1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910255130803321

Autore

Canagarajah A. Suresh

Titolo

Translingual Practices and Neoliberal Policies : Attitudes and Strategies of African Skilled Migrants in Anglophone Workplaces / / by Suresh Canagarajah

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2017

ISBN

9783319412436

3319412434

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (VII, 66 p.)

Collana

SpringerBriefs in Linguistics, , 2197-0017

Disciplina

338.96

Soggetti

Education and state

Language policy

Emigration and immigration

Educational Policy and Politics

Language Policy and Planning

Human Migration

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Critical discussion -- Neoliberal orientation to language -- Comparing neoliberalism with translingual practice -- Language policy and practice in skilled migration -- Pedagogical implications.

Sommario/riassunto

This book responds to recent criticisms that the research and theorization of multilingualism on the part of applied linguists are in collusion with neoliberal policies and economic interests. While acknowledging that neoliberal agencies can appropriate diverse languages and language practices, including resources and dispositions theorized by scholars of multilingualism, it argues that a distinction must be made between the different language ideologies informing communicative practices. Those of neoliberal agencies are motivated by distinct ideological orientations that diverge from the theorization of multilingual practices by critical applied linguists. In addressing this issue, the book draws on the author’s empirical research on skilled migration to demonstrate how sub-Saharan African professionals in



English-dominant workplaces in the UK, USA, Australia, and South Africa resist the neoliberal communicative expectations and employ alternate practices informed by critical dispositions. These practices have the potential to transform neoliberal orientations on material development. The book labels the latter as informed by a postcolonial language ideology, to distinguish them from those of neoliberalism. While neoliberal agencies approach languages as being instrumental for profit-making purposes, the author’s informants focus on the synergy between languages to generate new meanings and norms, which are strategically negotiated in pursuit of ethical interests, inclusive interactions, and holistic ecological development. As such, the book clearly illustrates that the way critical scholars and multilinguals relate to language diversity is different from the way neoliberal policies and agencies use multilingualism for their own purposes.