With the growth of Asia's manufacturing and service industries, the prediction that China and Ind... more With the growth of Asia's manufacturing and service industries, the prediction that China and India, respectively, will have the first and third largest global economies within 30 years, a population that comprises over 50% of the world's people, and massive English language programs throughout the region, it is no surprise that the role of English in Asia has become a major concern. At a recent (2006) Asia TEFL conference in Japan, the notions of Asian English(es), along with Asian methodologies and Asian knowledge, were topics of considerable discussion. The size and diversity of Asia, however, makes it a very difficult entity to define: The Asia TEFL conference included delegates from Israel and Iran, and two of the books under review here, Braj Kachru's Asian Englishes: Beyond the canon(AEBC) and Yamuna Kachru & Cecil Nelson's World Englishes in Asian contexts(WEAC), include (with identical maps) Australia and New Zealand. In some ways, the idea of Asia is defined by what it is not: Europe and North America. It is also not, of course, South America or Africa, though with WEACcontaining a chapter on African Englishes (as well as African American Vernacular English, or AAVE), it seems as if they might be allowed in. It is clear nevertheless that various notions of Asia ? as an economic zone, as a cultural entity, and as a user of a type or types of English ? are widely used. We need to take the notion of Asia and Asian English(es) seriously, if only to try to understand what is meant by Braj Kachru's explanation that AEBCis ?essentially about the Asianness in Asian Englishes and their gradual, yet marked, distinctiveness?
In their introduction to this special edition of ARAL, Michael Clyne and Farzad Sharifian have la... more In their introduction to this special edition of ARAL, Michael Clyne and Farzad Sharifian have laid out a number of the general concerns we need to consider when trying to grapple with the global spread of English. There is much of value in their proposal for a more symmetrical understanding of the pluricentricity of English; for a focus on cross-cultural/ intercultural communication, especially on pragmatic, discourse, and conceptual variation in English language classes; and for language policies that emphasise bilingualism and multilingualism. Their position nevertheless stops short in its exploration of the wider concerns raised by the gobal spread of English: While rightly critiquing the monolingual mindset that is blind to multilingualism and gives support to the use only of English, Clyne and Sharifian nevertheless fail to problematise the assumptions that underlie all these discussions around the global spread of English. It is not enough just to question monolingualism and argue for multilingualism, since both conceptions emerge from the same context of European-based thinking about language. As long as we still operate with the same epistemological framework of languages that emerged from the colonial/modernist context (Errington, 2008; Nakata, 2007), we will not be able to think our way out of the dilemmas posed by language and globalisation
Critical directions in applied linguistics can be understood in various ways. The term critical a... more Critical directions in applied linguistics can be understood in various ways. The term critical as it has been used in critical applied linguistics, critical discourse analysis, critical literacy and so forth, is now embedded as part of applied linguistic work, adding an overt focus on questions of power and inequality to discourse analysis, literacy or applied linguistics more generally. In this paper I will argue, however, that although critical discourse analysis and critical literacy still make claims to a territory different from their `non-critical counterparts, much of this work has become conventional and moribund. The use of the term `critical (with its problematic claims and divisions) has perhaps reached saturation level. This is not to say, however, that the basic need to bring questions of power, disparity and difference to applied linguistics is any way diminished, but rather that we may need to look in alternative directions for renewal.
Drawing on data from two restaurants in Sydney and Tokyo, this paper describes the ways in which ... more Drawing on data from two restaurants in Sydney and Tokyo, this paper describes the ways in which linguistic resources, everyday tasks and social space are intertwined in terms of metrolingual multitasking. Rather than the demolinguistic enumeration of mappable multilingualism or the language-to-language or language-to-person focus of translingualism, metrolingualism focuses on everyday language practices and their relations to urban space. In order to capture the dynamism of the urban linguistic landscape, this paper explores this relationship between metrolingual multitasking the ways in which linguistic resources, activities and urban space are bound together and spatial repertoires the linguistic resources available in a particular place arguing that a focus on resources, repertoires, space, place and activity helps us understand how multilingualism from below operates in complex urban places.
With the growth of Asia's manufacturing and service industries, the prediction that China and Ind... more With the growth of Asia's manufacturing and service industries, the prediction that China and India, respectively, will have the first and third largest global economies within 30 years, a population that comprises over 50% of the world's people, and massive English language programs throughout the region, it is no surprise that the role of English in Asia has become a major concern. At a recent (2006) Asia TEFL conference in Japan, the notions of Asian English(es), along with Asian methodologies and Asian knowledge, were topics of considerable discussion. The size and diversity of Asia, however, makes it a very difficult entity to define: The Asia TEFL conference included delegates from Israel and Iran, and two of the books under review here, Braj Kachru's Asian Englishes: Beyond the canon(AEBC) and Yamuna Kachru & Cecil Nelson's World Englishes in Asian contexts(WEAC), include (with identical maps) Australia and New Zealand. In some ways, the idea of Asia is defined by what it is not: Europe and North America. It is also not, of course, South America or Africa, though with WEACcontaining a chapter on African Englishes (as well as African American Vernacular English, or AAVE), it seems as if they might be allowed in. It is clear nevertheless that various notions of Asia ? as an economic zone, as a cultural entity, and as a user of a type or types of English ? are widely used. We need to take the notion of Asia and Asian English(es) seriously, if only to try to understand what is meant by Braj Kachru's explanation that AEBCis ?essentially about the Asianness in Asian Englishes and their gradual, yet marked, distinctiveness?
In their introduction to this special edition of ARAL, Michael Clyne and Farzad Sharifian have la... more In their introduction to this special edition of ARAL, Michael Clyne and Farzad Sharifian have laid out a number of the general concerns we need to consider when trying to grapple with the global spread of English. There is much of value in their proposal for a more symmetrical understanding of the pluricentricity of English; for a focus on cross-cultural/ intercultural communication, especially on pragmatic, discourse, and conceptual variation in English language classes; and for language policies that emphasise bilingualism and multilingualism. Their position nevertheless stops short in its exploration of the wider concerns raised by the gobal spread of English: While rightly critiquing the monolingual mindset that is blind to multilingualism and gives support to the use only of English, Clyne and Sharifian nevertheless fail to problematise the assumptions that underlie all these discussions around the global spread of English. It is not enough just to question monolingualism and argue for multilingualism, since both conceptions emerge from the same context of European-based thinking about language. As long as we still operate with the same epistemological framework of languages that emerged from the colonial/modernist context (Errington, 2008; Nakata, 2007), we will not be able to think our way out of the dilemmas posed by language and globalisation
Critical directions in applied linguistics can be understood in various ways. The term critical a... more Critical directions in applied linguistics can be understood in various ways. The term critical as it has been used in critical applied linguistics, critical discourse analysis, critical literacy and so forth, is now embedded as part of applied linguistic work, adding an overt focus on questions of power and inequality to discourse analysis, literacy or applied linguistics more generally. In this paper I will argue, however, that although critical discourse analysis and critical literacy still make claims to a territory different from their `non-critical counterparts, much of this work has become conventional and moribund. The use of the term `critical (with its problematic claims and divisions) has perhaps reached saturation level. This is not to say, however, that the basic need to bring questions of power, disparity and difference to applied linguistics is any way diminished, but rather that we may need to look in alternative directions for renewal.
Drawing on data from two restaurants in Sydney and Tokyo, this paper describes the ways in which ... more Drawing on data from two restaurants in Sydney and Tokyo, this paper describes the ways in which linguistic resources, everyday tasks and social space are intertwined in terms of metrolingual multitasking. Rather than the demolinguistic enumeration of mappable multilingualism or the language-to-language or language-to-person focus of translingualism, metrolingualism focuses on everyday language practices and their relations to urban space. In order to capture the dynamism of the urban linguistic landscape, this paper explores this relationship between metrolingual multitasking the ways in which linguistic resources, activities and urban space are bound together and spatial repertoires the linguistic resources available in a particular place arguing that a focus on resources, repertoires, space, place and activity helps us understand how multilingualism from below operates in complex urban places.
Drawing on a range of contexts and data sources, from urban multilingualism to studies of animal ... more Drawing on a range of contexts and data sources, from urban multilingualism to studies of animal communication, Posthumanist Applied Linguistics offers us alternative ways of thinking about the human predicament, with major implications for research, education and politics. Exploring the advent of the Anthropocene, new forms of materialism, distributed language, assemblages, and the boundaries between humans, other animals and objects, eight incisive chapters by one of the world's foremost applied linguistics open up profound questions to do with language and the world. This critical posthumanist applied linguistic perspective is essential reading for all researchers and students in the fields of Applied Linguistics and Sociolinguistics.
Innovations and Challenges in Applied Linguistics from the Global South, 2019
Epistemological racism has an impact on knowledge production in applied
linguistics, as it leads ... more Epistemological racism has an impact on knowledge production in applied linguistics, as it leads to a marginalization and erasure of knowledge by scholars in the Global South, female scholars of colour, and other minoritized groups.
This book analyses the language practices of young adults in Mongolia and Bangladesh in online an... more This book analyses the language practices of young adults in Mongolia and Bangladesh in online and offline environments. Focusing on the diverse linguistic and cultural resources these young people draw on in their interactions, the authors draw attention to the creative and innovative nature of their transglossic practices. Situated on the Asian periphery, these young adults roam widely in their use of popular culture, media voices and linguistic resources. This innovative and topical book will appeal to students and scholars of sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, cultural studies and linguistic anthropology.
Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues Language Policies in Education: Critical Issues, 2002
Clearly prestigious but most reference works are defined out of the research data collection by t... more Clearly prestigious but most reference works are defined out of the research data collection by the definition of research which asks that investigation be the primary objective of the work. Does this literature review reconceptualise field (is new knowledge created by bringing together ideas concerning applied linguistics). DVCR considered that investigation primary element of work - not purely reference work.
Conference on Language, Education and Diversity; Hamilton NZ, 2003
We live, it would seem, in ecological times. Ecology has become the metaphor of choice for many w... more We live, it would seem, in ecological times. Ecology has become the metaphor of choice for many working in the social sciences, and particularly in areas such as language planning, sociolinguistics, and even language acquisition. As Leather and Van Dam explain, "an ecological approach to the study of language acquisition sees the individual's cognitive processes as inextricably interwoven with their experiences in the physical and social world .... " and "aims to avoid unjustifiable appeals to normativity - in both research designs and the interpretation of data" (2003, p. 13). According to Fettes (2003), "ecological explanations offer a more promising foundation for critical reasoning than any of the alternatives (Marxism, postsructuralism, gender theory and the rest) ... " (p. 45). Thus, an ecological perspective is currently held up as the new paradigm for our times, able to deliver where many previous frameworks have failed I wish to present a slightly more sceptical account in this paper.
The European Conference on Educational Research 2013; Istanbul, Turkey, 2013
This paper draws on four years of fieldwork among Tongan families within the context of an inform... more This paper draws on four years of fieldwork among Tongan families within the context of an informal supported play-group in inner Sydney, Australia. In Australia, some 40% of children reach school age without attending formal pre-schools. Aboriginal and immigrant groups are greatly over-represented in this statistic. For these children, informal playgroups, funded from a range of government and non-government sources are important sites for learning. For children who speak a language other than English in the home, the playgroups also offer a `safe space and an opportunity to strengthen and support the use of the home literacies and the connection to heritage cultures. They also spaces where situated practices around community language and identity can be observed. The role of such playgroups in improving the transition to school for Pasifika students has been acknowledged by a number of researchers in Australia and New Zealand. A recent literature review on Transition from Early Childhood Education (ECE) to School by Peters (2010) highlights the issues that have a direct relationship to home language maintenance. These include a sense of belonging, recognition and acknowledgement of culture, and dispositions and identity as a learner. In addition, Peters review also highlights the importance of direct communications between teachers in the ECE settings and those in the school. Our main research questions related to identifying the best ways of engaging and supporting relatively disadvantaged families from Pacific communities in developing their childrens early literacy practices in informal settings. We also aimed at obtaining a clearer picture of literacy practices in the home language as a first step to improving the gap between home practices and the first years of school. This study is one of the few with a primary focus on support for the maintenance of home language and culture in the early years Using data from observations of partic
This paper explores the quest for an account of the ‘total linguistic fact’. Speech act theory, s... more This paper explores the quest for an account of the ‘total linguistic fact’. Speech act theory, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and social semiotics have all attempted, in various ways and at various times, to find a way to describe as much as possible that is going on around any speech event. While this search for the total linguistic fact will always be a chimerical goal, this paper proposes a framework based on the acronym SEMIOSIS as one way of grasping the complexity of what is at play, comprising social relations, emotional and sensorial engagement, mobility, Iterative activity, objects and assemblages, socio- and translingual practices, interactivity, and spatial repertoires. Looking at data from a small Bangladeshi-run store in Tokyo, the paper shows how bringing in this wider set of concerns at least allows for a more comprehensive account of sociolinguistic moments.
Linguistic Landscape. An international journal, 2021
This tribute to the work of Jan Blommaert discusses his complex relation with the field of lingui... more This tribute to the work of Jan Blommaert discusses his complex relation with the field of linguistic landscape studies. Blommaert was interested in the insights an understanding of the linguistic landscape could bring to better appreciate the ways people lived their diverse lives. This appreciation of the importance of his work focuses on his insistence on ethnographic work in order to understand complexity.
In the first paper inaugurating this journal, Bernard Spolsky makes a case for critical education... more In the first paper inaugurating this journal, Bernard Spolsky makes a case for critical educational linguistics. Reviewing both the critical tradition going back to the Frankfurt School and many of the strands of work that can be seen as part of critical applied linguistics, he concludes that there is an important role for critical educational linguistics as long as it follows in the liberal tradition and avoids so-called wokeism. He also argues that a great deal of work in support of language diversity and bilingualism has in any case been in this critical tradition, and that the addition of the term may not add much to what has gone before. Building on this proposal for critical educational linguistics, this paper raises concerns about basing a critical educational linguistic project on liberal foundations, invoking ideas such as ‘wokeism,’ or assuming a long history of critical work in mainstream educational linguistics. The paper concludes by suggesting alternative foundations f...
We live, it would seem, in ecological times. Ecology has become the metaphor of choice for many w... more We live, it would seem, in ecological times. Ecology has become the metaphor of choice for many working in the social sciences, and particularly in areas such as language planning, sociolinguistics, and even language acquisition. As Leather and Van Dam explain, "an ecological approach to the study of language acquisition sees the individual's cognitive processes as inextricably interwoven with their experiences in the physical and social world .... " and "aims to avoid unjustifiable appeals to normativity - in both research designs and the interpretation of data" (2003, p. 13). According to Fettes (2003), "ecological explanations offer a more promising foundation for critical reasoning than any of the alternatives (Marxism, postsructuralism, gender theory and the rest) ... " (p. 45). Thus, an ecological perspective is currently held up as the new paradigm for our times, able to deliver where many previous frameworks have failed I wish to present a slightly more sceptical account in this paper
Critical Perspectives on Linguistic Fixity and Fluidity, 2019
While the ways in which people talk about their everyday language use suggest that they live in a... more While the ways in which people talk about their everyday language use suggest that they live in a languagised world (a world in which language labels and enumerations are the common stuff of everyday language talk), their understanding of what those language labels mean may be both diverse and flexible. It is important not to make top-down assumptions about the meanings behind language labels. In this paper we are interested in the metrolingual metalanguage people use to describe everyday language use. This is not a question of a disjuncture between a delanguagised realm of academic analysis (such as the recent move towards translingual terminology) and a languagised realm of everyday metalanguage (where languages are named and labelled along normative lines), but rather a call to make visible what lies beneath such everyday terms and linguistic labels. Through an analysis of various discussions of everyday language use, we argue that although people often appear to talk in terms of fixed languages, such accounts are often flexible, negotiable and contestable. This is not therefore best understood in terms of a polarity between fixity and fluidity but rather as a flexible array of entangled language ideologies.
A man of South Asian-background, who has arrived in his white van at the Kyeemagh market gardens ... more A man of South Asian-background, who has arrived in his white van at the Kyeemagh market gardens to collect vegetables, walks out into the field to pick bitter melons. The suburb of Kyeemagh (with about 10% Greek, 3% Lebanese and 2.5% Cypriot overseas born population) sits at the intersection between the north-south line of older Greek and Lebanese migration in the inner west suburbs of Banksia (8% Macedonian, 4% Chinese, 3% Lebanese) and Arncliffe (8% Lebanese, 5% Macedonian, 3% Chinese) or the older Greek-dominated suburbs that run down the west shore of Botany Bay (Brighton-Le-Sands, Monterey, Ramsgate – the names reflecting their British and other early inhabitants), and the Chinese dominated suburbs to the west (Rockdale – 11% Chinese, 8% Nepalese, 4% Macedonian; Kogarah – 12% Chinese, 7% Nepalese, 5% Bangladeshi; Hurstville – 34% Chinese, 5% Hong Kong, 3% Nepalese) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016).
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linguistics, as it leads to a marginalization and erasure of knowledge by scholars
in the Global South, female scholars of colour, and other minoritized groups.