UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Expanding Linguistic Repertoires: An Ethnography of Black and Latina/o Youth Transcultural Communication In Urban English Language Arts Classrooms A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education by Danny Cortez Martinez 2012 © Copyright by Danny Cortez Martinez 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Expanding Linguistic Repertoires: An Ethnography of Black and Latina/o Youth Transcultural Communication In Urban English Language Arts Classrooms by Danny Cortez Martinez Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Chair This dissertation is a an ethnographic study of Black and Latina/o youth communication at Willow High School, an urban secondary school in a Southern Californian neighborhood I call Tajuata. Drawing on tools from the Ethnography of Communication tradition I explored how Black and Latina/o youth engaged in transcultural communicative activities with one another. That is, I sought to capture the language practices that these youth deployed within and across racial, ethnic, linguistic, and social boundaries in their English Language Arts classrooms. The ways in which these diverse youth used language to communicate are highlighted to consider how sociocultural language and literacy researchers can re-imagine what counts as language for Black and Latina/o youth in urban schooling contexts, and how educators can build on the linguistic virtuosity of these youth in school. ii Through the 2010-2011 academic year I observed four English Language Arts courses taught by three different teachers. Through participant observation methods and audio recordings of classroom interactions I documented the linguistic repertoires of Black and Latina/o youth in their English Language Arts classrooms. The following questions guided my study: (1) What are the regularities and variances in the linguistic repertoires of Black and Latina/o youth at Willow High School? (2) How are the linguistic repertoires of Willow High School youth taken up? Are they taken up in ways that expand or constrict their linguistic repertoires? And (3), What language ideologies are explicitly and implicitly indexed through Black and Latina/o youths’ communicative activities? I used ethnographic research tools to understand the everyday communicative practices, or the expanding linguistic repertoires of Black and Latina/o youth in four English Language Arts classrooms at Willow High School. Specifically I drew on the Ethnography of Communication methodological tradition that calls for supplementing traditional ethnographic fieldwork with audio or video recordings of naturally occurring talk of participants. I also drew on Cultural Historical Activity Theoretical (CHAT) perspectives which complement an Ethnography of Communication method, since language is viewed as the premier tool for mediating learning and development. iii The dissertation of Danny Cortez Martinez is approved. Kris D. Gutierrez Ernest Morrell H. Samy Alim Marjorie H. Goodwin Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv DEDICATION PAGE For Mami and Papi, For letting me dream for justice For Sabrina, Danielle, Marissa, Giselle and Alyssa For reminding me why we need justice For Betty For reminding me of the love required for justice For the youth at Willow High School v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ................................................................................... ii DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ vi TABLES AND FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ ix VITA ........................................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction: Expanding what counts as language for Black and Latina/o youth ............. 1 A brief introduction to Tajuata and Willow High School narratives. ............................... 11 Understanding Transcultural Communication: Defining key terms ................................. 14 Organization of dissertation ................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................ 17 Theoretical Framework and Literature Review .................................................................. 17 Sociocultural Language and Literacy Research on the Other ............................................ 18 The Ethnography of Communication ................................................................................... 21 Cultural Historical Activity Theoretical Perspectives .......................................................... 22 Sociocultural Language and Literacy Research .................................................................. 23 Contact Zones ....................................................................................................................... 24 Linguistic Repertoire .............................................................................................................. 27 Features of Willow High School Youths’ Repertoires of Linguistic Practice ................... 31 Language Crossing ................................................................................................................ 32 Socialization and Learning .................................................................................................... 35 Language Ideologies ............................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................ 46 Methodological Framework and Research Design .............................................................. 46 Tajuata on my mind ............................................................................................................... 48 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................ 62 Participant Selection ............................................................................................................. 62 Data Collection Tools ........................................................................................................... 64 Willow High School Under Siege ........................................................................................... 72 More on Positionality .............................................................................................................. 75 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................ 79 Transcultural communication among Black and Latina/o youth ...................................... 79 Linguistic Repertoire and Transcultural Communicative Practices of Latina/o Youth .. 82 Language Learning and the Expanding Repertoires of Latina/o Recent Immigrant Youth. ....................................................................................................................................... 92 Black Youth Linguistic Repertoires .................................................................................... 102 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 110 vi CHAPTER 5 .............................................................................................................................. 113 From Ingles Macheteado to Ghetto English: Speaking right, sounding normal and the language ideologies of Black and Latina/o Urban Youth .................................................. 113 The practice of repair: Sounding right in the ELA classroom ......................................... 116 Youth Negotiation of Standard Language Ideologies ........................................................ 124 Inviting youth repertoires into the official script: ............................................................. 135 Alignment to Standard Language Ideologies ..................................................................... 139 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 152 CHAPTER 6 .............................................................................................................................. 154 Welcome to our habitat: The language of Tajuata and reflections for expansive Black and Brown language pedagogy ............................................................................................ 154 Summary of findings and future implications ..................................................................