In recent decades, the linguistic and cultural diversity of school populations in the United States and other industrialized countries has rapidly increased along with globalization processes. At the same time, schooling as it is currently constituted continues to be ineffective for large numbers of students. Exploring crucial issues that emerge at the intersection of linguistic diversity and education, this volume:

• provides an up-to-date review of sociolinguistic research and practice aimed at improving education for students who speak vernacular varieties of US English, English-based Creole languages, and non-English languages
• explores the impact of dialect differences and community languages on ethnolinguistically diverse students' academic achievement
• challenges the dominant monolingual Standard language ideology
• presents sociolinguistically based approaches to language and literacy education that acknowledge and build on the linguistic and cultural resources students bring into the school.

Throughout, the authors argue for the application of research-based knowledge to the dire situation (as measured by school failure and drop-out rates) of many ethnolinguistic populations in US schools. The overall aim of the volume is to heighten acknowledgement and recognition of the linguistic and cultural resources students bring into the schools and to explore ways in which these resources can be used to extend the sociolinguistic repertoires, including academic English, of all students.

This edited collection addresses the link between second language pragmatics (including interlanguage and intercultural) research and English language education. The chapters use different contemporary research methods and theoretical frameworks such as conversation analysis, language-learners-as-ethnographers, discourse and interactional approaches and data in contexts (either in the region or overseas). The content explores and discusses the significance of learning and teaching of second language (L2) pragmatics in language education for learners who use English as a lingua franca for academic and intercultural communication purposes with native and non-native speakers of English, focusing on pragmatic actions, social behaviours, perceptions and awareness levels in three regions in East Asia - China, Japan and South Korea. It is an important contribution to the area of second language pragmatics in language education for East Asian learners. It recommends research-informed pedagogies for the learning and teaching of interlanguage or intercultural pragmatics in regions and places where similar cultural beliefs or practices are found. This is an essential read for researchers, language educators, classroom teachers, readers who are interested in second language pragmatics research and those interested in second language acquisition and English language education in the East Asian context.

In this book the authors address five central problems in the study of second language acquisition: transfer, staged development, cross-learner systematicity, incompleteness and variability. The book begins with a definition of each of these areas and an indication of why they are important for understanding SLA. In Chapters 2-4 attempts to explain these phenomena via early linguistic, sociolinguistic, and cognitive approaches are examined. It is argued that they all fail because they attach insufficient importance to the nature of language. In Chapters 5-9 the central problems are approached from the perspective of Universal Grammar and parametric variation: it is considered that this approach provides greater insights into transfer, staged development, cross-learner systematicity and into some aspects of completeness, but that it has difficulty accounting for variability. Variability, it is then argued in Chapters 10-13, is more attributable to factors related to language use and language processing. The most important of these are: the learner's need to develop hypotheses from data where Universal Grammar may not be accessible or applicable; the learner's need to transform linguistic knowledge into the productions required for language processing in real-time; and the learner's need to communicate effectively with an incomplete linguistic system. The variability observed in second language learners who began learning after the age of seven is attributed to the use of multiple knowledge sources and the different kinds of productions which may underlie second language use. The strands making up this argument are then brought together in Chapter 14 in a single model and indications of further directions for research are provided.

This volume problematizes the concept and practice of translation in an interconnected world in which English, despite its hegemonic status, can no longer be considered a coherent unified entity but rather a mobile resource subject to various kinds of hybridization. Drawing upon recent work in the domains of translation studies, literary studies and (socio-)linguistics, it explores the centrality of translation as both a trope for the analysis of contemporary transcultural dynamics and as a concrete communication practice in the globalized world. The chapters range across many geographic realities and genres (including fiction, memoir, animated film and hip-hop), and deal with subjects as varied as self-translation, translational ethics and language change. As a whole, the book makes an important contribution to our understanding of how meanings are generated and relayed in a context of super-diversity, in which traditional understandings of language and translation can no longer be sustained.

This volume provides a new perspective on prevailing discourses on translanguaging and multilingualism by looking at 'glocal' languages, local languages which have been successfully "globalized". Focusing on European languages recreated in Latin America, the book features examples from languages underexplored in the literature, including Brazilian Portuguese, Amerinidian poetics, and English, Spanish, Portuguese outside Europe, as a basis for advocating for an approach to language education rooted in critical pedagogy and post-colonial perspectives and countering hegemonic theories of globalization. While rooted in a discussion of the South, the book offers a fresh voice in current debates on language education that will be of broader interest to students and scholars across disciplines, including language education, multilingualism, cultural studies, and linguistic anthropology.

This concise collection features seven studies on agency in language policy and planning across five different national contexts. Building on themes explored in Agency in Language Policy and Planning, this volume highlights the complex relationship between agency and broader ideological discourses, integrating social theory toward contributing to and enhancing growing scholarship on language policy and planning. This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in language policy and planning, language and education, critical sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.

'This volume addresses a very timely and important topic, and provides both broad and in-depth coverage of a number of large-scale English tests in China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and about the Chinese learner.' ? Lyle F. Bachman, From the Foreword

Building on current theoretical and practical frameworks for English language assessment and testing, this book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date, relevant picture of English language assessment for students in China (Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and for Chinese learners of English around the world. Written by well-recognized international scholars in language testing, it covers:

• the history of tests and testing systems, issues and challenges, and current research in China
• both test-designers? and test-users? points of view on test development and test validation within a range of political, economical, social, and financial contexts in China
• theoretical/conceptual perspectives on the use of the English language assessment at different levels, including societal, university, and schools
• empirical research related specifically to test development, curricular innovation, and test validation

Given the long history of objective testing and its extensive use in Chinese society, and considering the sheer number of students taking various tests in English in China and elsewhere, an understanding of the impact of English language testing is essential for anyone involved in testing and assessment issues in China and elsewhere in the world. This is a must-read volume for testing and assessment policy makers, curriculum designers, researchers, ESL/EFL materials writers, graduate students, and English language teachers/researchers at all levels.

Bridging the world of reading instruction and applied cognitive neuroscience, this book presents research-backed reading instructional methods and explains how they can be understood through the lens of brain processes. Dispelling myths about neuroscience, Spence and Mitra explore how brain-based research informs literacy research in a way that is clear and accessible to pre-service teachers. Chapters address theories of reading, social emotional learning, phonological processes, embodiment, multilingualism, reading comprehension, and more. Featuring pedagogical strategies and consistent "Did you know?" and "Food for thought" sections, readers will come away with a greater understanding of the reading brain and how neuroscience can facilitate effective instruction. Delving into the extent to which neuroscience can underpin reading research, this text is ideal for pre-service teachers, educators, and students in the fields of language arts and literacy, as well as cognitive neuroscience.

The concept and construct of race is often implicitly yet profoundly connected to issues of culture and identity. Meeting an urgent need for empirical and conceptual research that specifically explores critical issues of race, culture, and identities in second language education, the key questions addressed in this groundbreaking volume are these:

• How are issues of race relevant to second language education?
• How does whiteness influence students and teachers sense of self and instructional practices?
• How do discourses of racialization influence the construction of student identities and subjectivities?
• How do discourses on race, such as colorblindness, influence classroom practices, educational interventions, and parental involvement?
• How can teachers transform the status quo?

Each chapter is grounded in theory and provides implications for engaged practice. Topics cover a wide range of themes that emerge from various pedagogical contexts. Authors from diverse racial/ethnic/cultural backgrounds and geopolitical locations include both established and beginning scholars in the field, making the content vibrant and stimulating. Pre-reading Questions and Discussion Questions in each chapter facilitate comprehension and encourage dialogue.

'? A beautifully written, articulate and compelling argument for a sociocultural perspective on second language teacher education . . . Essential reading for all who wish to understand this perspective.' ? David Nunan, University of Hong Kong

'?Significant and timely. Johnson is masterful at writing in an engaging, transparent prose about complex concepts. It's a rare scholar who can write prose like this. Throughout my reading I wanted to engage in dialogue with her ? this is a sure sign of a great book." ? Diane Tedick, University of Minnesota, USA

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the epistemological underpinnings of a sociocultural perspective on human learning and addresses in detail what this perspective has to offer the field of second language teacher education. Captured through five changing points of view, it argues that a sociocultural perspective on human learning changes the way we think about how teachers learn to teach, how teachers think about language, how teachers teach second languages, the broader social, cultural, and historical macro-structures that are ever present and ever changing in the second language teaching profession, and what constitutes second language teacher professional development. Overall, it clearly and accessibly makes the case that a sociocultural perspective on human learning reorients how the field understands and supports the professional development of second language teachers.

How can English language teachers contribute to peace locally and globally?

English language teachers and learners are located in the global civil society an international network of civil organizations and NGOs related to human rights, the environment, and sustainable peace. English, with its special role as an international language, is a major tool for communication within this network.

On the local level, many teachers are interested in promoting reconciliation and sustainable peace, but often do not know how to do so. This book provides information, analysis, and techniques to help teachers around the world take action toward this goal. Balancing, in a readable and accessible way, the global and the local, core and periphery, cultural diffusion and resistance, theory and practice, pessimism and optimism, outsider and insider perspectives, the expert role and the apprentice role, and prescriptive and elicitive methods, it offers an alternative to literature about critical applied linguistics, globalization, and peace education that is simply too complex and wordy to spread easily from theoretician to the classroom teacher.

The English Teacher in Global Civil Society

• synthesizes threads from many fields and topics into a coherent and empowering argument for the activist role English language teachers can take to promote social change
• draws on humanistic education, peace education, cross-cultural understanding, problem-posing, cooperative learning, and critical thinking methodologies to help English language teachers learn how to teach conflict resolution skills in their classrooms
• covers issues in critical applied linguistics, approaches and methodologies in ESL/EFL, global and local curricular issues, and specific skill areas such reading, writing, and speaking
• suggests a new goal for English language teachers: global citizenship.

This engaging, informative, provocative, and highly readable book is a welcome resource for English language teacher trainers, pre-service teachers, practicing classroom teachers, and Peace Corps workers around the world.

'... A beautifully written, articulate and compelling argument for a sociocultural perspective on second language teacher education . . . Essential reading for all who wish to understand this perspective.' - David Nunan, University of Hong Kong

'...Significant and timely. Johnson is masterful at writing in an engaging, transparent prose about complex concepts. It's a rare scholar who can write prose like this. Throughout my reading I wanted to engage in dialogue with her - this is a sure sign of a great book." - Diane Tedick, University of Minnesota, USA

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the epistemological underpinnings of a sociocultural perspective on human learning and addresses in detail what this perspective has to offer the field of second language teacher education. Captured through five changing points of view, it argues that a sociocultural perspective on human learning changes the way we think about how teachers learn to teach, how teachers think about language, how teachers teach second languages, the broader social, cultural, and historical macro-structures that are ever present and ever changing in the second language teaching profession, and what constitutes second language teacher professional development. Overall, it clearly and accessibly makes the case that a sociocultural perspective on human learning reorients how the field understands and supports the professional development of second language teachers.

From an international, research-led perspective, this book explores how languages are foregrounded in education in different countries and educational sectors, and among different groups of people in contexts of migration. It is concerned with the movement of people and their languages as they migrate across borders, and as languages-and their speakers-are under threat, pressure and pain, even to the point of being silenced. The contributors explore the multilingual possibilities and opportunities that these situations present. For example: where children's education is neglected because of displacement or exclusion; or in classrooms where teachers and educational leaders seek to meet the needs of all learners, including those who are new citizens, refugees, or asylum seekers. Together, the findings and conclusions emerging from these studies open up a timely space for interdisciplinary, inter-practitioner, and comparative researcher dialogue concerning languages and intercultural education in times of migration. Originating from an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project "Researching multilingually at the borders of language, the body, law and the state", this book provides readers with a natural impetus for exploring how languages and their speakers create new imaginaries and new possibilities in educational contexts and communities, as people engage with one another in and through these languages. This book was originally published as a special issue of Language and Intercultural Communication.

Providing a simple - but not simplistic - introduction to the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) of English, this book serves as a launching pad for the beginning student and a review for the more seasoned linguist. With an introduction to SFG through lexicogrammar and the concept of rankshift, this book is the first introduction to SFG (including Appraisal) with examples exclusively sourced from twenty-first century texts. Written for those learning English and English linguistics as a foreign language, this serves as an easy-to-read introduction or refresher course for Systemic Functional Linguistics.

empowers readers to compile and analyze EAP-relevant corpora to support their practice; draws on open-access resources, allowing readers in all contexts to engage in corpus analyses; examines how corpus studies have advanced the description of spoken, written and computer-mediated academic discourses; contains numerous reflective and hands-on tasks.

What pedagogic challenges and opportunities arise as gay, lesbian, and queer themes and perspectives become an increasingly visible part of English language classes within a variety of language learning contexts and levels? What sorts of teaching practices are needed in order to productively explore the sociosexual aspects of language, identity, culture, and communication? How can English language teachers promote language learning through the development of teaching approaches that do not presume an exclusively heterosexual world?

Drawing on the experiences of over 100 language teachers and learners, and using a wide range of research and theory, especially queer education research, this innovative, cutting-edge book skillfully interweaves classroom voices and theoretical analysis to provide informed guidance and a practical framework of macrostrategies English language teachers (of any sexual identification) can use to engage with lesbian/gay themes in the classroom. In so doing, it illuminates broader questions about how to address social diversity, social inequity, and social inquiry in a classroom context.

Mixing and Unmixing Languages uses the politics and practices of language to understand social hierarchies and social change in a post-conflict and post-socialist context. The book focuses on Roma in Prizren, Kosovo, where the author conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork, using language learning as a central method. Shifts in language practices among this highly multilingual group have reflected the demise of Yugoslav socialism, the rise of ethno-nationalist politics and conflict, and the post-war reversal of power relations in Kosovo. Roma in Prizren nostalgically narrate a past of cosmopolitanism and employment in contrast to the present. Their position today is complex: while they stress their relative integration, this position is fragile in the face of nationalist politics and imported neoliberal economic policies. Within this context, Roma NGO workers have found an economic niche working on projects to protect multiculturalism and minorities, funded by international aid agencies, centred on Romani language. This book discusses the historical trajectory and current configurations of a Romani organisation in the town, the standardisation of Romani and the hierarchical organisation of linguistic forms and language learning, the self-representation of Roma and the 'gypsy' image through Romani-language drama, and attitudes to purism, mixing and cosmopolitanism. Mixing and Unmixing Languages is suitable for academics and students in the areas of linguistic anthropology and linguistic ethnography, Romani studies, South-East European studies and sociolinguistics.

Shortlisted for the Nasen Book that supports SEN and Disability Issues Award 2008

Are children who are exposed to more than one language from birth at an advantage or a disadvantage when starting school?

Supporting Multilingual Learners in the Early Years examines the theoretical, ideological and practical issues involved in the education of children speaking two or more languages coming to settings which are predominantly monolingual. The book examines current research and thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of being multilingual and tackles complex topics such as:

• what being multilingual implies in terms of prior learning and why this matters in education
• the importance of respect for diversity and encouraging children to be proud of their language and culture
• practical ways to help young children acquire English
• ways of working with parents who themselves have little or no English
• the differences and difficulties involved in a child learning an additional language so early on in their lives
• strategies for exploring the learning of multilingual learners and a review of the resources and activities that could help.

Sandra Smidt views multilingualism as a cognitive advantage and shows how Early Years practitioners can use interactive styles of learning to focus on the benefit that the many cultures and languages in the classroom can bring to children s learning and development.

Written in a highly accessible tone, this book offers practitioners a mix of practical case studies and examples in which theory is embedded and its importance explained. Students of early childhood education will also appreciate the author's carefully structured approach to the topic, as she includes summary boxes, glossaries and points for reflection in each chapter.

Shortlisted for the Nasen Book that supports SEN and Disability Issues Award 2008

Are children who are exposed to more than one language from birth at an advantage or a disadvantage when starting school?

Supporting Multilingual Learners in the Early Years examines the theoretical, ideological and practical issues involved in the education of children speaking two or more languages coming to settings which are predominantly monolingual. The book examines current research and thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of being multilingual and tackles complex topics such as:

• what being multilingual implies in terms of prior learning and why this matters in education
• the importance of respect for diversity and encouraging children to be proud of their language and culture
• practical ways to help young children acquire English
• ways of working with parents who themselves have little or no English
• the differences and difficulties involved in a child learning an additional language so early on in their lives
• strategies for exploring the learning of multilingual learners and a review of the resources and activities that could help.

Sandra Smidt views multilingualism as a cognitive advantage and shows how Early Years practitioners can use interactive styles of learning to focus on the benefit that the many cultures and languages in the classroom can bring to children s learning and development.

Written in a highly accessible tone, this book offers practitioners a mix of practical case studies and examples in which theory is embedded and its importance explained. Students of early childhood education will also appreciate the author's carefully structured approach to the topic, as she includes summary boxes, glossaries and points for reflection in each chapter.

This book systematically examines how learning to read occurs in diverse languages, and in so doing, explores how literacy is learned in a second language by learners who have achieved at least basic reading skills in their first language. As a consequence of rapid globalization, such learners are a large and growing segment of the school population worldwide, and an increasing number of schools are challenged by learners from a wide variety of languages, and with distinct prior literacy experiences. To succeed academically these learners must develop second-language literacy skills, yet little is known about the ways in which they learn to read in their first languages, and even less about how the specific nature and level of their first-language literacy affects second-language reading development.

This volume provides detailed descriptions of five typologically diverse languages and their writing systems, and offers comparisons of learning-to-read experiences in these languages. Specifically, it addresses the requisite competencies in learning to read in each of the languages, how language and writing system properties affect the way children learn to read, and the extent and ways in which literacy learning experience in one language can play a role in subsequent reading development in another. Both common and distinct aspects of literacy learning experiences across languages are identified, thus establishing a basis for determining which skills are available for transfer in second-language reading development.

Learning to Read Across Languages is intended for researchers and advanced students in the areas of second-language learning, psycholinguistics, literacy, bilingualism, and cross-linguistic issues in language processing.

This volume is organized around the view that metaphor is an important cognitive process. Metaphor can no longer be considered the sole domain of language, although this is one important research domain as some of the chapters in the volume demonstrate. The chapters reflect the modern history of metaphor, and cover many of the ways metaphor is conceptualized and applied. The book also explores a number of functions and characteristics, and implications of the metaphoric process, including that metaphoric processes originate in a sensory-motor-affective matrix; that they may be based in a neurological substrate; that they are manifested developmentally in various forms; that cognitively the comprehension of metaphor may depend on an abstract, featureless conceptual base; that they figure significantly in some pathological syndromes and in therapeutic discourse.

First published in 1979. The performance of West Indian children in British schools has been the subject of enquiries by both a parliamentary select committee and the Department of Education. It is widely believed that an important factor in the relative failure of West Indian children is the language they use, West Indian Creole, and while teachers and others who work with them are aware that their language is often very different from British English, they seldom understand the nature of the differences, or their implications. The aim of this book is to provide the non-specialist with an account of the language of West Indian children and to examine how linguistic 'interference' can affect their level of reading, writing and understanding, even when they have been born in Britain. It also considers the worrying possibility that negative attitudes towards them and their language may have an adverse effect on their motivation to learn standard English. Viv Edwards places great stress on the fact that, although Creole is different from British English, it is in no way deficient as a language. She emphasizes the importance of familiarity with the structure of Creole, since it is only in this way that the teachers can discriminate between real mistakes and Creole 'interference'. Attention is drawn to the relationship between language attitudes and social stereotypes and the danger that these might be translated into reality. Different strategies available to the teacher are examined, drawing on American experience in this field, and various initiatives taken by British teachers are described, thus making the study a work of practical value to teachers and others.

This book offers an insight into the 21st century teaching and learning of English in Asia. Despite English being widely recognized as a lingua franca in this era of globalization, the general EFL proficiency of graduates from high schools and even universities in most Asian countries are still below the expectations of policymakers. Given the critical role English will play in the globalized world, this review and examination of the current state of English education in Asia is both important and timely. This book consists of ten chapters from ten different Asian countries, including the Russian Far East. The scope of the book allows EFL students, researchers and teachers to gain perspectives on many of the significant current issues, expectations, and challenges in the teaching and learning of English faced by Asia in the 21st century.

Using qualitative data collected from more than twenty universities across the US, Writing Support for International Graduate Students describes and theorizes agency- and advocacy-driven practices, programs, and policies that are most effective in helping international students learn graduate-level writing and communication skills. It uses compelling narratives and cases to illustrate a variety of program models and support practices that fostered the students' process of academic transition and success. Employing an ecological framework, the book seeks to advance academic conversation about how writing scholars/instructors and program administrators, as well as other academic service professionals working with this student body, can formulate policies, develop programs, and implement practices that best help these students grow as writers and scholars in their disciplines.

This book contributes to building the research knowledge that language teaching professionals need in developing curriculum for the large population of East Asian heritage students (including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia, where speakers of East Asian languages are among the fastest growing populations. Heritage learners are defined as those who initially acquired certain levels of linguistic and cultural competence in a non-dominant language mainly through interaction with foreign-born parents and other family members at home. Heritage language instruction is currently a "hot topic" and is becoming a sub-discipline within the fields of foreign language education and applied linguistics. Special instruction for heritage language learners is on the rise, particularly in the U.S. and Canada. Providing theoretical and practical information about heritage-language instruction in terms of curriculum design, learner needs, materials development, and assessment procedures, the goal of this book is not only to promote research about heritage students in East Asian languages but also to improve the teaching of these students in various educational settings and all over the world, especially in English speaking countries. The volume is organized in four sections: *Overview-addressing the timeliness, necessity, and applications of the work and issues and future agendas for teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage students; *Language Needs Analysis; *Attitude, Motivation, Identity, and Instructional Preference; and *Curriculum Design, Materials Development, and Assessment Procedures Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students is intended as a primary text or reference for researchers, educators, and students in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment studies related to teaching bilingual and heritage students in general and East Asian heritage students in particular.