Language Narratives and Shifting Multilingual Pedagogies

Mendelowitz, Ferreira and Dixon provide us with a compelling account of what critical English teacher education can look like in multilingual and highly unequal contexts. Meticulously and provocatively described and analysed, this is a courageous and honest account of 16 years of experience in “critical-creative” pedagogies that unsettle dominant language ideologies, and foreground the powerful language resources of multilingual African language speaking students. * Carolyn McKinney, Associate Professor of Language Education, University of Cape Town, South Africa *
This searing treatise invites us to become good story tellers and students of society – once again. Troubling the stranglehold of traditional orthodoxy in language education pedagogical designs, this book is a long-awaited addition that deserves a space on the bookshelves of all social scientists committed to thinking and theorizing otherwise. * Finex Ndhlovu, University of New England, Australia *
Based on students’ narrations about their lived experience of language and their perceptions of unequal power relations and social exclusion the authors cover a period of considerable social changes – something only very few titles can provide. With its orientation on decolonizing methodologies the book offers a much needed perspective from the global south. * Brigitta Busch, University of Vienna, Austria and Stellenbosch University, South Africa *
This book unravels the complexity of language, power and identity with cogency, lucidity and courage. Through an analysis that combines theoretical rigor with a kaleidoscope of compelling personal narratives, Mendelowitz, Ferreira and Dixon dispel the myth that storytelling has no place in academic discourse by showing how it can promote inclusion and social justice in education. * Andrea Parmegiani, Professor, Bronx Community College of the City University of New York, USA and North-West University Vanderbijlpark, South Africa *