Changing Perspectives Towards Linguistic Diversity in Education: Promoting Social Cohesion Through Agency (Educational Linguistics, 71)

This book explores the need for a change in perspectives towards linguistic diversity and pluri/multilingual education, and highlights the role of teachers, students, caregivers, and researchers, as agents of social cohesion in today’s complex societies. The book examines how a change in perspectives on the part of these social actors can challenge dominant language ideologies and trigger more equitable, just and cohesive educational environments and social communities that honour and leverage the linguistic repertoire of each individual. While the agency of students and teachers has been brought to the fore by a number of publications on pluri/multilingual education, this dimension is particularly relevant for researchers themselves, whose agency and epistemic stance are paramount in the construction and interpretation of observed phenomena. In this respect, this book tackles this aspect by means of autobiographical narratives, in which each author/researcher provides insights into experiences in their professional and/or personal life that had an impact on the way they see their agentive role in society. This book is intended for researchers, practitioners, language policy makers and graduate students with an interest in the link between pluri/multilingual education and cohesion in educational communities and the broader society.

Marta Guarda holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and English Studies from the University of Padova (Italy), and is currently a senior researcher at the Institute for Applied Linguistics and the Center for Migration and Societal Change of Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy). Her research focuses on plurilingualism, translanguaging and plurilingual education from the perspective of educational equity and epistemic justice. She is particularly interested in the valorisation of the heritage languages and funds of knowledge of minoritised and migrantised communities in the postmigrant society. Her research interests also include the use of collaborative technologies (virtual exchange) for language and intercultural learning, English as a lingua franca (ELF) communication and the internationalisation of (higher) education.

Maria Stopfner is a senior researcher at the Institute of Applied Linguistics at Eurac Research (Bolzano, Italy) and a senior lecturer at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). In her research, she is interested in the interrelationship between language and society and the role of education, politics and media in the discursive construction of ideologies and identities. Within the research group on multilingualism at Eurac Research, she focuses on the development of plurilingual competences in relation to influencing factors such as language policy, language ideology and identity in multilingual settings. 

Gabriela Meier is an Associate Professor in Language Education in the School of Education at the University of Exeter (UK). Her work comprises teacher education, supervision of master’s and doctoral projects, as well as research on multilingualism in education. She has contributed theoretically through publications on the multilingual turn in education, multilingual socialisation and the relationship between languages and social cohesion. Empirically, her research has explored how plurilingual repertoires are developed and used in school, university and  vocational contexts, and what this means for individuals, institutions and wider societies.