Carnival in a mainstream kindergarten classroom: A Bakhtinian analysis of second language learners' off-task behaviors

Ana Christina DaSilva Iddings, Steven G. McCafferty

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study explored Mikhail Bakhtin's conceptualization of carnival as it applies to 2 second language (L2) learners in an American kindergarten classroom. Unwilling to engage in two story retelling tasks, the children nevertheless invoked the imaginative, playful, and dialogic world of carnival, creating meaningful, contingent contexts for interaction in the L2. A third task, also originally thought to be representative of carnival, proved only to have carnival-like features and did not lead to the sense of renewal associated with Bakhtin's interpretation of the state of mind of the festivals.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)31-44
Number of pages14
JournalModern Language Journal
Volume91
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2007
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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