Web 2.0 technologies, open source software platforms, and mobile applications have transformed teaching and learning of second and foreign languages. Language teaching has transitioned from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach through the use of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and new teaching approaches. Engaging Language Learners through Technology Integration: Theory, Applications, and Outcomes provides empirical studies on theoretical issues and outcomes in regards to the integration of innovative technology into language teaching and learning. This reference wok discusses empirical findings and innovative research using software and applications that engage learners and promote successful learning, essential tools for educational researchers, instructional technologists, K-20 language teachers, faculty in higher education, curriculum specialists, and researchers.

In today's increasingly interconnected, knowledge-based world, language policy in higher education is rapidly becoming a crucial area for all societies aiming to play a part in the global economy. The challenge is double faceted: how can universities retain their crucial role of creating the intellectual elites who are indispensable for the running of national affairs and, at the same time, prepare their best-educated citizens for competition in a global market? To what extent is English really pushing other languages out of the academic environment? Drawing on the experience of several medium-sized language communities, this volume provides the reader with some important insights into how language policies can be successfully implemented. The different sociolinguistic contexts under scrutiny offer an invaluable comparative standpoint to understand what position can - or could - be occupied by each language at the level of higher education.

This book, addressed to experienced and novice language educators, provides an up-to-date overview of sociolinguistics, reflecting changes in the global situation and the continuing evolution of the field and its relevance to language education around the world. Topics covered include nationalism and popular culture, style and identity, creole languages, critical language awareness, gender and ethnicity, multimodal literacies, classroom discourse, and ideologies and power. Whether considering the role of English as an international language or innovative initiatives in Indigenous language revitalization, in every context of the world sociolinguistic perspectives highlight the fluid and flexible use of language in communities and classrooms, and the importance of teacher practices that open up spaces of awareness and acceptance of --and access to--the widest possible communicative repertoire for students.

A volume in Education Policy in Practice: Critical Cultural Studies Series Editors Bradley A. U. Levinson, and Margaret Sutton, Indiana University This book on bilingual education policy represents a multidimensional and longitudinal study of "policy processes" as they play out on the ground (a single school in Los Angeles), and over time (both within the same school, and also within the state of Georgia). In order to reconstruct this complex policy process, Anderson impressively marshals a great variety of forms of "discourse." Most of this discourse, of course, comes from overheard discussions and spontaneous interviews conducted at a particular school-the voices of teachers and administrators. Such discourse forms the heart of her ethnographic findings. Yet Anderson also brings an ethnographer's eye to national and regional debates as they are conducted and represented in different forms of media, especially newspapers and magazines. She then uses the key theoretical concept of "articulation" to conceptually link these media representations with local school discourse. The result is an illuminating account of how everyday debates at a particular school and media debates occurring more broadly mutually inform one another. Reviews: Anderson's timely, methodologically sophisticated, and compelling account surrounding the politics of bilingual education moves beyond instrumental notions of policy to advance the idea that mandates are themselves resources that may be vigorously contested as contending parties vie for inclusion in the schooling process. Her work artfully demonstrates how improving schooling for all children is inseparable from a larger, much-needed discussion of what we as a polity believe about whether and how we are interconnected, together with who should and does have a voice in the policy making and implementation process. -Angela Valenzuela, Professor, University of Texas at Austin, author of Subtractive Schooling and Leaving Children Behind Anderson shows the gap between clear-cut assumptions and ideologies informing education policy and legislation on language and immigration, and the complications that arise for teachers when they actually implement language legislation in the classroom. She also illustrates assumptions about language and being American, as these are both debated and shared by each "side" of the language and immigration debates in California and Georgia. Her chapter on California's Proposition 227 is a particular eye-opener, demonstrating in detail the embedding of local identities and oppositions in these debates. Above all, she makes quite clear the complex, often contradictory, web of relations among politics, language, race, and cultural citizenship. --Bonnie Urciuoli, Professor, Hamilton College, author of Exposing Prejudice

To date, there has been no published textbook which takes into account changing sociolinguistic dynamics that have influenced South African society. Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication breaks new ground in this arena. The scope of this book ranges from macro-sociolinguistic questions pertaining to language policies and their implementation (or non-implementation) to micro-sociolinguistic observations of actual language-use in verbal interaction, mainly in multilingual contexts of Higher Education (HE). There is a gradual move for the study of language and culture to be taught in the context of (professional) disciplines in which they would be used, for example, Journalism and African languages, Education and African languages, etc. The book caters for this growing market. Because of its multilingual nature, it caters to English and Afrikaans language speakers, as well as the Sotho and Nguni language groups - the largest languages in South Africa [and also increasingly used in the context of South African Higher Education]. It brings together various inter-linked disciplines such as Sociolinguistics and Applied Language Studies, Media Studies and Journalism, History and Education, Social and Natural Sciences, Law, Human Language Technology, Music, Intercultural Communication and Literary Studies. The unique cross-cutting disciplinary features of the book will make it a must-have for twenty-first century South African students and scholars and those interested in applied language issues.

This volume presents a multinational perspective on the juxtaposition of language and politics. Bringing together an international group of authors, it offers theoretical and historical constructs on bilingualism and bilingual education. It highlights the sociocultural complexities of bilingualism in societies where indigenous and other languages coexist with colonial dominant and other prestigious immigrant languages. It underlines the linguistic diaspora and expansion of English as the world's lingua franca and their impact on indigenous and other minority languages. Finally, it features models of language teaching and teacher education. This book challenges the existent global conditions of non-dominant languages and furthers the discourse on language politics and policies. It does so by pointing out the need to change the bilingual/multilingual educational paradigm across nations and all levels of educational systems.

This book researches the study of languages other than English, and their place in the Australian tertiary sector. Languages are discussed in the context of the histories of Australian universities, and the series of reports and surveys about languages across the second half of the twentieth century. It demonstrates how changes in the ethnic mix of society are reflected in language offerings, and how policies on languages have changed as a result of societal influences. Also discussed is the extent to which influencing factors changed over time depending on social, cultural, political and economic contexts, and the extent to which governments prioritised the promotion and funding of languages because of their perceived contribution to the national interest. The book will give readers an understanding as to whether languages have mattered to Australia in a national and international sense and how Australia's attention to languages has been reflected in its identity and its sense of place in the world.

This book is a multidisciplinary analysis of the meaning and dynamics of multilingualism from the perspectives of multilingual societies and language communities in the margins, who are trapped in a vicious circle of disadvantage. It analyses the social, psychological and sociolinguistic processes of linguistic dominance and hierarchical relationships among languages, discrimination, marginalisation and assertive maintenance in multilingualism characterised by a Double Divide, and shows the relationship between educational neglect of languages, capability deprivation and poverty, and loss of linguistic diversity. Its comparative analysis of language-in-education policies and practices and applications of multilingual education (MLE) in diverse contexts shows some promises and challenges in the education of indigenous/tribal/minority children. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, educators and practitioners in sociolinguistics, educational linguistics, psycholinguistics, multilingualism and bilingual/multilingual education.

This edited volume has been compiled in honour of Professor Merrill Swain, one of the most prominent scholars in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and second language (L2) education. For over four decades, her work has contributed substantially to the knowledge base of the field of applied linguistics, and her ideas have had a significant influence in a range of subfields, including immersion education, mainstream SLA, and sociocultural theory and SLA. The range of topics covered in the book reflects the breadth and depth of Swain's contributions, expertise and interests. The volume is divided into four parts: immersion education, languaging, sociocultural perspectives on L2 teaching and learning, and developments in language as social action.

This book analyses how children from transnational Japanese-Singaporean families are educated. The author demonstrates that the negotiated educational pathways of these children have significant bearing on the ways in which individual identities of mixedness may be constructed or contested - where notions of mixedness are necessarily recognised for their inherent fluidity, contextuality and contingency. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to students and scholars across the fields of education, neoliberalism, globalization, multiculturalism, mobility and cross-border migration.

This volume offers new insights into the assessment of the language of Young Learners (YLs). YLs are defined here as being from 5 to 17 years, and are treated as three distinct subgroups: younger children (5/6 to 8/9 years), older children (8/9 to 12/13 years) and teenagers (12/13 to 17 years).The first half addresses fundamental issues, beginning with the characteristics of YLs and how these are manifested in first language development. The authors consider the potential ability of each age group to perform in a second or foreign language, proposing a rough age-related correspondence with CEFR levels. Finally, principles of assessment, specifically formative assessment and testing, are presented in the light of linguistic, cognitive and social development.The second half focusses on testing a range of 'skills'. Theoretical models of performance are introduced, followed by a practical analysis of approaches to the testing of each skill for the three age groups, illustrated with examples. The authors conclude by summing up developmental characteristics of each age group, and their implications for language testing.The book is intended for a wide readership within the field of teaching and assessing the language of young learners. Researchers are offered scope for further investigation of what emerges from the discussion, while practitioners will hopefully find support in their day-to-day work with YLs.

This book attempts to bring in the perspective of situational variation in analyzing linguistic politeness, and looks at politeness in the larger framework of social context. It outlines the way into the problem of politeness in Chinese culture and the steps taken in the application of politeness strategies in verbal interaction.

This book studies the acquisition, loss and re-acquisition of Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Hebrew, the first languages of this writer's son. It applies the results of current work in the areas of psycholinguistics, bilingualism, and applied linguistics to the study of language development in one multilingual child, Noam, from birth to age 17. The acquisition, loss, and re-acquisition of four languages by Noam also is compared with that of other children studied by the author and others. This book uncovers linguistic, cognitive, psychological, and social mechanisms of language acquisition, loss, and re-acquisition and documents the child's increasing, decreasing, and, in turn, increasing proficiency in four languages. This book applies Dromi's guidelines for qualitative case-study research to the study of language development in one multilingual child (Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, English), Noam, from birth to age seventeen. In addition, the results of Noam's case study are compared with other case studies conducted by this author as well as by other researchers.

Multilingualism has become an increasingly common global phenomenon especially in the last two decades. Therefore, multilingual programmes have now been regarded as a cornerstone of education systems in many countries around the world. Learning multiple languages helps us plug into a globalised world and strengthen links with a multitude of speakers from a diversified reality we live in. Thanks to the researched cases described in the chapters, further developments aimed at fostering multilingual practices in the contemporary world will be enhanced. The chapters included in the present volume, provide an overview of current theory, research and practice in the field. They deal with such prominent research topics as multilingual education, language policies, language contact, identity of multilingual speakers, to name only a few. The selected chapters focus on the numerous and heterogeneous relations between languages. They also incorporate a series of contextualized studies with diverse research designs applied in different settings across the globe. This volume constitutes a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly material on multilingualism from twelve different countries. It is a thought-provoking collection that provides a series of rich insights into the way multilingualism is practised in international contexts. It is ideally designed for academics, upper-level students, educators, professionals and practitioners seeking linguistic and pedagogical guidance on multilingualism.

This 9th edition of the Studies in Language Policy in South Africa series follows on the 2012 MIDP Symposium, Multilingualism for empowerment, held on the QwaQwa campus of the University of the Free State on 11 12 September 2012. It includes the proceedings of a selection of papers, both from local and international scholars. The objective of the symposium was to draw together scholars from different fields and countries that work in the broad area of language in South Africa or study multilingual policies and practices that fit the conference theme in other regions or countries. The South African legislative framework for language provides for a mixed approach towards institutionalised multilingualism. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the required language legislation, policies and regulations are not efficiently implemented as English is fast becoming the de facto official and national language. Nevertheless, studies on language practices at grass-roots level in South Africa do point to empowering policy-making initiatives that take cognisance of societal multilingualism and that benefit citizens. It is the contention of the contributors to this book that from a language interventionist perspective these local solutions are often not taken into account when top-down policies are formulated and approaches to language regulation developed. It may be argued that a more coherent approach to institutionalised multilingualism will contribute to the empowerment of citizens at grass-roots level and to the broadening of democracy. This book presents important insights into language issues in education (both on school and tertiary level), service delivery, language ideology and politics, onomastics and legal aspects of language. Scholars in the field will find it useful and the insights offered stimulating.

This volume gives an up-to-date account of the language situation and social context in multilingual Hong Kong. After an in-depth, interpretive analysis of various language contact phenomena, it shows why it is such a tall order for Hongkongers to live up to the Special Administrative Region government's language policy goalpost, 'biliteracy and trilingualism'. A detailed contrastive analysis between Cantonese and (a) English, (b) Modern Written Chinese, and (c) Putonghua helps explain the nature of the linguistic and acquisitional challenges involved. Economic forces and sociopolitical realities helped shape the 'mother tongue education' or 'dual MoI streaming' policy since September 1998. The book provides a critical review of the significant milestones and key policy documents from the early 1990s, and outlines the concerns of stakeholders at the receiving end. Another MoI debate concerns the feasibility and desirability of teaching Chinese in Putonghua (TCP). Based on a critical review of the TCP literature and recent psycholinguistic and neuroscience research, the language-in-education policy implications are discussed, followed by a few recommendations. Hongkongers of South Asian descent saw their life chances curtailed as a result of the post-1997 changes in the language requirements for gaining access to civil service positions and higher education. Based on a study of 15 South Asian undergraduate students' prior language learning experiences, recommendations are made to help redress that social inequity problem.

The volume consists of articles on issues relating to the morphosyntactic development of foreign language learners from different L1 backgrounds, in many cases involving languages which are typologically distant from English, such has Polish, Greek and Turkish. It highlights areas which may be expected to be especially transfer-prone at both the interlingual and intralingual levels. The articles in the first part report empirical studies on word morphology and sentence patterns and also look at the interface of lexis and grammar in the discourse and syntactic processing of foreign language learners. The second part elaborates on pedagogical issues concerning the acquisition of difficult grammatical features such as the English article system or the ‘s’ ending in the third person singular. It also comments more generally on the way pedagogic grammar functions in the learning of the L2.

This volume accentuates how ELT materials can be a mediation of capitalizing on moral and cultural values, which are more locally-grounded in respective Southeast Asia (SEA) countries. It features critical studies on locally-produced ELT materials (textbooks) situated in the following SEA countries: Timor-Leste, The Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. The chapters, written by experts who know the ELT context of their respective SEA country, critically examine the design and use of ELT materials widely used in local and national contexts. Thus, the volume provides fresh insight into how values are uniquely manifested in language classroom materials. The present text also brings together empirical, conceptual and practical grounds for incorporating moral and cultural values into ELT materials development in such a way that it views morality and culture as a mutually complementing entity. This much-needed volume will be a valuable resource for those interested in the design and use of language materials in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts, such as in the Asia Pacific, America, Africa, and Europe.

The Politics of Language surveys and analyses the historical background of recent controversies over language in the United States, and compares the US to two official multilingual societies: Canada and Switzerland. This accessible book will be suitable for courses in linguistics, political science, and sociology.

The monograph constitutes an attempt to demonstrate that trilinguals should be considered as learners and speakers in their own right as opposed to L2 learners with a view to enumerating consequences this would bring to third or additional language teaching. Its theoretical part offers an insight into the structure of the multilingual mental lexicon which is a product of the interplay of a whole array of cross-linguistic factors in the minds of multilingual speakers. The empirical part reports the findings of an empirical study which aimed to investigate connections which are formed between multiple languages in a multilingual mind. All the aspects, analyzed in the experiments are part of a broader question of how multilinguals make their lexical decisions and, more specifically, how they recognize words from different languages. The book closes with the discussion of the role of the obtained results for multilingual didactics as well as some possible areas for future research.

This volume explores the emergent process of developing translanguaging repertoires among teacher educators, pre- and in-service teachers in different U.S. teacher education contexts. Its empirically based chapters adopt various qualitative methods to unpack the opportunities and challenges and provide implications for critical teacher education. It will be of interest to researchers and teachers in bilingual education, TESOL and social justice.

This book traces the recent socio-historical trajectory of educational language policy in Arizona, the state with the most restrictive English-only implementation in the US. Chapters, each representing a case study of policy-making in the state, include: * an overview and background of the English-only movement, the genesis of Structured English Immersion (SEI), and current status of language policy in Arizona; * an in-depth review of the Flores case presented by its lead lawyer; * a look at early Proposition 203 implementation in the context of broader educational 'reform' efforts; * examples of how early state-wide mandates impacted teacher professional development; * a presentation of how new university-level teacher preparation curricula misaligns with commonly-held beliefs about what teachers of language minority students should know and understand; * an exploration of principals' concerns about enforcing top-down policies for SEI implementation; * an investigation of what SEI policy looks like in today's classrooms and whether it constitutes equity; * and finally, a discussion of what the various cases mean for the education of English learners in the state.

This volume promotes a thought-provoking discussion on contemporary issues surrounding the teaching of language and literacy based on first hand experiences and research. Drawing on the authors' experiences as teacher educators, language and literacy teachers, and researchers on literacy issues it brings together the multiple traditions. What makes the proposed volume unique is the common theme that runs through all the chapters: the examination of the term literacy, the complexity of this term and the importance of having a wide understanding of what it is before tackling educational issues of pedagogy, assessment and student engagement. What is more, as the editors argue, it is necessary to join up the dots and explore the commonalities that form the core of the literacy spectrum.

Multilingualism is everywhere in a globalized society. This book looks at its consequences, from the development of multilingual communities to language competition and variation. Edwards examines lingua francas, pidgins, creoles and artificial languages on the way to developing a snapshot of the social life of language. The book asks: How far a role does translation play in helping multilingualism to thrive? Are polyglots viewed with suspicion, given the links between language and identity? Is language maintenance and revival worth the effort? Can a language remain 'pure'? And if languages constantly shift, what does this say about identity?This compelling and beautifully written short introduction is required reading for all entry-level students of multilingualism, and a primer for language lovers in general.