Languages ontologies in higher education: the world-making practices of language teachers

Abstract

In this paper, we engage the frame of language ontologies to explore what language is or might be, vis-à-vis empirical data from practicing language teachers and researchers. We conducted semi-structured interviews with fourteen participants to explore their accounts and self-reported practices of language(s)/languaging. We present five ontological accounts of language(s)/languaging as shared by the participants during the interviews: language as a tool for communication, language as thought, language as culture, language as system, and languaging as practice. We discuss the implications of these five ontological accounts for teaching, learning, and understanding language as a multiplicity.