Collective autonomy and multilingual spaces in super-diverse urban contexts

Feminisation, masculinisation and the other: re-evaluating the language learning decline in England

“…Our other route to the intersection is through the notion of 'the other'. A hostility, part of a monolingual mindset or ideology, has been identified towards both languages taught in schools and the languages of communities within the UK (Lamb, Hatoss & O'Neill, 2020;Lamb & Vodicka, 2017;Nuffield, 2000;Wei, 2011). Skutknabb Kangas & Phillipson (1986) refer to linguicism, the structural inequalities perpetuated on the basis of language, and we can read this in the languages given a place on the school curriculum, which are rarely those of minority communities within England.…”

Challenging Social Injustice in Superdiverse Contexts Through Activist Languages Education

“…I remember in high school when a group of students would sit together and speak another language other than English, some students would find that uncomfortable or even offensive. This comment suggests then that, even where there have been to some extent progressive policies, there is still, at least for some, a persistent monolingual mind-set; in Anglophone countries at least, English is still seen as the only legitimate code to be used in public spaces, and home languages should remain confined to people's homes (Hatoss, 2019b;Lamb & Vodicka, 2018). Castles' (2014) analysis goes some way to providing a potential reason for this, arguing that "it is important to note that multicultural discourses have often declined more than actual multicultural policies: measures to recognize the social and cultural needs of immigrants and minorities have often changed little, even as public discourse has shifted" (Castles, 2014, p. 198).…”

Challenging Social Injustice in Superdiverse Contexts Through Activist Languages Education

“…This comment suggests then that, even where there have been to some extent progressive policies, there is still, at least for some, a persistent monolingual mind-set; in Anglophone countries at least, English is still seen as the only legitimate code to be used in public spaces, and home languages should remain confined to people's homes (Hatoss, 2019b;Lamb & Vodicka, 2018). Castles' (2014) analysis goes some way to providing a potential reason for this, arguing that "it is important to note that multicultural discourses have often declined more than actual multicultural policies: measures to recognize the social and cultural needs of immigrants and minorities have often changed little, even as public discourse has shifted" (Castles, 2014, p. 198).…”

“…For Lamb and Vodicka (2018), the limitations of macro-level policy to challenge the monolingual mind-set in the UK can be explained in two ways. Firstly, they describe how even 10 years of UK government policy to develop a progressive National Languages Strategy and provide significant funding and structures to enable multilingualism to be promoted and supported (Department for Education and Skills, 2002) can be completely reversed when a new government is elected (p. 13).…”

“…Significantly, reconceptualizing the construct of autonomy, it also calls for collectively autonomous actions by grassroot groups and communities to resist the monolingual habitus. For Lamb and Vodicka (2018):…”