ABSTRACT
Language use and dialogue at Youth Amplified were bound up in broader social hierarchies related to race, space, schooling and the history of Cape Town. Learning at the radio show was shaped by imagined space of the schools that learners attended elsewhere, transported into the new learning place of Youth Amplified. The live radio shows took place exclusively in English, although participants were encouraged to speak whatever language they felt comfortable using, with peers translating where necessary. The Rosemary Gardens students were annoyed and upset by learners from the former model C school and the Cape Institute of Education (CIE), especially in the initial stages of the programme. Students that attended these other institutions transported the norms, values, languages and discourses of their schools with them to Youth Amplified, shaping dialogue and learning amongst the group. Schools were markers of social status, however the young people at Youth Amplified also used other powerful symbols to reproduce or challenge social hierarchies.
