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This book investigates the acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge in the early elementary school years of a Mandarin-English two-way immersion program in the United States. Using ethnographic observation and quantitative analysis of data, the author explores how input from teachers and classmates shapes students’ language acquisition. The book considers the different sociolinguistic messages conveyed by teachers in their patterns of language use and the variety of dialects negotiated and represented. Using analysis of teacher speech, corrective feedback and student language use, the author brings together three analyses to form a more complete picture of how children respond to sociolinguistic variation within a two-way immersion program.
This book provides an exciting addition to research on the crucial question of when and how children acquire sociolinguistic norms in the early stages of language use. Starr’s investigation focusses on both teacher and student talk in a two-way language immersion class, providing a multi-pronged approach to the crucial question of how teacher input may effect student output in negotiating the complexities of sociolinguistic variation. This rigorous yet accessible book will be invaluable for sociolinguists, acquisitionists and educators, and is set to be a key text for students working in these areas.
Rebecca Lurie Starr is an Assistant Professor of English Language at the National University of Singapore. She researches sociolinguistic variation in English, Mandarin and other languages, focusing on children’s acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge in schools and multilingual settings.
1. Introduction
2. Standard Mandarin and Sociolinguistic Variation
3. Teacher Language Use
4. Corrections and Other Metalinguistic Discourse
5. Student Language Use
6. Implications and Future Directions
References