Language shift: analysing language use in multilingual classroom interactions

Abstract

This paper offers a framework and set of tools for analysing the use of language shift in multilingual classroom discourse. The term language shift refers to the use of multiple languages in all types of interactions, including teaching and learning. The analysis was developed in the context of an action research project in Indonesian schools. It includes three components: a framework for mapping teaching approaches in multilingual classrooms; an analysis of pedagogic interactions, showing the structures of language shift within and between speaker roles; and an analysis of the pedagogic functions of language shift, as lessons and teacher/learner interactions unfold. The theoretical foundation for the analysis is the model of language as text-in-context developed in systemic functional linguistics.