Abstract

This book analyzes how the urban disadvantaged in the city of New Delhi learn English. Using qualitative methods the author discusses the pedagogy, texts and contexts in which biliteracy occurs and links English language teaching and learning in India with the broader social and economic processes of globalization in a developing country. The study is situated in a government school, a site where classrooms have rarely been qualitatively described, and where the Three Language Formula (TLF) is being fundamentally transformed due to increasing demand from the community for earlier access to the linguistic capital of English. Through research conducted in a call centre the author also shows what the requirements of new workplaces are and how government schools are trying to meet this demand.

This book is recommended reading for language researchers and teachers.

Viniti Vaish is Assistant Professor at Singaporeâ??s Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP), National Institute of Education. She has worked in different capacities in India, the USA and Singapore. Her research interests include bilingual and comparative education, pedagogy and language policy. Currently she is Co-Principal Investigator of â??The Sociolinguistic Survey of Singapore, 2006â??, a large scale language survey linked to smaller scale follow up studies, which is one of the projects undertaken by CRPP. She has published in Language Policy , the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism and the International Journal of Multilingualism.