This book provides comprehensive coverage of language contact in classroom settings. A thorough analysis of the sources and implications of social “disadvantage” is presented first, since the nonstandard dialects that children bring with them to school – and the unfavourable perceptions of these dialects – have traditionally given rise to educational difficulties. The persistence of these perceptions is particularly highlighted. More general issues surrounding the range and implications of language attitudes are dealt with, as is the important “test case” of Black English. The book also discusses foreign-language teaching and learning, as well as the assumptions and intentions underpinning bilingual and multicultural education. Given its breadth and its style, this book should be of interest and value to all teachers, as well as to students and researchers concerned with any aspect of the social life of language.
Table of Content
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Discourse Analysis and its Discontents
Chapter 3: Disadvantage: A Brief Overview
Chapter 4: Disadvantage: The Genetic Case
Chapter 5: Disadvantage: The Environmental Case
Chapter 6: The Language Debate
Chapter 7: The Persistence of Linguistic Deficit
Chapter 8: Evaluative Reactions to the Language of Disadvantage
Chapter 9: Black English as Ebonics
Chapter 10: ‘Foreign’ Languages in the Classroom
Chapter 11: Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education
Chapter 12: Bilingualism: A Very Brief Overview
Chapter 13: Bilingual Education
Chapter 14: A Concluding Statement
About the author
John Edwards was born in England, educated there and in Canada, and received his Ph D from Mc Gill University. He is a Senior Research Professor at St Francis Xavier University (Antigonish), Adjunct Professor, Graduate Studies, at Dalhousie University (Halifax), and Visiting Professor at Minzu University (Beijing). His main research interest is with the establishment, maintenance and continuity of group identity, with particular reference to language in both its communicative and symbolic aspects. Edwards is the editor of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (published by Routledge), and of the Multilingual Matters book series. Recent books include Challenges in the Social Life of Language (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2011), Multilingualism: Understanding Linguistic Diversity (Continuum / Bloomsbury, 2012) and Sociolinguistics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2013). Edwards is a fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Royal Society of Canada.
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