Abstract
This article aims to raise some general questions related to mobility and the traffic between languages in times of globalization. While defining “globalization” as a set of discourses, we outline some of its internal contradictions and paradoxes as well as the equally contradictory role of the English language as a homogenizing and fragmentary force in this context. Next, taking the perspective of language as socio discursive practice, we situate the multilingual speaker and the interweaving between languages and meanings in a world dominated by intense patterns of diversity and fluxes of people and discourses. Finally, we turn to the context of the bi/multilingual classroom, trying to point out alternatives to monolingual assumptions underlying educational and pedagogical discourses and practices related to bi/multilingual education that prevent us from understanding multilingual speakers in all their complexity. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Highlights
This article aims to raise some general questions related to mobility and the traffic between languages in times of globalization
THE MULTIPLE FACES OF GLOBALIZATION What we call ‘globalization’ is best understood not as a vague concept whose meaning we hope is shared by our interlocutors whenever we refer to it: globalization should be best understood as discourse (KUMARAVADIVELU, 2008, p.129; FAIRCLOUGH, 1989, p.206)
If globalization can mean so many different things, it is because people across the world feel and suffer the transformations and consequences related to it in different ways and, represent and understand it in different ways: globalization has “different meanings, for different people at different times” (KUMARAVADIVELU, 2008, p.130)
Summary
This article aims to raise some general questions related to mobility and the traffic between languages in times of globalization. We wish to problematize questions related to languages and discursive practices in a global context that has English as an immanent linguistic resource.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.