Abstract

Language Socialization in Bilingual and Multilingual Societies is a multidisciplinary, multinational collection of essays that explore language socialization from very early childhood through adulthood, not only in oftenstudied communities in Canada and the United States, but also in Australia, Bolivia, Egypt, India and Slovakia. The global perspective gained by the inclusion of studies of communities representing every inhabited continent provides readers with an indication of the richness of the field as well as a guide for future work. The book includes chapters focusing on language socialization at different stages of the lifespan – at home and in schools, communities and workplaces. Authors focus on well-known communities, such as Mexican-Americans in the United States and Francophones in Canada, as well as on communities that are less familiar to many readers, such as the Aymara in Bolivia, the Inuit in northern Québec and minority Hungarians in Slovakia. The breadth and theoretical sophistication of this volume make it a suitable text for upper-division and graduate courses in bilingualism, language education and sociolinguistics.

Robert Bayley is Professor of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he specializes in sociolinguistics and second language acquisition. He is co-author of Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language (Gallaudet UP, 2001) and Language as Cultural Practice (Erlbaum, 2002).

Sandra R. Schecter is Associate Professor of Education and Women’s Studies at York University in Toronto, where she teaches courses in language pedagogy, communication and research methods. An ethnolinguist, she is co-author of Language as Cultural Practice (Erlbaum, 2002) and co-editor of On Becoming a Language Educator (Erlbaum, 1997).