Tracing Power through Intertextuality in the ESL Classroom

This paper aims to investigate the ways intertextuality is involved in the representation, formation, and negotiation of power relations in an ESL classroom. The guiding research questions are: 1) what types of intertextual links are used by a Student Teacher (ST)?; 2) in what ways does ST use particular intertextual links?; and 3) what do the intertextual links reveal about power in the ESL classroom? Framed within a qualitative research paradigm, classroom observations, interviews, informal conversations, and document analysis were conducted in order to examine the intertextual links found in the performance of ST in the adult ESL classroom. Intertextuality was apparent when ST used various forms of surrounding texts (i.e., teacher talk, the textbook, and paralinguistic cues) into his own text. ST took advantage of these texts frequently and skillfully to construct intertextuality. Although his efforts did not always produce successful outcomes, the intertextual links could serve to create multiple powerful voices rather than a single voice. By tracing the trajectory of power and revealing the hidden strategies of intertextuality, the present study suggests intertextuality as one of the key constructs in understanding power struggles in the ESL classroom.