Abstract:
What counts as English depends on the circumstances and where and how it is employed. In classrooms this socio-cultural artefact is constructed through practices in particular ways. Language and literacy practices in schools produce and re-produce certain things that count. In this dissertation I asked what counts as English and what practices were employed in varying contexts to validate what counted in a greater context. I was concerned to find out whether and how English-language resources in different contexts or did not contribute to enhancing students’ (social and economic) mobility. This ethnographically-based study focused on two Grade Six classes in State run Primary schools in Cape Town, one of them being a well-resourced, monolingual, English classroom and school and the other being a poorly-resourced, multilingual, English as an Additional language classroom and school.
Reference:
Pietersen, N. 2011. What counts as English? : a discursive investigation between two English language Cape Town primary school grade six classrooms. University of Cape Town.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-67).