The Relationship between Mass Media and Classroom Discourse

In this paper, I illustrate the cyclical proliferation of mass-mediated communicative repertoires through small-scale mechanisms of classroom discourse. I draw on examples of current advertising, classroom discourse data from diverse studies, my own study of an elementary ESL group's interaction, and mass mediated representations of classroom discourse on websites and TV shows about school to illustrate the relationship between mass media and classroom discourse. I analyze how mass-mediated metadiscourse creates new participation frameworks in classrooms that propel small-scale changes in classroom discourse and potentially facilitate the integration of new voices. Finally I discuss the implications of this analysis for how future research conceptualizes the roles of multilingual/multicultural students and teachers and the multiple communicative repertoires they command.