English - A Changing Medium for Education

Current views of languages and literacies as situated social practices call for reconfigured language policies and instructional practices. This volume brings together the work of leading scholars to provide the foundational theoretical background that establishes that languages and literacies are shifting, evanescent, responsive to context and politically and economically located. As well, the authors present critical theoretical analyses of historical and contemporary policies in globally diverse areas and imagine how social practice views might provide enhanced access to communication for those historically denied such access. Critical and constructive, lively and engaging, the book will be of wide interest to scholars and graduate students and will be essential in the developing scholarship on social practice-oriented conceptualizations of languages and literacies.

-- Kelleen Toohey, Simon Fraser University, Canada

This welcome and elegant collection challenges the conception of languages as stable and reified entities. Interrogating what English is, the notion of communicative competence and the way it falls short in English teaching pedagogies, contributors argue convincingly for a view of language as social practice and outline inspiring examples of the pedagogical implications of this view of language.

-- Catherine Kell, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

This book can be regarded as a timely addition to the emerging literature on language and literacy education. This excellent volume will be of great value, not only to researchers and students of language education, but also to language policy-makers and teaching professionals in schools or universities.

-- Zhang Kun, University of Hong Kong * LINGUIST List, 24.625, 20