Routledge Language Education and Applied Linguistics: Bridging the two fields

Language Education and Applied Linguistics: bridging the two fields provides a starting point for students and researchers in both Language and Education who wish to interpret and use insights from the field of Applied Linguistics, and for Applied Linguists who wish to engage in dialogue with language educators and researchers in education. Providing a framework for understanding the resources individuals use to communicate, this accessible and innovative text will enable teachers and learners to understand and discuss features and tools used in communication. This framework enables: Learners to explore their current language abilities and their desired future communicative abilities, empowering them to engage with their own language learning needs Language educators to explore central concerns in multiliteracy, digital literacies, plurilingualism and plurilingual development Applied Linguistics students to understand theories of applied linguistics and language education Sociolinguists to bring their research into education Language Education and Applied Linguistics can be used by students, teachers, researchers and teacher educators to explore multilingual contexts and communicative purposes in language classrooms, language education and applied linguistics. Review 'This is no ordinary textbook on the application of linguistic study to education. Nicholas and Starks offer a novel, dynamic framework that integrates notions of self, multiplicity, and communicative repertoire in order to explain the intersection of language and education. Educators who care about language and linguists who care about education need to read this foundational resource.' - Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State University, USA 'Written in an amazingly lucid style, this book brings together two fields that have so much to offer each other yet have hitherto been rather separate. The result is a refreshing critique of linguistics, applied linguistics and language education, offering new conceptualisations of language, literacy, cognition, and learning. It should be read and re-read by anyone interested in language learning and language use in today’s plurilingual world.' - Li Wei, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK 'By reframing language as the communicative repertoire available to each individual within a multiplicity of needs, practices and contexts, this book offers a theoretical and practical bridge between language education and psycho-/sociolinguistic SLA. At a time when language education scholars are increasingly drawn to anthropology and language socialization research, the book offers a much needed reconceptualization of language, language learning and language use for researchers in language and literacy education and reminds them of what the field of applied linguistics has to offer. Eminently suited for any undergraduate or graduate course dealing with language study for educators, introduction to applied linguistics, educational linguistics or applied language studies.' - Claire Kramsch, University of California, Berkeley, USA 'Language Education and Applied Linguistics: bridging the two fields is an accessible book for students and teachers who want to connect the two disciplines from theoretical and practical perspectives. The comprehensive concept of Multiplicity, based on the combination of societal resources and individuals’communicative repertoires, is the main contribution of the book. Nicholas and Sparks provide a clear summary of the state of the art and give sufficient historical context to introduce their construct. They develop the four dimensions, in intricate relationships with elements, threads and features. As a result, the proposed framework represents a dynamic continuum that blurs boundaries between disciplines. This fluid tool becomes beneficial for those interested in common zones between Language, Applied Linguistics and Language Education.' - Laura Dubcovsky