The thickening of linked identification

The thickening of a link between Iman and Mohsen’s trajectories of identification takes place over a five months period, from June of the fifth form through October in the sixth form classes⁵⁷. During this time span, the teachers and other students increasingly operated on the premise that Mohsen was the smartest student, as evidenced by the teachers filling in answers for Mohsen, doing face work (Goffman 1967) on his behalf and assigning Mohsen special rights and duties, while peers identified Mohsen as “the smartest of all of us.” Relative to the thickening of Mohsen’s smart student role, Iman assiduously strived to access the floor and provide answers to the teachers’

questions during whole-class talks, and in other ways demonstrate that she was the smartest student.

In some moments, Iman’s actions ended up positioning her as quiet; at other times the linking positioned Iman as disruptive. The latter positions emerged when Iman challenged the teachers’

differential treatment of Mohsen and herself, as illustrated in the following example.

Excerpt 3 is from an Arabic lesson during June in the fifth form. The students work with flags from countries in which Arabic is spoken. All teaching activities include and focus on the digital

whiteboard. At the beginning of the lesson, Mohsen asks Aslan, the teacher, to navigate the digital whiteboard. Aslan agrees, and then Mohsen takes control of the digital whiteboard. Before excerpt three begins, Iman has attempted to gain control over the digital whiteboard from Mohsen several times. Mohsen tells Iman to stop. Aslan responds to the exchange between Mohsen and Iman by telling Iman to let go of the whiteboard and that she is “not being helpful.” This suggests that Aslan expects Mohsen to successfully navigate the digital whiteboard and to help along teaching

activities, whereas Iman’s actions are seen as potentially disruptive. But Iman continues to stand by the screen. The participating students are Iman, Mohsen, Zara (ZAR) and an unidentified student.

Excerpt 3. Why don’t we do like we usually do? (June 13^th, video recording) 01 INA: hvorfor gør vi ikke ligesom vi plejer? (.)

why don't we do like we usually do?(.) 02 [så vi skiftes?

[so we take turns?

03 ALN: [Mohsen højreklik [Mohsen right click

04 MOH: ja men det er også højreklik yes but it's right click 05 ALN: [højreklik (.) sæt ind [right click (.) paste 06 ZAR: [xxx ve:nstre:

[xxx le:ft:

07 (.) Aslan and Mohsen gaze at screen

08 INA: Aslan (1) du ved Aslan [xxx Aslan (1) you know Aslan [xxx 09 ALN: [ja det (.) to sekunder [yes it (.) two seconds 10 IMAN DU PISKER MIG

IMAN YOU ARE WHIPPING ME

{turns towards Iman, raises both arms several times in abrupt gesturing}

11 INA: =☺undskyld:☺

=☺sorry:☺

{Aslan and Iman gaze at screen}

12 MOH: ☺du pisker ham☺

☺you are whipping him☺

13 All children laugh 14 MOH: se lige

look

{Mohsen gazes at screen}

15 INA: °jeg har ingen pisk så kan jeg ikke få den°

°I don’t have a whip so I can’t get it°

{goes around the table, smiles and sits down}

16 UNI: ha ha ha ha

17 ALN: jeg snakker med Mohsen så siger du hele tiden I talk to Mohsen that’s what you’re always saying 18 >ASLAN ASLAN ASLAN<

>ASLAN ASLAN ASLAN<

In this excerpt we see how Mohsen performs the smart student role by complying with the teacher’s agenda and helping along teaching activities, whereas Iman challenges the teacher’s differential treatment of Mohsen and herself. This results in positioning of Iman as disruptive. In one

participation framework the teacher, Aslan and Mohsen collaboratively work to move the teaching activities along in a cut and paste activity by the digital whiteboard, while in a conflicting

participation framework, Iman challenges Mohsen’s special access to the whiteboard.

Iman proposes a different distribution of the digital whiteboard, “why don’t we do like we usually do so we take turns?”; Iman interposes herself as a candidate to control the whiteboard. In

consideration of previous events, the most likely interpretation is that Iman attempts to access the whiteboard to improve her possibilities for active participation in the teaching activity. In another participation framework (3:3–7), the teacher instructs Mohsen to insert an image of the flag of Sudan in a word processing document in order to move on the teaching activity. Aslan explicitly selects Mohsen to perform this activity (3:3). This places Iman and the other students as bystanders, which is furthermore underlined by Aslan and Mohsen ignoring Iman’s proposal.

Iman again summons Aslan. This signals that she is about to resubmit her proposal. Aslan initially signals that he is about to listen to Iman, but he then seems to be overwhelmed by an emotional outburst, “IMAN YOU ARE WHIPPING ME.” In terms of social relations this metaphor indexes an abnormal and unsuccessful teacher-student relationship in which the student displays disrespect, deviant behaviour and causes the teacher pain. Aslan’s loud speech, abrupt gesturing, and choice of words strongly suggest that he is angry. This is validated by the students’ reaction. None of them laugh (compare 2:10–13). The teacher thereby interprets Iman’s actions as signs of a disruptive student, which is underscored by Aslan selecting Iman as ratified participant.

Iman takes advantage of the teacher’s loss of control and rekeys his outburst into a doubled voiced parody, “=☺sorry:☺.” Bakhtin (1984) refers to the presence of different speaking positions within the same utterance as double voicing. A double voiced utterance aligns with two or more, real or imagined, speakers or speaker positions. On the one hand, Iman demonstrates her respect for the teacher by apologizing. On the other hand, her latched pronunciation and smile voice suggest that her apology might be insincere. Mohsen adds another double voiced contribution, “☺you are whipping him☺”. Mohsen’s reuse of Aslan’s metaphor reaffirms Iman in the role of the disruptive student. This suggests Mohsen aligns with the teacher. Conversely, Mohsen’s smile voice signals that he may align with Iman’s parody of Aslan. After this interaction, Mohsen immediately tries to draw all of the participants’ attention to the screen (3:14). This suggests that is Mohsen attempting to re-establish the participation framework aimed at teaching, and that his action should not be interpreted as a challenge of the teacher’s agenda, but rather as a move serving to relieve the tension and to continue with teaching activities. Mohsen is in effect acting like a teacher’s assistant.

However, Iman adds, “°I don’t have a whip so I can’t get it°.” In terms of social relations Iman’s reinterpretation of Aslan’s whipping metaphor indexes an unjust teacher–student relationship in which the student has to take it to extremes (and whip the teacher) to gain access to the whiteboard.

Iman’s smile and walking around the table add to the impression that her actions should be interpreted as a parodic-keyed challenge of the teacher’s differential treatment of Mohsen and herself. Iman’s lowered voice signals that she is aware the teacher may interpret her move as face threatening. Aslan outbursts, “I talk to Mohsen and then all the time you say ASLAN ASLAN ASLAN.” The teacher’s loud, quick speech and mocking reuse of Iman’s proposal strongly

suggests that he interprets Iman’s move as a face threatening challenge to his pedagogical agenda.

Aslan not only reaffirms his positioning of Iman as disruptive, but he also positions Iman relative to Mohsen. The identification of one is a mirror image of the other; Mohsen is what Iman is not.

This example and the additional data show how Mohsen and Iman increasingly compete for the smart student role and how Iman struggles to maintain her rights to participate. Furthermore, Iman does not simply lose the contest. Her entire position changes. The teachers dismissing or

overlooking Iman, now interpret her actions as disruptive. The enacted participation framework of the third excerpt should be compared with that of excerpt 2, the difference being that now we have the teacher forming an alliance with one student (Mohsen), while another student challenges this alliance and is disciplined by the teacher for doing so.