Language in Late Capitalism Duchene, Alexandre; Heller, Monica
2012, 20120423, 2011, 2011-12-13, 2012-04-23, Letnik:
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eBook
This book examines the ways in which our ideas about language and identity which used to be framed in national and political terms as a matter of rights and citizenship are increasingly recast in ...economic terms as a matter of added value. It argues that this discursive shift is connected to specific characteristics of the globalized new economy in what can be thought of as "late capitalism". Through ten ethnographic case studies, it demonstrates the complex ways in which older nationalist ideologies which invest language with value as a source of pride get bound up with newer neoliberal ideologies which invest language with value as a source of profit. The complex interaction between these modes of mobilizing linguistic resources challenges some of our ideas about globalization, hinting that we are in a period of intensification of modernity, in which the limits of the nation-State are stretched, but not (yet) undone. At the same time, this book argues, this intensification also calls into question modernist ways of looking at language and identity, requiring a more serious engagement with capitalism and how it constitutes symbolic (including linguistic) as well as material markets.
This book examines current research centered on the second language classroom and the implications of this research for both the teaching and learning of foreign languages. It offers illuminating ...insights into the important relationship between research and teaching, and the inherent complexities of the teaching and learning of foreign languages in classroom settings.Offers an accessible overview of a range of research on instruction and learning in the L2 classroomBridges the relationship between research, teachers, and learnersHelps evolve the practice of dedicated current language teachers with research findings that suggest best practices for language teaching
This book looks beyond the classroom, and focuses on out-of-class autonomous use of technology for language learning, discussing the theoretical frameworks, key findings and critical issues. The ...proliferation of digital language learning resources and tools is forcing language education into an era of unprecedented change. The book will stimulate discussions on how to support language learners to construct quality autonomous technology-mediated out-of-class learning experience outside the classroom and raise greater awareness of and research interest in this field. Out-of-class learning constitutes an important context for human development, and active engagement in out-of-class activities is associated with successful language development. With convenient access to expanded resources, venues and learning spaces, today’s learners are not as dependent on in-class learning as they used to be. Thus, a deeper understanding of the terrain of out-of-class learning is of increasing significance in the current educational era. Technology is part and parcel of out-of-class language learning, and has been a primary source that learners actively use to construct language learning experience beyond the classroom. Language learners of all ages around the world have been found to actively utilize technological resources to support their language learning beyond formal language learning contexts. Insights into learners’ out-of-class autonomous use of technology for language learning are essential to our understanding of out-of-class learning and inform educators on how language learners could be better supported to maximize the educational potentials of technology to construct quality out-of-class learning experience.
This second edition of Norton's classic text on language learning and identity will bring her ground-breaking ideas to a new generation of students, teachers and researchers. Featuring a ...comprehensive Introduction and an Afterword by Claire Kramsch, this new edition integrates research, theory and classroom practice.
Spelling matters to people. In America and Britain every day, members of the public write to the media on spelling issues, and take part in spelling contests. In Germany, a reform of the spelling ...system has provoked a constitutional crisis; in Galicia, a 'war of orthographies' parallels an intense public debate on national identity; on walls, bridges and trains globally, PUNX and ANARKISTS proclaim their identities orthographically. The way we spell often represents an attempt to associate with, or dissociate from, other languages. In Spelling and Society, Mark Sebba explores why matters of orthography are of real concern to so many groups, as a reflection of culture, history and social practices, and as a powerful symbol of national or local identity. This 2007 book will be welcomed by students and researchers in English language, orthography and sociolinguistics, and by anyone interested in the importance of spelling in contemporary society.
Style refers to ways of speaking - how speakers use the resource of language variation to make meaning in social encounters. This 2007 book develops a coherent theoretical approach to style in ...sociolinguistics, illustrated with copious examples. It explains how speakers project different social identities and create different social relationships through their style choices, and how speech-style and social context inter-relate. Style therefore refers to the wide range of strategic actions and performances that speakers engage in, to construct themselves and their social lives. Coupland draws on and integrates a wide variety of contemporary sociolinguistic research as well as his own extensive research in this field. The emphasis is on how social meanings are made locally, in specific relationships, genres, groups and cultures, and on studying language variation as part of the analysis of spoken discourse.
Japan is widely regarded as a model case of successful language modernization, and it is often erroneously believed to be linguistically homogenous. There is a connection between these two views. As ...the first ever non-Western language to be modernized, Japanese language modernizers needed to convince the West that Japanese was just as good a language as the national languages of the West. The result was a fervent desire for linguistic uniformity. Today the legacy of modernist language ideology poses many problems to an internationalizing Japan. All indigenous minority languages are heading towards extinction, and this purposefully created homogeneity also affects the integration of immigrants and their languages. This book examines these issues from the perspective of language ideology, and in doing so the mechanisms by which language ideology undermines linguistic diversity are revealed.
Language as a Local Practice addresses the questions of language, locality and practice as a way of moving forward in our understanding of how language operates as an integrated social and spatial ...activity.
By taking each of these three elements – language, locality and practice – and exploring how they relate to each other, Language as a Local Practice opens up new ways of thinking about language. It questions assumptions about languages as systems or as countable entities, and suggests instead that language emerges from the activities it performs. To look at language as a practice is to view language as an activity rather than a structure, as something we do rather than a system we draw on, as a material part of social and cultural life rather than an abstract entity.
Language as a Local Practice draws on a variety of contexts of language use, from bank machines to postcards, Indian newspaper articles to fish-naming in the Philippines, urban graffiti to mission statements, suggesting that rather than thinking in terms of language use in context, we need to consider how language, space and place are related, how language creates the contexts where it is used, how languages are the products of socially located activities and how they are part of the action.
Language as a Local Practice will be of interest to students on advanced undergraduate and post graduate courses in Applied Linguistics, Language Education, TESOL, Literacy and Cultural Studies.
1. Introduction: Language as a Local Practice 2. 'Press 1 for English': Practice as the ‘Generic Social Thing’ 3. The Reverend on Ice Again: Similarity, Difference and Relocalization 4. Talking in the City: The Linguistic Landscaping of Locality 5. Kerala Tuskers: Language as Already Local 6. Alibangbang and Ecologies of Local Language Practices. 7 "Molding Hearts… Leading Minds… Touching Lives" Practice as the new discourse? 8. Conclusion: Language as a Local Practice
" Language as a Local Practice is one of the most refreshing linguistics books to appear in a decade. Weaving together different strands of current research, Alastair Pennycook provides new framings and directions for the study of language." - David Barton, University of Lancaster , UK
This edited collection considers the relationship between task-based language teaching (TBLT) and technology-enhanced learning. TBLT is concerned with a number of macro-tasks such as information ...gathering and problem-solving as well as evaluative tasks, all of which are increasingly available via online and Web-based technologies. Technology Enhanced Learning refers to a broad conception of technology use in the language classroom and incorporates a range of interactive learning technologies such as Interactive Whiteboards and mobile learning devices. The popularity of Web 2.0 technologies (blogs, wikis, social networking sites, podcasting, virtual worlds), as well as practical applications of mobile learning, place a fresh emphasis on creating project-orientated language learning tasks with a clear real-world significance for learners of foreign languages. This book examines the widespread interest in these new technology-enhanced learning environments and looks at how they are being used to promote task-based learning. This book will appeal to practioners and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and education studies.
Throughout human history, languages have been in competition with each other. As the world becomes more globalized, this trend increases. It affects the decision-making of those in positions of power ...and determines macro language policies and planning. Often decisions about language (or dialects or language variety) are related to usefulness - defined in terms of their pragmatic and commercial currency or their value as symbols of socio-cultural identity. Languages can be modes of entry into coveted social hierarchies or strongholds of religious, historical, technological and political power bases. Languages are seen now as commodities that carry different values in an era of globalization. This volume engages with language policies and positions in relation to the roles and functions these languages adopt. It examines the 'value' of languages, defined in terms of the power they have in the global marketplace as much as within the complex matrices of the local socio-politics. These valuations strongly underpin the various motivations that influence policy-making decisions, and in turn, these motivations create the tensions that characterize many language-related issues; tensions that arise when languages become commodified.
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