ABSTRACT
Classroom ethnography is a research practice for generating “thick descriptions” (cf., Geertz, 1973) of what is happening in a classroom with an emphasis on social and cultural processes. At its best, classroom ethnography contributes to reconceptualizing what a classroom is and what happens there: it illuminates a subset of a society's socialization and enculturation efforts; it articulates the relationship of dominant social, cultural, and linguistic groups to non-dominant groups; it generates new directions in curriculum and instruction that address long-standing inequities; and it challenges extant educational theories of learning and knowledge. This chapter addresses ethnography through a series of questions about the classroom, its participants, its language and its broader socio-political environment. Particular emphasis is given in this discussion to issues of literacy, particularly to the language experiences of non-dominant ethnic groups in North American schools.
