Classroom Discourse as a Socio-Linguistic Ecosystem: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Indigenous Language Marginalisation and Linguistic Sustainability in Sindhi Education

Abstract

Classroom discourse is a complex socio-linguistic field where language options, involvement and institutional authority are negotiated in day-to-day pedagogical activities. The methodology adopted in this study is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as developed by Fairclough for analysing the marginalization of indigenous language Sindhi in the multilingual classrooms in spite of its cultural importance. The qualitative research, based on audio-visual recordings of six classroom sessions, transcripts, and field observations from a public sector girls' degree college in Hyderabad, Sindh, shows three interrelated patterns: pupil utterances are limited to the teacher's initiative, learners who are Sindhi dominant cannot be central to the formal response when it is in Urdu or English, and Sindhi is used only in the informal support and not the academic explanation. These findings indicate that linguistic sustainability cannot solely be a policy problem, but one that is dependent on the everyday interactional choices that legitimate or marginalize indigenous languages. This study can provide the contribution to language teaching by making a direct connection between classroom discourse practices and the vitality of indigenous languages and by promoting inclusive multilingual approaches that view students' full linguistic systems as a resource for learning.