Introduction: a relational view of language learning
Date
2014
Authors
Murray, N.
Scarino, A.
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Murray, N.
Scarino, A.
Scarino, A.
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Book chapter
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Source details - Title: Dynamic ecologies: a relational perspective on languages education in the Asia-Pacific Region, 2014 / Murray, N., Scarino, A. (ed./s), vol.9, Ch.1, pp.3-13
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Abstract
This introductory chapter, intended to both frame and provide a brief overview of those that follow, takes as its point of departure the realisation that in a world of globalization, where 'super diversity', multiculturalism and multilingualism increasingly characterize communities, and where language contact and cross-cultural interactions have become the norm, a change in the way in which we think about languages and languages education is needed. In particular, languages education needs to be developed on the basis of an understanding of the interplay of all the languages and cultures available in local contexts. In addition, it needs to be developed in such a way that students, as language users and language learners, become effective mediators of meanings across multiple languages, cultures and semiotic systems, thereby undergoing a process of personal transformation. We suggest that the need for such development should urge language planners, policy-makers and educators to adopt a relational perspective on language and languages that both respects and accounts for different world views and which has important implications for curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and evaluation. Each of the chapters of this volume, in its own way, provides insights into the need for and consequences of such a perspective.
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Copyright 2014 Springer Science-Business Media Dordrecht