Linguistic and cultural discourses of difference in teacher talk

Authors

• Anna Hornborg
• Minna Kyttälä Turun yliopisto
• Anne Laiho Turun yliopisto
• Hanna-Maija Sinkkonen Turun yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.102595

Keywords:

difference, teacher, discourse analysis, immigrants

Abstract

This study examined the linguistic and cultural discourses of difference that were produced in teachers’ talk. The concept of difference was approached via social constructionism and discourse studies as one that constructs reality and produces consequences in different ways in different contexts. The data consists of the transcripts of the interviews of six teachers who worked with immigrant children. The interviews were carried out in 2009 and 2010. The data was analysed using discourse analysis, combining the linguistic situation and its time of occurrence with the broader social context. Three discourses of difference were constructed out of the teachers’ talk: category discourse, comparative discourse, and attitude discourse. Through these different discourses, the role of the student who was designated as immigrant was positioned as 1) exclusively different, 2) exemplary, similar, or unadapting outsider, or 3) subordinate other. The significance of the results is discussed in the contexts of education, the role of the teacher, and the professional expectations concerning teachers. Even though these discourses of difference have taken their shape at a certain time, they can help recognise similar ways of talking today as well.