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Home language: Refuge, resistance, resource?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2011

Mary McGroarty
Mary McGroarty*
Affiliation:
Northern Arizona University, USAmary.mcgroarty@nau.edu
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Abstract

This presentation builds on the concept of orientations to languages other than English in the US first suggested by Ruíz (1984). Using examples from recent ethnographic, sociolinguistic, and policy-related investigations undertaken principally in North America, the discussion explores possible connections between individual and group language identities. It demonstrates that orientations to languages are dynamic inside and outside speech communities, varying across time and according to multiple contextual factors, including the history and size of local bilingual groups along with the impact of contemporary economic and political conditions. Often the conceptions of multiple languages reflected in policy and pedagogy oversimplify the complexity documented by research and raise questions for teaching practice.

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Type
Plenary Speeches
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 89 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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