This is a different essay from the one I set out to write. When I began, I had in mind a picture of my development as a teacher that was linear. I saw myself as a committed and enthusiastic teacher whose understanding about the nature of learning had developed over time. I had a theory that as a young teacher I was focused on content, on the idea…

This paper provides an ethnographic understanding of harmony as language policy in China, grounded in a historical analysis of "harmony" ([character omitted] "he") as a distinct traditional Chinese (Confucian) ideal that gradually finds its new expressions through the policy of Harmonious Society ([characters omitted]…

Language and metacommunication are assumed to be important for accomplishing a high level of cooperation in social play. Research to date, however, does not address the relationship of language ability and metacommunication to the complexity of cooperation. This study investigated this relationship by observing 24 four- and five-year-old…

Exemplary adolescent creative writers' stories and poems demonstrate a connection between personal purposes for writing and the development of advanced technical skills. This hermeneutic analysis of 33 student texts (which were chosen because of their relation to the topic of literacy) reveals three main reasons for writing (remembrance,…

The research suggests there is a gap in the peace studies and conflict resolution literature, with little representation or understanding of Chinese perspectives. In a project to address this gap, the researchers conducted interviews individually with 30 participants identified as "emerging leaders," who came from diverse universities…

Historically, the manner in which translation ambiguity and emotional content are represented in bilingual memory have often been ignored in many theoretical and empirical investigations, resulting in these linguistic factors related to bilingualism being absent from even the most promising models of bilingual memory representation. However, in…

This paper studies reflexivity in interaction among adolescents in Helsinki in the light of stylised performances that are labelled by participants as "bad Finnish". Stylised "bad Finnish" can be seen as an enregistered discourse register. It is an emblem in which certain linguistic features are connected to ideas about certain…

This article examines the language used to discuss transgender people on university campuses. This study asks how, despite seemingly benefitting transgender people, the discourses carried by the documents that discuss trans people may actually undermine the intended goals of policy initiatives. For example, a report on the status of transgender…

The present paper discuses the value of autoethnography as a research methodology in the area of language planning and policy in investigations of language, power, and identity. Traditionally, research methodology in the area of language planning and policy focuses on language, power, and identity from a sociopolitical perspective at the national…

Grounded in poststructuralist understandings of language and identity and Davies and Harré's (1990) positioning theory, this paper explores one South Korean student's educational experiences in her English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, specifically related to subject positions and identity construction pertaining to language. Using a…

This book investigates the acquisition of sociolinguistic knowledge in the early elementary school years of a Mandarin-English two-way immersion program in the United States. Using ethnographic observation and quantitative analysis of data, the author explores how input from teachers and classmates shapes students' language acquisition. The book…

We start with the stance that it is important for educators to understand students' language repertoires in relation to characteristically mathematical conceptualizations and processes. The data in our study of grade 3 to 11 students' language repertoires for conjecture led our attention to competing discourses in the classroom and the…

This discourse analysis study examines the final moments of selected online sermons delivered by America's leading evangelical pastors and speakers, paying particular attention to the language employed in the presentation of Christian gospel tenets, the public invitation for salvation, the altar call that identifies new followers, and the…

In a world where one in four people speaks English and the other three out of four are likely to be learning English, it would be disingenuous to suggest that speaking English as the global language is anything other than a significant asset now and for the future. Technology makes it possible and pragmatic to choose a global language, and there…

The recent increase in the number of English translations of the Quran has led to problematic misrepresentations, misinterpretations and even textual discrepancies in the translations of a number of Islamic concepts, principles and norms. This paper is an attempt to evaluate five different English versions of the translation of the Quran using…