Researching language and communication in schooling

•Academic language is multifaceted: classroom spoken language can differ from written academic language in register and style.•Informal spoken language used in teaching–learning activities is not necessarily easy to understand.•Classroom communication not related to curriculum content should be seen as part of wider academic communication.•The efficacy of academic language pedagogy should be explored in terms of local community practices and student dispositions.

As many societies, in the Global North as well as the South, become increasingly diverse ethnically and linguistically, the language of schooling is a subject of considerable public and academic interest, particularly in contexts where students are learning the medium of instruction. In this ‘response’ I will engage with the first three articles in this Issue from the point of view of an educational linguist with an interest in ethnographic research. I am particularly concerned with two issues: the conceptualisation and characterisation of academic language with reference to classroom spoken communication, and the dynamic and interactional nature of classroom pedagogy in relation to the notion of academic language. I will draw on empirical classroom studies from different phases of education to illustrate my arguments.