Learning Language: First Language, Bilingual, and Second Language Acquisition is the first textbook to offer a holistic introduction to language acquisition, combining from three key fields: child first language acquisition, bi- and mulitilingual acquisition, and second language acquisition.Rich in pedagogy, this innovative book adopts a distinct interdisciplinary approach to coherently explain how languages are learned. Organized around the linguistic targets of acquisiti...

An increasingly important field of research within multilingualism and sociolinguistics, Family Language Policy (FLP) investigates the explicit and overt planning of language use within the home and among family members. However the diverse range of different family units and contexts around the globe necessitates a similarly diverse range of research perspectives which are not yet represented within the field.Tackling this problem head on, this volume expands the scope of families...

Applying critical kinship perspectives to the study of multilingual families, this book foregrounds family formation processes, gender, and sexuality in examinations of language use. Focusing on historically marginalized families (such as single parent, adoptive, and LGBTQ+), the analyses draw on data from private and public spheres including interviews and recorded interactions in homes, as well as memoirs, documentaries, news media, and even comedy. Lyn Wright addresses questions such as...

Why do we speak the way we do? What are the social factors that influence our choices of expression? This best-selling introduction to the study of language and society encourages students to think about these fundamental questions, asking how and why we select from the vast range of different words, accents, varieties and languages available to us. In this new and updated edition, students are taken step-by-step through the analysis of linguistic expressions, speech varieties and language...

Exploring Intercultural Communication investigates the role of language in intercultural communication, paying particular attention to the interplay between cultural diversity and language practice. This second edition increases and updates the coverage on emerging key topics, including symbolic power, communicative turbulence, conversational inequality, stereotypes, racism, Nationality and Ethnicity talk and the impact and role of technology in intercultural communication. Includ...

This book aims to enable parents in trilingual families to consider possible language strategies on the basis of analysing their individual circumstances. It includes a tool for diagnostic self-analysis that will help each reader to identify their situation and learn how parents in similar situations have approached the task of supporting their children’s use of languages. Based on a unique survey of parents in trilingual families in two European countries, the book highlights the challeng...

Communication across Cultures explores how cultural context affects the use and (mis)interpretation of language. It provides an accessible and interdisciplinary introduction to language and language variation in intercultural communication by drawing on both classic and cutting-edge research from pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and politeness studies. This new edition has been comprehensively updated to incorporate recent research, with an emphasis...

This textbook brings together research on literacy and multilingualism from a variety of settings: the learning of English in migrant destinations, immersion and bilingual education, and the maintenance of heritage languages. Designed to be accessible to students from a wide range of disciplines, the book explores multilingualism as a global phenomenon at both the individual and societal level, and literacy learning in a wide variety of contexts. It uses both these discussions to explore the ...

The Routledge International Handbook of Early Literacy Education offers a pioneering overview of early literacy provision in different parts of the world and brings together interdisciplinary research evidence on effective literacy teaching to inform current and future practice and policy of early literacy. From the problem of identification of literacy difficulties in a particular learning context to supporting the provision of early literacy through digital media, the handbook d...

This engagingly written textbook provides a unique 'hands-on' introduction to sociolinguistics, which equips readers with the tools to start their own sociolinguistic research project. The book begins by outlining the historical, theoretical and cultural space in which language use occurs, before delving into the key topics and concepts of today's field. It examines the choices speakers make in everyday life and assesses language and status across the world, by investigating variation in c...

In this volume scholars from around the world focus on how a Bourdieusian stance can enable a powerful socicultural and cultural analysis of literacy education theory and practice and serve as an effective tool in analyzing relations of hierarchy and domination. Although there has been a growing body of Bourdieusian-inspired research in various sectors of education, this book is the first to present both theoretical and practical articulation of his ideas in the field of literacy education...

Sociocultural linguistics has long conceived of languages as well-bounded, separate codes. But the increasing diversity of languages encountered by most people in their daily lives challenges this conception. Because globalization has accelerated population flows, cities are now sites of encounter for groups that are highly diverse in terms of origins, cultural practices, and languages. Further, new media technologies invent communicative genres, foster hybrid semiotic practices, and sprea...