From Migrant to Citizen: Testing Language, Testing Culture


Book Description

In this impressive volume a combination of theorists - linguists, historians and lawyers - address the subject of citizenship testing for language proficiency and 'cultural' knowledge. Discussing themes of identity and cultural belonging, they draw out the implications for Australia and the wider international community.




The Concise Companion to Language Assessment


Book Description

The Concise Companion to Language Assessment provides a state-of-the-art overview of the crucial areas of language assessment, teaching, and learning. Edited by one of the foremost scholars in the field, The Concise Companion combines newly commissioned articles on innovations in assessment with a selection of chapters from The Companion to Language Assessment, the landmark four-volume reference work first published in 2013. Presented in eight themes, The Concise Companion addresses a broad range of language assessment methods, issues, and contexts. Forty-five chapters cover assessment conceptualization, development, research, and policy, as well as recent changes in language assessment technology, learning-oriented assessment, teacher-based assessment, teacher assessment literacy, plurilingual assessment, assessment for immigration, and more. Exploring the past, present, and future possibilities of the dynamic field, The Concise Companion to Language Assessment: Contains dedicated chapters on listening, speaking, reading writing, vocabulary, pronunciation, intercultural competence, and other language skills Describes fundamental assessment design and scoring guidelines, as well as advanced concepts in scenario-based assessment and automated performance scoring Provides insights on different assessment environments, such as classrooms, universities, employment, immigration, and healthcare Covers various qualitative and quantitative research methods, including introspective methods, classical reliability, and structural equation modeling Discusses the impacts of colonialism and discrimination on the history of language assessment Explores the use of AI in writing evaluation, plagiarism and cheating detection, and other assessment contexts Sure to become a standard text for the next generation of applied linguistics students, The Concise Companion to Language Assessment is an invaluable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in applied linguistics, language assessment, TESOL, second language acquisition, and language policy.




Language Testing, Migration and Citizenship


Book Description

What is required to achieve civic integration and citizenship in nation states across the world? Should language testing be a part of it? This book addresses the urgent need to develop a fuller conceptual and theoretical basis for language testing than is currently available, to enable widespread discussion of this theme and the concomitant linguistic and cultural requirements. The policy proposals for civic integration have so far been conducted almost entirely at a national level, and with little regard for the experiences of a countries with long traditions of migration, such as the USA, Canada, the UK or Australia. At the same time, EU enlargment and the ongoing rise in the rate of migration into and across Europe suggest that these issues will continue to grow in importance. This book raises the level of discussion to take account of international developments and to promote a more coherent and soundly based debate. It will appeal to researchers and academics working in sociolinguistics and language education, as well as those working on language policy.




The Routledge Handbook of Migration and Language


Book Description

** Winner of AAAL Book Award 2020 ** **Shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize 2018** The Routledge Handbook of Migration and Language is the first comprehensive survey of this area, exploring language and human mobility in today’s globalised world. This key reference brings together a range of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives, drawing on subjects such as migration studies, geography, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. Featuring over 30 chapters written by leading experts from around the world, this book: Examines how basic constructs such as community, place, language, diversity, identity, nation-state, and social stratification are being retheorized in the context of human mobility; Analyses the impact of the ‘mobility turn’ on language use, including the parallel ‘multilingual turn’ and translanguaging; Discusses the migration of skilled and unskilled workers, different forms of displacement, and new superdiverse and diaspora communities; Explores new research orientations and methodologies, such as mobile and participatory research, multi-sited ethnography, and the mixing of research methods; Investigates the place of language in citizenship, educational policies, employment and social services. The Routledge Handbook of Migration and Language is essential reading for those with an interest in migration studies, language policy, sociolinguistic research and development studies.




Quality and Equity in Education


Book Description

The work of the Council of Europe in plurilingual and intercultural education is highly influential in Europe and beyond and has been so for many years. The Common European Framework of Reference and its Companion Volume, and related instruments, provide ways in which to implement policies and a broader vision of providing quality and equity in education across the curriculum, a vision which incorporates the core values of the Council of Europe and which educates children and young people to be plurilingual, intercultural and democratic citizens. This book presents this educational vision, demonstrates how it can be realised through the application of Council of Europe instruments in practice, and does so in a way which is easily and quickly accessible to teachers of all subjects and in all educational institutions, as well as to other educationists, including policymakers.




Salsa, Language and Transnationalism


Book Description

What happens in globalised social contexts if people identify with a language that is not traditionally considered to be ‘their’ language? This unique contribution to the field of sociolinguistics scrutinises language ideologies of German and Australian Communities of Practice constituted by Salsa dance and asks what languages symbolise in transnational, non-ethnic cultures. Using ethnographic methodology and a deconstructive approach to language it examines these different Salsa communities and gives insight into the interaction of social discourses from local, national and transnational realms, examining differences, similarities and a simultaneous multiplicity of languages’ symbolic functions. This book will be welcomed by postgraduates, professional sociolinguists and linguistic anthropologists as well as scholars of cultural anthropology, sociology and cultural studies who are interested in the development of modernist categories in transnational culture.




Discourses on Language and Integration


Book Description

One of the most pressing issues in contemporary European societies is the need to promote integration and social inclusion in the context of rapidly increasing migration. A particular challenge confronting national governments is how to accommodate speakers of an ever-increasing number of languages within what in most cases are still perceived as monolingual indigenous populations. This has given rise to public debates in many countries on controversial policies imposing a requirement of competence in a 'national' language and culture as a condition for acquiring citizenship. However, these debates are frequently conducted almost entirely at a national level within each state, with little if any attention paid to the broader European context. At the same time, further EU enlargement and the ongoing rise in the rate of migration into and across Europe suggest that the salience of these issues is likely to continue to grow. This volume offers a critical analysis of these debates and emerging discourses on integration and challenges the assumptions underlying the new 'language testing regimes'.




Muslim Minorities and Social Cohesion


Book Description

This book examines various attempts in the ‘West’ to manage cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity – focusing on Muslim minorities in predominantly non-Muslim societies. An international panel of contributors chart evolving national identities and social values, assessing the way that both contemporary ‘Western’ societies and contemporary Muslim minorities view themselves and respond to the challenges of diversity. Drawing on themes and priority subjects from Islamic Culture within Euro-Asian, Australian, and American international research, they address multiple critical issues and discuss their implications for existing and future policy and practice in this area. These include subjects such as gender, the media, citizenship, and multiculturalism. The insight provided by this wide-ranging book will be of great use to scholars of Religious Studies, Interreligious Dialogue and Islamic Studies, as well as Politics, Culture, and Migration.




The Handbook of Global Media Research


Book Description

Bringing together the perspectives of more than 40 internationally acclaimed authors, The Handbook of Global Media Research explores competing methodologies in the dynamic field of transnational media and communications, providing valuable insight into research practice in a globalized media landscape. Provides a framework for the critical debate of comparative media research Posits transnational media research as reflective of advanced globalization processes, and explores its roles and responsibilities Articulates the key themes and competing methodological approaches in a dynamic and developing field Showcases the perspectives and ideas of 30 leading internationally acclaimed scholars Offers a platform for the discussion of crucial issues from a variety of theoretical, methodical and practical viewpoints




Anti-racist Discourse on Muslims in the Australian Parliament


Book Description

Anti-racist Discourse on Muslims in the Australian Parliament examines anti-racist discourse in contemporary Australian politics, in particular, how politicians contest and challenge racism against a minority group that does not constitute a traditional ‘race’. Using critical discourse analysis, this book firstly deconstructs the racist, xenophobic and discriminatory arguments against Muslims. Secondly, it highlights the anti-racist counter-discourse to these arguments. Since blatantly racist statements are less common nowadays, the book focuses on manifestations of ‘culturalist racism’. It does this by investigating how talk about Muslims positions them as not Australian or as not belonging to Australia – the book takes such ‘discursive exclusion from the nation’ as one of the most widespread forms of ‘culturalist racism’ in Western liberal-democracies. In addition to contributing to the theoretical discussion on the relationship between Muslims, racism and anti-racism, the book expands on methods that apply critical discourse analysis and the discourse-historical approach by providing a practical guide to analysing anti-racist political discourses.