Reshaping diversity in a local classroom: Communication and identity issues in multicultural schools in the Netherlands

This study on peer collaboration in a multi-ethnic classroom examines variations in communication patterns that indicate particular interpretations of the school's pedagogy and reflect asymmetries between ethnic groups. These strategies are analyzed using a cross-contextual perspective focusing on the translation between more enduring, broader-scale phenomena and local ones. According to this perspective, the students' strategies must be seen as a dynamic interplay between: (i) local constructions responding in particular ways to institutional demands; (ii) experiences rooted in home socialization, and (iii) structural power relations expressed in positioning vis-à-vis the school as an institution.