Wendy D. Bokhorst-Heng

This book explores the role of teachers as intercultural mediators within language immersion education programs. The authors draw on research conducted in the context of a one-way French immersion program in New Brunswick, Canada, an officially bilingual province and country. Their discussion is anchored on the landmark Douglas Fir Group framework of second language acquisition, examining the implications of macro-level ideologies for language education, curriculum and intercultural instruction. The book considers educators’ placement within the framework and their potential role as intercultural mediators between macro-level ideologies, meso-level curricular implementation, and their students at the micro level. They even provide an amendment to the framework that models this mediating role. Through interview data with entry point early French immersion teachers and principals of their schools, the authors emphasise the importance of theoretically situating teachers’ positions as mediators of ideology and culture. Through this, we can fully understand what it means to incorporate intercultural competence into language learning. They argue that, teachers receive little support—either through curriculum or through training—on how to engage with (inter)cultural instruction in their practice. They then describe their own course for training pre- and in-service teachers on intercultural mediation in their language education practice, applicable to a variety of language learning models and contexts.

Present-day globalization, migration, and the spread of English have resulted in a great diversity of social and educational contexts in which English learning is taking place. A basic assumption of this book is that because English is an international language, effective pedagogical decisions cannot be made without giving special attention to the many varied contexts in which English is taught and learned. Its unique value is the combination of three strands – globalization, sociolinguistics, and English as an international language – in one focused volume specifically designed for language teachers, providing explicit links between sociolinguistic concepts and language pedagogy. International English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts: fully recognizes the relationship between social context and language teaching describes the social and sociolinguistic factors that affect the teaching and learning of English examines how the social context is influential in determining which languages are promoted in schools and society and how these languages are taught is unique in directly relating basic constructs in sociolinguistics to English language teaching features case studies that illustrate the diversity of English teaching contextsDirected to a wide TESOL and applied linguistics professional readership, this text will be particularly useful and effective for pre-service and in-service professional development in TESOL for K-12 and higher education levels.

Present-day globalization, migration, and the spread of English have resulted in a great diversity of social and educational contexts in which English learning is taking place. A basic assumption of this book is that because English is an international language, effective pedagogical decisions cannot be made without giving special attention to the many varied contexts in which English is taught and learned. Its unique value is the combination of three strands – globalization, sociolinguistics, and English as an international language – in one focused volume specifically designed for language teachers, providing explicit links between sociolinguistic concepts and language pedagogy. International English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts: fully recognizes the relationship between social context and language teaching describes the social and sociolinguistic factors that affect the teaching and learning of English examines how the social context is influential in determining which languages are promoted in schools and society and how these languages are taught is unique in directly relating basic constructs in sociolinguistics to English language teaching features case studies that illustrate the diversity of English teaching contextsDirected to a wide TESOL and applied linguistics professional readership, this text will be particularly useful and effective for pre-service and in-service professional development in TESOL for K-12 and higher education levels.