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Article published In:
Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict
Vol. 2:1 (2014) ► pp.36–73

Identities in conflict

Examining the co-construction of impoliteness and identity in classroom interaction

As im/politeness scholars increasingly explore the intersections of identity and im/politeness, they reveal a growing need for empirical research that examines these intersections in a variety of discourses. This paper investigates the linkages between participants’ co-constructions of identity and impoliteness in naturally occurring classroom discourse. The data come from a corpus of conflictive interactions observed in seven hours of whole-class discussions and twelve hours of small-group discussions in four eighth-grade classrooms. I apply an analytic framework that combines a genre-approach (Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 2010, 2013) to impoliteness with a socio-constructivist approach (Bucholtz and Hall 2005) to identity, and I categorize identity according to Zimmerman’s (1998) three broad identity types: discourse identity, (genre)situated identity, and transportable identity. In co-constitutive processes (Miller 2013), participants co-construct impoliteness and identity, strategically initiating and assessing potential impoliteness acts to assert and reject identity claims.
Keywords: impoliteness, Identity, small-group discussion, genre, classroom interaction, adolescent talk
Published online: 21 July 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.2.1.02dob
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Donaghue, Helen
2018. Relational work and identity negotiation in critical post observation teacher feedback. Journal of Pragmatics 135 ► pp. 101 ff. DOI logo
Donaghue, Helen
2022. Teachers and supervisors negotiating face during critical account requests in post observation feedback. Journal of Politeness Research 18:1 ► pp. 37 ff. DOI logo
Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar & Maria Sifianou
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[no author supplied]
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