Applying positioning theory to the analysis of classroom interactions: Mediating micro-identities, macro-kinds, and ideologies of knowing

This study contributes to positioning theory by approaching the discursive and material mediation of classroom positioning from an integrated micro-, meso-, and macro-social perspective. I propose an analytic framework that unpacks the lived and ideological resources for positioning and their social and curricular implications for understanding classroom interactions. By highlighting the always mediated, yet locatable ways we organize meaning and understanding, I demonstrate how acts of positioning construct ideological categorizations of persons and activity at the macro-scale and lived interactions at the micro-scale. Analyses of small-group classroom interactions highlight how teacher formulations of goals and objectives, affordances of curricular tools, and patterns of participation together mediate opportunities to learn by positioning students as kinds. I specifically take up how these kinds gain meaning through acts of positioning and mediating resources, influencing how different ways of participating are recognized and valued across interactions.