Changing Perspectives Towards Linguistic Diversity in Education : Promoting Social Cohesion Through Agency

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.

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.