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Transnationalism, Multilingualism, and Identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2015

Patricia A. Duff
Patricia A. Duff*
Affiliation:
University of British [email protected]
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Abstract

Applied linguistics is a field concerned with issues pertaining to language(s) and literacies in the real world and with the people who learn, speak, write, process, translate, test, teach, use, and lose them in myriad ways. It is also fundamentally concerned with transnationalism, mobility, and multilingualism—the movement across cultural, linguistic, and (often) geopolitical or regional borders and boundaries. The field is, furthermore, increasingly concerned with identity construction and expression through particular language and literacy practices across the life span, at home, in diaspora settings, in short-term and long-term sojourns abroad for study or work, and in other contexts and circumstances. In this article, I discuss some recent areas in which applied linguists have investigated the intersections of language (multilingualism), identity, and transnationalism. I then present illustrative studies and some recurring themes and issues.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 35 , March 2015 , pp. 57 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

This influential book provides a theoretically rich, European sociolinguistic perspective on trends associated with human mobility and multilingualism with examples from African diaspora communities in Europe and other contexts of transnational linguistic and semiotic influence and practice (e.g., in Africa and Asia).

Lam, W. S. E., & Warriner, D. S. (2012). Transnationalism and literacy: Investigating the mobility of people, languages, texts, and practices in contexts of migration. A review of research. Reading Research Quarterly, 47 (2), 191–215.

This comprehensive, well-researched literature review and synthesis provides an excellent overview of theoretical frameworks and current research, particularly in relation to multilingual literacies involving transnational immigrants living in the United States, with a focus on multilingual, digital, and online literacy practices as well. Drawing on their own and others’ extensive research in this area, the authors documented current directions in scholarship and case studies of particular relevance to educational researchers (e.g., in language and literacy).

Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism. New York, NY: Routledge.

Written by anthropologist Steven Vertovec, who coined the term super-diversity, which is now commonly used in urban sociolinguistics, this book provides a concise and very helpful interdisciplinary theoretical introduction to migration and transnational studies. Vertovec illustrated the kinds of transnational practices—and transformations—that many migrants participate in.

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