Bilingualism and Language Pedagogy

Bilingualism and Language Pedagogy brings an understanding of language as a social practice, and bilingualism as the study of bidirectional transitioning, to the examination of bilingual settings in the US, Europe and developing countries. The volume suggests that language pedagogy needs to reflect new understandings of bilinguals. Focusing both on bilingual linguistic competence and educational politics and practice, the chapters provide valuable practical proposals and models for developing sociocultural and linguistic competencies among bilingual practitioners and students. The volume situates teachers as mediators and explores the key roles that they have as language and content educators. In discussing the experiences of learners, it takes up the linguistic competence of bilinguals, highlighting how their language use constitutes a resource for meeting the demands of social interactions, and foregrounds the significance of developing academic language proficiency in English among minority children to decrease the barriers facing them in residential and academic settings.

Janina Brutt-Griffler, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Alabama. Her research areas include world English, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, second language acquisition and second language writing. Her work has appeared in major English studies journals.

Manka Varghese is a Professor in the College of Education, University of Washington, USA.