium in their diverse geographical localities. I start my analysis by investigating several instances of discourse and within these I focus on metacommunicative, metapragmatic, and metadiscursive acts in aiming to understand their semiotic performances on and off Facebook. I found that these young Turkish-American women, after being dispersed to different geographical localities, began to see Facebook as a vital means to maintain their group ties. Furthermore, their use of Facebook from 2008 to 2011 became more and more for Hizmet purposes. Stepping into the ideological realm, I understand that the notion of "friendship" is highly influenced by a semiotic ideology of tefani (gloss). That is, true/religious brotherhood is one of the important principles of gaining ikhlas (sincerity) and hence a way to establish good relations with God, and these young women see Facebook as a means to further their relationship with their sisters and thus establish a good relationship with God. I observed that they rely heavily on their unique ways of speaking to mark their in-groupness. I argue that, in the absence of several resources exploited by mainstream youths in the US, these young women employ and exploit their ingroup language features as a means to construct their "coolness" and "otherness". In addition, through playing with several languages and language varieties and playing with several generated intertexts, these young women make their interactions somewhat invisible to outsiders through drawing from their shared stock of knowledge and communicative repertoires developed in prior in. Influenced by several competing ideologies, these young women negotiated the use and incorporation of Facebook into their everyday life and especially its pros and cons in terms of their religiosity. Through differentiating their Facebook use from its popular uses, they transform it to a Vefabook (Loyaltybook) and hence employ it as a medium of/for vefa (loyalty) through which they practice uhuvvet (religious brotherhood) and tefani. Their unique ways of speaking and circulation of stretches of discourse contribute to transforming Facebook into a vefa space where they mainly interact with their sisters in their group.

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This thesis examines how characters in adolescent Latina/o literature use and reflect on both English and Spanish languages, bilingualism and how language use informs a character’s identity. In this thesis a particular emphasis is placed on code switching as a literary device in adolescent Latina/o literature. Investigations on code switching point to this, that many authors use code switching as a way for authors and characters to show the difficulties of living between two cultures. I examined the works of three accomplished authors of Latina/o adolescent in this investigation: Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2012), Julia Álvarez’s Before We Were Free (2002) and the Tía Lola Series (2009), and Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising (2004) and Echo (2015). The struggle to find one’s identity as an immigrant in the United States can emotionally compare to the struggle of an adolescent trying to balance their struggles of identity and this similarity of identity definition can be seen in all of these works. I argue that these authors use code switching and discussions on bilingualism as a device that helps articulate the exploration of the protagonist's search for identity into adulthood. Code switching and bilingualism are used to juxtapose the childhood and adult stages of the characters. These serve as ruptural elements that defy the generation of the parents and the cultural expectations. Code switching further serves as a mechanism through which protagonists reject and accept aspects of their identity development, from homosexuality to economic status. In a parallel way, I explore the importance of adolescent Latina/o literature as a referential axis for Latina/o youth in their process of development. This genre plays a role in development by showing strong, non-stereotypical characters who can help shape Latina/o identity for the next generation in the United States. Because adolescence is the stage in life where the individual goes through a time of questioning identity and development, this thesis shows that adolescent Latina/o literature may be best suited to show the process of growing up as compared to mainstream adolescent literature and gives a concrete metaphor for the challenges that many adolescents face. / Master of Arts