Book Launch: Multilingualism and Education: Researchers' Pathways and Perspectives

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

Educational linguistics has many faces, embodied by thousands of researchers around the world. Whether scholars use similar or divergent terminology, it can be difficult to discern the contours of how concepts are taken up across and even sometimes within contexts. The interpretation of theoretical constructs requires a contextual articulation in relation to history: Where have theoretical constructs come from? How do they manifest? And, where might they lead us? This book aims to bring to life issues and perspectives regarding multilingualism and education that have emerged in specific contexts and through varied lived experiences.
While it is expected that researchers may reference concepts in different ways and for different purposes, as we come to know researchers’ biographies and trajectories, it becomes easier to understand how different nuances and meanings may have evolved. Based on this knowledge, the reinterpretation and reinvestment of concepts and practices create the opportunity to expand research opportunities on a more solid foundation. To this end, we invited scholars working at the intersections of language and education to share their language biographies and research trajectories. Scholars across various career stages reflected on how personal and lived experiences contributed to their sensibility towards language(s) and how theories have evolved out of practice and vice versa.
Readers will discover how diverse experiences have led researchers to adopt different terminologies to describe language teaching and learning, their positionalities and their connections across domains (Second Language Acquisition, sociolinguistics, anthropology, education, sociology, linguistics, etc.). While such differences are likely to produce division within the field of educational linguistics, they can also lead to productive intramural discussions to further our thinking and to contribute to the collaborative production of knowledge and complex ways of seeing, doing and being. Readers will also discover how scholars’ reflections on their research have led to innovation in theory and in practice. Beyond these epistemic questions, the scholars will further explore the dynamic relationships among languages, powers and identities and how these relationships raise broader societal issues that permeate both global and local language practices.
In summary, for decades, international researchers and educators have sought to understand how to address cultural and linguistic diversity in education. This book offers the keys to doing so: it allows the reader to grasp how theories and concepts have evolved in different contexts while opening up pedagogical possibilities from diverse backgrounds and enriched by the life experiences of leading researchers in the field. Readers will discover how diverse experiences have led researchers to adopt different terminologies to describe language teaching and learning, their positionalities and their connections across domains.
Readers will also discover how scholars’ reflections on their research have led to innovation in theory and in practice. Beyond these epistemic questions, we further explore the dynamic relationships between languages, power and identities, as well as how these relationships raise broader societal issues that permeate both global and local language practices.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Book Launch

Chair

• Emmanuelle Le Pichon, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto

Book Launch Presenter

• Emmanuelle Le Pichon, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto