Managing Plurilingual and Intercultural Practices in the Workplace
Managing Plurilingual and Intercultural Practices in the Workplace

Author: Georges Lüdi

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 9027266409

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The contributions in this volume stem from different lines of research and represent both a continuation and an advancement of the European DYLAN project. The book addresses the meanings and implications of multilingualism and plurilingual repertoires as well as the ways in which cultural diversity is managed in companies and institutions in Switzerland. Characterised by official quadrilingualism, but also by new dimensions of multilingualism resulting from massive immigration, important workforce mobility and increasing globalisation, Switzerland offers an ideal laboratory for studying phenomena linked to multilingualism and cultural diversity. On the one hand, a special focus is put on the best practices of diversity management and language regimes with particular attention paid to the interplay between official languages and English, and to ways of leveraging diversity awareness, fostering cultural inclusiveness and enhancing intercultural learning in vocational education and training. On the other hand, the chapters examine at close range the way actors' plurilingual repertoires are developed and how their use is adapted to particular objectives and specific conditions. Being observed in several types of multilingual professional settings, the plurilingual strategies, including English as lingua franca, are particularly examined in terms of power relations and processes of inclusion or exclusion.

English in Business and Commerce
English in Business and Commerce

Author: Tamah Sherman

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2018-05-07

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1501506838

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This volume fills an important gap in exploring English in the domains of business and commerce through the prism of sociolinguistics and the sociology of language, as opposed to analyzing business genres or taking a linguodidactic approach. It expands the regional coverage of English in Europe, with several studies based in Central Europe, and also considers contexts which interact with Europe even though they are physically outside of it (Asia, Africa). It addresses English as just one of several languages at play in the ecology of the countries. It focuses not only on the position of languages as declared in documents of various organizations, that is, language policy, but also everyday linguistic practices as observed in business contexts, that is, interactions. The studies are divided into three thematic areas: ideologies and discourses on English in the business sphere, the management of English in business and organizational contexts, and English and other languages on local and international labor markets. It will be of interest to readers concerned with multilingualism in the economic sphere and the workplace and the interplay between macro and micro levels during the management of communication in organizations.

Intercultural Issues in the Workplace
Intercultural Issues in the Workplace

Author: Katerina Strani

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2024-01-23

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 3031423208

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This textbook addresses key issues and challenges in contemporary multicultural and multilingual workplaces through the lens of leadership, communication and trust. It draws together contributions from fields including cultural studies, psychology, sociolinguistics, translation and interpreting studies, and business management, making a valuable contribution to the area of language and culture in the workplace. The volume is divided into 5 thematic sections: Intercultural Communication; Cross-cultural Leadership; Economy; Language; and Diversity. It offers a critical analysis on themes that tend to be overlooked in intercultural business and management scholarship, such as multilingualism in the workplace, translation and interpreting in cross-cultural work practices, dignity in the workplace, performing gender in the workplace, and D/deaf people in the workplace. It also revisits themes such as cross-cultural leadership, interculturality and the embedded economy, and managing uncertainty in the context of the contemporary globalized workplace. It then brings everything together in a Cross-Cultural Scenarios chapter at the end, with recommendations for every scenario. Overall, the textbook constitutes an essential resource for honours undergraduate and postgraduate students in these and related fields, as well as academics and practitioners with an interest in globalised workplaces.

Mediation as Negotiation of Meanings, Plurilingualism and Language Education
Mediation as Negotiation of Meanings, Plurilingualism and Language Education

Author: Bessie Dendrinos

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-06-04

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 104004333X

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Bringing together the voices of a diverse group of scholars and language professionals, this edited collection, concerned with the cultivation of plurilingualism in multilingual educational settings, builds on the theory and practice of linguistic and cultural mediation both as curricular content and social practice. The chapters view mediation as an important aspect of communication which involves dynamic, purposeful interactivity, implicating social agents in the negotiation and construction of socially situated meanings across different languages and within the same language. Theoretically informed chapters present views on mediation as well as contributors’ research and project outcomes in educational interventions. They also describe how mediation has been incorporated in educational practices and how it materialises in social contexts. Ultimately, this book makes the case for why mediation constitutes a key competence to be developed for active global and local citizenry in today’s societies where there is an increased rate of knowledge acquisition and exchange. Presenting research from classrooms and other multilingual environments, this book offers concrete suggestions for the development of language users/learners’ ability to mediate within and across languages. It will appeal to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of language and education, education policy and politics, bilingualism and plurilingualism more generally. Curriculum designers may also find the volume of use.

Current Research in Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
Current Research in Bilingualism and Bilingual Education

Author: Piotr Romanowski

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-07-24

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 331992396X

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This book covers research topics in bilingual education, language policies, language contact, identity of bilingual speakers, early bilingualism, heritage languages, and more, and provides an overview of current theory, research and practice in the field of bilingualism. Each chapter is written by a specialist in the field. Part I focuses on the numerous and heterogeneous relations between languages as well as the implications arising from bilingual speech processing. In Part II, a series of contextualized studies on bilingual classrooms are presented, with diverse research designs applied in different educational settings being a key feature of these studies. Part III bridges theory and practice by offering an insight into mono- and multilingual school settings showcasing examples of educational institutions where bilingualism successfully soared and depicts the needs related to language education.

The Routledge Handbook of Plurilingual Language Education
The Routledge Handbook of Plurilingual Language Education

Author: Enrica Piccardo

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 645

ISBN-13: 1351002767

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The Routledge Handbook of Plurilingual Language Education is the first comprehensive publication on plurilingualism, offering a multidimensional reflection on the nature, scope, and potential of plurilingualism in language education and society. Authored by a range of internationally recognized experts, the Handbook provides an overview of key perspectives on plurilingualism in a complementary range of fields. After a comprehensive introduction to the concept itself, 24 chapters are organized in six parts, each examining plurilingualism through a different lens. The Handbook spans historical, philosophical, and sociological dimensions, examines cognitive and neuroscientific implications, and the limitations of boundaries before moving to a pragmatic perspective: How is plurilingual language education developing in different contexts around the world? How can it contribute to language revitalization? How can it be expected to develop in education, digital spaces, and society as a whole? Written for an international audience, this handbook is an indispensable reference tool for scholars in education and applied linguistics, educators, graduate and post-graduate students, and policy makers.

Contemporary Issues in Foreign Language Education
Contemporary Issues in Foreign Language Education

Author: Małgorzata Baran-Łucarz

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-05-02

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 3031286553

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This edited volume offers an insightful theoretical conceptualization of issues central to 21st century foreign language learning and teaching. Drawing on research results obtained in the fields of pedagogy, social psychology and sociology of education, this book provides a comprehensive practical exploration of issues experienced by researchers in Poland and in Europe, and which can easily find far-reaching implications in other educational contexts. Part I, Focus on the Teacher, includes seven texts discussing topics relevant to teacher initial and in-service education, as well as the functioning of foreign language instructors in educational systems. The eight contributions included in Part II, Focus on the Learner, explore learner-internal and learner-external factors that affect the effectiveness of the language learning process. The exploration of key contemporary topics and the wide range of methodologies applied make this book of high relevance to Second Language Acquisition scholars, teacher educators, teachers, and language education policy makers.

Language, Global Mobilities, Blue-Collar Workers and Blue-collar Workplaces
Language, Global Mobilities, Blue-Collar Workers and Blue-collar Workplaces

Author: Kellie Gonçalves

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-26

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1000281043

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This collection brings together global perspectives which critically examine the ways in which language as a resource is used and managed in myriad ways in various blue-collar workplace settings in today’s globalized economy. In focusing on blue-collar work environments, the book sheds further light on the informal processes through which top down language policies take place in different multilingual settings and the resultant asymmetrical power relations which emerge among employees and employers in such settings. Taking into account the latest debates on poststructuralist theories of language, the volume also extends its conceptualization of language to demonstrate the ways in which it extends to a wider range of multilingual and multimodal resources and communicative practices, all of which combine in unique and different ways toward constructing meaning in the workplace. The volume’s unique focus on such workplaces also showcases domains of work which have generally until now been less visible within existing research on language in the workplace and the subsequent methodological challenges that arise from studying them. Integrating a range of theoretical and methodological approaches, along with empirical data from a diverse range of blue-collar workplaces, this book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in critical sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, sociology, and linguistic anthropology.

Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Multilingualism in Professional Contexts
Understanding the Dynamics of Language and Multilingualism in Professional Contexts

Author: Philippe Lecomte

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2023-01-13

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1789906784

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This book provides readers with the latest research on the dynamics of language and language diversity in professional contexts. Bringing together novel findings from a range of disciplines, it challenges practitioners and management scholars to question the conventional understanding of language as words with stable meanings, an assumption which treats language as a tool that can be managed by language policies that ‘standardize’ language. Each of the contributions is designed to recognize the strides that have been made in the past two decades in research on language and languages in organizational settings while addressing remaining blind spots and emerging issues. Particular attention is given to multilingualism, sociolinguistic approaches to language in the workplace, migration challenges, critical perspectives on the power of language use and the management of organizations as dialogical, discursive spaces.

The Action-oriented Approach
The Action-oriented Approach

Author: Enrica Piccardo

Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Published: 2019-07-24

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 1788924363

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This book presents the background to the current shift in language education towards action-oriented/action-based teaching, and provides a theorization of the Action-oriented Approach (AoA). It discusses the concepts and theories that paved the way for the AoA and explores their relevance for the way language education is conceived and implemented in the classroom. In the process, it revisits the concept of competence and discusses the dynamic notions of mediation and plurilingualism. The authors explain the way in which the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and its recent update, the CEFR Companion Volume, broaden the scope of language education, in particular in relation to the actional turn. The book provides scholars and practitioners with a research-informed description of the AoA, explains its implications for curriculum planning, teaching and assessment, and elaborates on its pedagogical implications.