Sociolinguistics and Language Education

The very size and richness of this volume makes it ideal for multiple shorter self-designed explorations. So each reader can enter through the chapter of greatest interest at the moment (for me the first time, it was "Language Policy and Planning" in the Language and Society section). Then follow your own links to Language and Ideology, Variation, Literacy, Identity, and Interaction. It belongs in all our personal libraries.

* Courtney B. Cazden, Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA *

To those of us who 'came of age' with McKay and Hornberger’s Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching (1995), this newly edited volume is a gift - a gift that will enable us to share our fascination with the social, cultural, and political aspects of language teaching with our student teachers, while updating our own knowledge of sociolinguistics.

* Yasuko Kanno, CITE, Temple University, USA *

Sociolinguistics and Language Education brings together the most authoritative voices in the field to explore the intersections of language and education in contexts around the world. At a time of unprecedented population mobility and cross-cultural contact, policy-makers and educators are searching for ways to adapt 20th century assumptions about the static nature of constructs such as language, culture, power, identity and communication to the dynamic and shifting realities of 21st century schools and communities. The editors have done a superb job in creating a resource that is comprehensive in its articulation of the complexities of social interactions in a globalized world yet simultaneously accessible, lucid, engaging, and thought-provoking.

* Jim Cummins, OISE, University of Toronto, Canada. *

What makes this book stand out is that it eloquently combines sociolinguistics with language education in the same volume... It is without a doubt that each chapter has been written by some of the most influential figures in the field from all over the world, who have done extensive research on the topic explored...This volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the approach to language education in relation to the complex and diverse social and linguistic contexts of today...This book is rich in material, has useful bibliographies, and is both interesting and thought provoking. It is readable without over-simplifying detailed arguments. One of the strengths of this book is the frequent and explicit reference to learners and their teachers in specific situations...The editors have done a superb job in creating a resource that is comprehensive in its articulation of the complexities of social interactions in a globalized world yet simultaneously accessible, lucid, and engaging. All in all, the book should find its place in postgraduate courses in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, language and education, language and diversity and bilingual education. It is also a suitable introduction to research for both teachers and novice researchers.

* Alexandre Dufaur, Department of Linguistics, Florida Atlantic University LINGUIST List 22.