| 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 German-speaking 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 code-switching fulfills important functions in classroom discourse.;1 see Introduction... |
