Metrolingualism: fixity, fluidity and language in flux

Otsuji, Emi; Pennycook, Alastair

doi:10.1080/14790710903414331

Cited by 604 publications

(249 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…These inadequacies and implications have been brought into relief in spaces of linguistic contact like contemporary urban metropolises, digital communication, and various sites of language learning and teaching (Blommaert and Rampton 2011). And they have led scholars to introduce a range of new names and concepts such as "polylingualism" (Jørgensen 2003(Jørgensen , 2008, "metrolingualism" (Otsuji and Pennycook 2010), "codemeshing" (Canagarajah 2011) and "translanguaging" (Blackledge and Creese 2010;García and Li Wei 2014), among others. While tied to specific settings and projects, the development of these new concepts testifies to the need for an analytical apparatus and a sociolinguistic theory that is sufficiently sensitive to the empirical complexity of current and earlier communicative conditions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sociolinguistics in a languagised world: Introduction

Jaspers

Madsen

2016

Applied Linguistics Review

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The idea that there exist separate, enumerable languages has in the last decades been widely criticised, and it has led scholars to propose various new terms and concepts such as 'polylingualism', 'metrolingualism', and 'translanguaging', among others. As these terms are attracting considerable acclaim within the academy, this paper argues it is time to reflect on their occurrence, provenance and pertinence for future research and theorisation. We devote particular attention to the risk of confusion if newly proposed terms interchangeably serve descriptive, ontological, pedagogical and political purposes; to the continuing relevance of language separation outside as well as inside the academy; and to the purported transformative and critical potential of fluid language practices in education and beyond. We suggest a close consideration of each of these concerns is central to a sociolinguistics of rather than for particular linguistic practices.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sociolinguistics in a languagised world: Introduction

Jaspers

Madsen

2016

Applied Linguistics Review

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“…The team's language practices that defy the traditional idea of distinct speech communities could be explored in more depth with concepts such as metrolingualism, multilanguaging and lingua receptiva (e.g. Lüdi, 2013;Otsuji & Pennycook, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing cultural knowledge at work: a study of chat interactions of an internationally dispersed team

Lahti

2015

Language and Intercultural Communication

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“…According to this perspective, languages can be seen as ideological artifacts that are socially and politically constructed (see also Makoni and Pennycook 2007). This innovative perspective about languages has been influential in the development of, for example, the concepts of translanguaging (Garcıa 2009), translingual practices (Canagarajah 2013), polylingualism (Jørgensen 2008), or metrolingualism (Otsuji and Pennycook 2009), although each of these terms itself has a narrower reach than does multilingualism.…”

Section: Towards a Paradigm Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Language education policy and multilingual assessment

Gorter

Cenoz

2016

Language and Education

101

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In this article, we establish direct links between language policy on the one hand and assessment in multilingual contexts on the other hand. We illustrate the bi-directional relationship with the examples of the USA, Canada, and the Basque Country. That comparison is placed in the context of the changing views about the use of languages in education where a shift can be observed away from an emphasis on separating languages to approaches that more closely suit daily practices of multilinguals. This concerns a shift from language isolation policies in language teaching and assessment towards more holistic approaches that consider language-asresource and promote the use of the whole linguistic repertoire. However, the implementation of programs based on holistic approaches is limited and application in language assessment modest. Traditions and monolingual ideologies do not give way easily. We show some examples of creative new ways to develop multilingual competence and cross-lingual skills. The assessment of interventions with a multilingual focus point to a potential increase in learning outcomes. Multilingualism is a point of departure because in today's schools, students who speak different languages share the same class, while at the same time learning English (and other languages). We conclude that holistic approaches in language education policy and multilingual assessment need to substitute more traditional approaches.

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Metrolingualism: fixity, fluidity and language in flux

Cited by 604 publications

References 27 publications

Sociolinguistics in a languagised world: Introduction

Sociolinguistics in a languagised world: Introduction

Sharing cultural knowledge at work: a study of chat interactions of an internationally dispersed team

Language education policy and multilingual assessment

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