WP305 Ideologies of language and authenticity in the construction of educational identities

In this paper, I investigate language ideologies of academic language in an upper secondary classroom, focusing on different senses of authenticity as a legitimate user of the academic register, and the implications of this for students’ educational identities. The study is based on data collected through ethnographic fieldwork at a Danish STX-Gymnasium. Drawing on the analysis of metalinguistic acts in interviews and classroom interactions, I argue that the students’ abilities to perform educational identities are influenced by their own ideologies as well as the teacher’s, and that the discrepancy between students’ and teachers’ ideologies of authenticity plays a crucial role in local identity work, with potential consequences for students’ social mobility.