The Global And Local Dimensions Of English

The interaction between the global and the local has inspired inquiry into the multifarious manifestations of English nowadays, stimulating scholarly research into its diverse linguistic, cultural, and pedagogical landscapes. Drawing together various strands of the 'Global English' debate, the papers in this book question and expand on the interaction between Global English and local contexts in the Alpine-Adriatic region, and examine the complexities from different, yet complementary, perspectives: the cultural, the methodological (ELT), the translational, and the linguistic. (Series: Linguistik und Sprachvermittlung - Vol. 4)

Pragmatics Pedagogy in English as an International Language aims to bring to light L2 pragmatics instruction and assessment in relation to English as an International Language (EIL). The chapters in this book deal with a range of pedagogically related topics, including the historical interface between L2 pragmatics and EIL, reconceptualization of pragmatic competence in EIL, intercultural dimension of pragmatics pedagogy in EIL, teacher pragmatic awareness of instruction in the context of EIL, pragmatics of politeness in EIL, pragmatic teaching materials for EIL pedagogy, teachers’ and scholars’ perceptions of pragmatics pedagogy in EIL, assessment and assessment criteria in EIL-aware pragmatics, and methods for research into pragmatics in EIL. This book is different from other books about both EIL pedagogy and pragmatics pedagogy. Exploring the interface between different dimensions of pragmatics pedagogy and EIL, it suggests instructional and assessment tasks for EIL-aware pedagogy and directions for research on EIL-based pragmatics pedagogy. Pragmatics Pedagogy in English as an International Language will be useful for a range of readers who have an interest in the pragmatics instruction and assessment of EIL as well as those whose main area of specialization is EIL but would like to know how EIL, with its rich conceptual and empirical background, can go beyond linguistic instruction to embrace the instruction of pragmatic competence.

This volume is the first major production of the globalisation research strand of the Centre for Educational Research at Western Sydney University. This book makes a significant contribution to the theory of and research in globalisation and education, and tackles the topics of superdiversity and supercomplexity. The book’s thesis is that the effects of globalisation on education can only be understood if the specific yet complex conditions of globalisation in education are investigated. The book takes an international approach to understanding globalisation and does not restrict itself to just one methodological or theoretical plane of investigation. Education is one of these frontline domains in which the effects of superdiversity cannot be dismissed, minimized or denied. The continuously increasing complexity of learning environments is raising critical issues at every level, from description over analysis to theoretical generalization, and this book is a first and fruitful attempt at charting these waters. This pioneering book will remain a key text for many years to come. Jan Bloomaert Professor of Language, Culture and Globalization and Director of the Babylon Center Tilburg University, the Netherlands. This provocative collection works from two premises: that today there is superdiversity in our globalised world and related is a supercomplexity of theoretical and methodological approaches. The collection proffers multifarious challenges for educational theory, research and practice in working with, through and across these two premises. As such, Super Dimensions in Globalisation and Education is essential reading for all educational researchers, whatever their interests or location. Professor Bob Lingard The University of Queensland, Australia. This is a highly imaginative book that stops ‘flat earth’ and convergence arguments dead in their tracks. Its genius is to bring super-complexity and super-diversity into a conversation with each other and with education, and in doing so shed light on the numerous and unexpected ways in which global processes are shaping education in revealing and compelling ways. Any scholar concerned with globalisation and education will find Super Dimensions in Globalisation and Education a’ must have’ on their reading list. Professor Susan Robertson Director of the Centre for Globalisation, Education and Social Futures University of Bristol, UK. This is an absorbing and compelling collection. It takes readers on a kaleidoscopic journey through various intricate expressions of the nexus between globalisation and education. And it offers multiple ways that such expressions can be thought and rethought. In transcending conventional categorisations it invites educators to do so too. Professor Jane Kenway, Australian Professorial Fellow – Australian Research Council, Education Faculty, Monash University, Australia.

This book explores the traces of the passage of time on the protracted and intractable conflict of Western Sahara. The authors offer a multilevel analysis of recent developments from the global to the local scenes, including the collapse of the architecture of the UN-led conflict resolution process, the advent of the War on Terror to the the Sahara-Sahel area and the impact of the ‘Arab Spring’ and growing regional security instability. Special attention is devoted to changes in the Western Sahara territory annexed by Morocco and the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. Morocco has adapted its governance and public policies to profound socio-demographic transformations in the territory under its control and has attempted to obtain international recognition for this annexation by proposing an Autonomy Plan. The Polisario Front and Sahrawi nationalists have shifted their strategy and pushed the centre of gravity of the conflict back inwards by focusing on pro-independence activism inside the disputed territory.

This volume brings together a representative set of the papers given at the third annual Intercultural Horizons conference held in Siena, Italy, in October 2013. The conference attracted presenters and attendees from a variety of nations throughout five continents. The papers included in this volume are drawn from a series of conference sessions in which academicians and practitioners in the field offered theoretical analyses, case studies and other perspectives on intercultural studies, civic engagement and related topics. The volume is divided into four sections: Theoretical Considerations of Intercultural Competence and Interculturalism; Intercultural Development and Assessment: Practical Examples and Research; Civic Engagement in International and Culturally Diverse Contexts; and Intercultural Education and Training. The reader will find that most of the papers address a variety of intercultural topics beyond their specific chapter designations. In particular, the theme of second language acquisition, education and use was an overarching theme that emerged from a large number of papers and presentations, specifically with regards to the complexities now faced by intercultural educators and researchers as a result of the increasing dominance of English as a “lingua franca” both in academe and many nations.

The global spread of English both reproduces and reinforces oppressive structures of inequality. But such structures can no longer be seen as imposed from an imperial center, as English is now actively adopted and appropriated in local contexts around the world. This book argues that such conditions call for a new critique of global English, one that is sensitive to both the political economic conditions of globalization and speakers local practices. Linking Bourdieu s theory of the linguistic market and his practice-based perspective with recent advances in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, this book offers a fresh new critique of global English. The authors highlight the material, discursive, and semiotic processes through which the value of English in the linguistic market is constructed, and suggest possible policy interventions that may be adopted to address the problems of global English. Through its serious engagement with current sociolinguistic theory and insightful analysis of the multiple dimensions of English in the world, this book challenges the readers to think about what we need to do to confront the social inequalities that are perpetuated by the global spread of English

The chapters in this volume seek to bring hybrid language practices to the center of discussions about English as a global language. They demonstrate how local linguistic resources and practices are involved in the refashioning of identities in a variety of cross-cultural and geographical contexts, and illustrate hybridity as an enactment of resistance and creativity. Drawing on a variety of disciplines and ideological perspectives, the authors use contexts as diverse as social media, Bollywood films, workplaces and kindergartens to explore the ways in which English has become a part of localities and social relations in ways that are of significant sociolinguistic interest in understanding the dynamics of mobile cultures and transcultural flows.

This book examines the special nature of English both as a global and a local language, focusing on some of the ongoing changes and on the emerging new structural and discoursal characteristics of varieties of English. Although it is widely recognised that processes of language change and contact bear affinities, for example, to processes observable in second-language acquisition and lingua franca use, the research into these fields has so far not been sufficiently brought into contact with each other. The articles in this volume set out to combine all these perspectives in ways that give us a better understanding of the changing nature of English in the modern world.