The Mobility Between Languages and the Fluxes of Globalization: Reviewing Paradigms, Transcending Paradoxes

Abstract

This article aims to raise some general questions related to mobility and the traffic between languages in times of globalization. While defining "globalization" as a set of discourses, we outline some of its internal contradictions and paradoxes as well as the equally contradictory role of the English language as a homogenizing and fragmentary force in this context. Next, taking the perspective of language as socio discursive practice, we situate the multilingual speaker and the interweaving between languages and meanings in a world dominated by intense patterns of diversity and fluxes of people and discourses. Finally, we turn to the context of the bi/multilingual classroom, trying to point out alternatives to monolingual assumptions underlying educational and pedagogical discourses and practices related to bi/multilingual education that prevent us from understanding multilingual speakers in all their complexity. KEYWORDS: Mobility. Globalization. Multilingualism. RESUMO: O presente artigo pretende levantar questões gerais relacionadas à mobilidade e ao trânsito entre línguas em tempos de globalização. Ao definir o caráter primordialmente discursivo da globalização e esboçar algumas de suas contradições internas, discutimos também o papel igualmente contraditório 1 Master in Applied Linguistics, Unicamp, 2015. anstor65@yahoo.com.br. 2 Doctor in Applied Linguistics, Unicamp, 2015. fabib iondo@gmail.co m.