The Multilingual Turn in Languages Education

The volume edited by Conteh and Meier is a more diverse collection consisting of three parts: (a) societal perspectives on the multilingual turn in language(s) education, (b) perspectives on the multilingual turn in education, and (c) visions of the multilingual turn in pedagogy and practice. Consisting of new research, these articles, many of which are co-authored by new and established researchers, show multilingual practices in a variety of contexts in education and around the world, in countries ranging from New Zealand to China to the Alsace region of France. What appealed to me in this volume was precisely this variety, and I hoped that the students would be interested in the different contexts too, as well as in the research methods and findings that are described.

-- Alison Stewart, Gakushuin University, Japan * The Learner Development Journal, Issue 5 *

This volume is a very welcome addition to a number of recent books on multilingual pedagogy and is a must for teacher educators/researchers and students of applied linguistics who wish to rethink their approach to languages education and embrace linguistic and cultural diversity as a resource to implement equality and social cohesion in their classrooms.

* Christine Hélot, University of Strasbourg, France *

Conteh & Meier’s important volume builds and expands upon recent key developments that have increasingly problematized and contested the monolingual norm that still underpins so much theory, pedagogy and practice in language teaching and learning. With an emphasis on schools and pedagogical practices, the volume solidifies and exemplifies how 'the multilingual turn' in education can make a difference for all, especially for those whose multilingualism has been ignored and/or pathologized until now. Like the multilingual turn itself, this volume provides us with a timely and important intervention into the theory, practice and pedagogies needed for a multilingual, globalized world – and not before time.

* Stephen May, The University of Auckland, New Zealand *

Drawing on recent theoretical developments in sociolinguistics, this charming and important book reminds us once again of how our schools can value and build on multilingualism, and why it is important that they do so if we want more socially just education for not only multilingual learners but ALL learners.

* Nancy H. Hornberger, University of Pennsylvania, U