Abstract
This article takes a dual approach to analyzing language ethnographically in an educational context by (1) exploring ideological discourse about an ethnolinguistic group and (2) illustrating how the structure of in-school communicative events shapes this ideological discourse. In layering these two foci, this analysis shows how language ideologies [Woolard 1998] can gain or lose traction when coupled with particular interactional structures and curricular materials. This classroom discourse analysis [Rymes 2009] draws on an academic year of ethnographic engagement in a middle school in the autonomous Italian province of South Tyrol to highlight one way in which the local Italian-German ‘bi-community bilingualism’ [Dal Negro 2009] manifests in and may emanate from everyday pedagogical and professional practice in this school.
The initial analysis examines ideological discourse that emerged in an Italian-language middle school about so-called ‘Germans’, German, and Germanness during the year. This includes analyses of three lessons in German class focusing on the topics of Deutsch in Bildern (the Germanosphere/Germanness in pictures) and Typisch Deutsch (typically German items and ways of being). We then examine the interactional structure of the communicative contexts in which this ideological discourse occurred. Together, these analyses demonstrate that – in a context where many interactions are time-constrained, hierarchical, and/or transmission-oriented – it is fundamental to create spaces for unpacking such ideological discourse so as not to contribute to a biased hidden curriculum [Giroux and Penna 1979].