Language in Society · 2004 · 140 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesAnthropologyLinguisticsCultural AnthropologyLinguistic AnthropologySociolinguisticsAnthropology Of EducationEducational EthnographyLanguage Policy In EducationCultural Adaptation In SchoolsLanguage Ideologies In EducationLanguage Ideology In SchoolsLanguage Of SchoolingLinguistic Anthropology Education
Linguistic anthropology examines how language functions as a symbol of nationalism, a marker of difference, or a tool of assimilation, and how these beliefs are reproduced and challenged within educational institutions. The authors aim to show that language use in schools often unintentionally reproduces societal inequities, and that a linguistic anthropological lens can reveal the processes behind this.
Stanton Wortham & Betsy Rymes (eds. ), Linguistic anthropology of education. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. Pp. 288. Hb $69.95.In his introduction to this volume, Stanton Wortham argues for the value of a linguistic anthropological approach to education. After all, “a society's beliefs about language – as a symbol of nationalism, a marker of differences, or a tool of assimilation – are often reproduced and challenged through educational institutions” (p. 2). So too is language used in schools in ways that, often unwittingly, reproduce the inequities in society more generally; a linguistic anthropological approach is particularly well suited to pointing out the processes by which this happens.