Stephen May | The University of Auckland (original) (raw)
Selected Books by Stephen May
Routledge, 2014
Drawing on the latest developments in bilingual and multilingual research, The Multilingual Turn ... more Drawing on the latest developments in bilingual and multilingual research, The Multilingual Turn offers a critique of, and alternative to, still-dominant monolingual theories, pedagogies and practices in SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. Critics of the ‘monolingual bias’ argue that notions such as the idealized native speaker, and related concepts of interlanguage, language competence, and fossilization, have framed these fields inextricably in relation to monolingual speaker norms. In contrast, these critics advocate an approach that emphasizes the multiple competencies of bi/multilingual learners as the basis for successful language teaching and learning.
This volume takes a big step forward in re-situating the issue of multilingualism more centrally in applied linguistics and, in so doing, making more permeable its key sub-disciplinary boundaries – particularly, those between SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. It addresses this issue head on, bringing together key international scholars in SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education to explore from cutting-edge interdisciplinary perspectives what a more critical multilingual perspective might mean for theory, pedagogy, and practice in each of these fields.
"Boundary-breaking, with wonderful width as well as originality, this book is at the cutting edge. The star-studded list of chapter authors are THE experts in their fields of study.” Prof. Colin Baker, Bangor University, UK"
Routledge, 2012
This significantly revised and updated second edition of Stephen May's ground-breaking and award ... more This significantly revised and updated second edition of Stephen May's ground-breaking and award winning book on language and minority rights addresses new theoretical and empirical developments since its initial publication, including the burgeoning influence of globalization and the relentless rise of English as the current world language. May’s broad position, however, remains largely unchanged. He argues that the causes of many of the language-based conflicts in the world today still lie with the nation-state and its preoccupation with establishing a 'common' language and culture via mass education. The solution, he suggests, is to rethink nation-states in more culturally and linguistically plural ways while avoiding, at the same time, essentializing the language-identity link.
This edition, like the first, adopts a wide interdisciplinary framework, drawing on sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, sociology, political theory, education and law. It also includes new discussions of cosmopolitanism, globalization, the role of English, and language and mobility, highlighting the ongoing difficulties faced by minority language speakers in the world today.
"This is a very important book and should be required reading for students, scholars, policy makers and others interested in linguistic pluralism." – CHOICE"
Routledge, 2010
Critical multiculturalism has emerged over the last decade as a direct challenge to liberal or be... more Critical multiculturalism has emerged over the last decade as a direct challenge to liberal or benevolent forms of multicultural education. By integrating and advancing various critical theoretical threads such as anti-racist education, critical race theory, and critical pedagogy, critical multiculturalism has offered a fuller analysis of oppression and institutionalization of unequal power relations in education. But what do these powerful theories really mean for classroom practice and specific disciplines?
Edited by two leading authorities on multicultural education, Critical Multiculturalism: Theory and Praxis brings together international scholars of critical multiculturalism to directly and illustratively address what a transformed critical multicultural approach to education might mean for teacher education and classroom practice. Providing both contextual background and curriculum specific subject coverage ranging from language arts and mathematics to science and technology, each chapter shows how critical multiculturalism relates to praxis. As a watershed in the further development of critical multicultural approaches to education, this timely collection will be required reading for all scholars, educators and practitioners of multicultural education.
"This masterful treatment of transformative critical multiculturalism within unconventional disciplines, in one collection and across many nations, positions this book as an important contribution to the field and marks a turning point in critical multiculturalism."--Language Arts
"I truly believe that this book is a must-read for critical race theorists, critical pedagogues, and critical multicultural practitioners…. [and] conclude that May and Sleeter accomplished their ambitious goal: to show how critical multiculturalism relates to praxis."--Education Review"
Cambridge University Press, 2004
Focusing on minority rights and recognition, this interdisciplinary collection addresses the posi... more Focusing on minority rights and recognition, this interdisciplinary collection addresses the position of minorities in democratic societies. Featured topics include the constructed nature of ethnicity, class and the "new racism," different forms of nationalism, self-determination and indigenous politics, the politics of recognition versus the politics of redistribution, and the re-emergence of cosmopolitanism.
Selected Papers by Stephen May
Ethnicities, 2023
A key feature of the confluence of modern nation-state formation and colonization has been the ma... more A key feature of the confluence of modern nation-state formation and colonization has been the marginalization and denigration of minoritized language varieties, particularly Indigenous languages, over time. Indigenous languages have been actively proscribed in public language domains, such as education, leading to their inevitable shift and loss, in settler-colonial contexts worldwide. This process of linguistic hierarchization has long been recognized in the sociology of language and the sociology of nationalism but the overt and covert linguistic racism attendant upon it had remained relatively under-explored. Recent discussions within sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, however, have addressed this lacuna, particularly through the development of raciolinguistics as a theoretical framework. Linguistic racism, a form of cultural racism, uses discursive constructions of language use and related linguistic hierarchies as a proxy for the racialized discrimination and subordination of Indigenous peoples and other minoritized ethnic groups. Here, I explore discourses of linguistic racism by Pākehā (White) New Zealanders in Aotearoa New Zealand toward te reo Māori, the Indigenous Māori language, in everyday discourses and the media. I focus particularly on the public contestation of the increasing normalization of te reo Māori in contemporary New Zealand society, the result of the successes of the last 40 years of Māori language revitalization, via both overt and covert forms of linguistic racism toward te reo Māori. These discourses act in defense of English monolingualism, the direct linguistic legacy of New Zealand’s settler-colonial history, along with the privileges this history has provided for White, monolingual English-speaking New Zealanders. Interestingly, the racialized opposition to te reo Māori is most evident among older, White New Zealanders. This suggests the potential for change among younger New Zealanders and New Zealand’s increasingly diverse migrant population, both of whom appear more open to the ongoing development of societal bilingualism in English and te reo Māori.
Ethnicities, 2023
This special issue of Ethnicities focuses on the phenomenon of linguistic racism. Linguistic raci... more This special issue of Ethnicities focuses on the phenomenon of linguistic racism. Linguistic racism constitutes the intersection of language, race/ism, and in/equality, as seen in racialized discourses on the relative status of languages and bi/multilingual language use, particularly as these are directed toward non-dominant language speakers. The theoretical framings underpinning the contributions in this issue draw on sociological discussions of critical race theory, and sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological discussions of language ideologies, linguistic racism, and raciolinguistics. Racialized discourses of language (use) are situated within sociohistorical and sociopolitical contexts, grounded in nationalism and colonialism, that privilege dominant national and international languages, public monolingualism, and native-speaker competence in those languages. In contrast, related linguistic hierarchies of prestige pathologize the language uses of non-dominant languageoften Indigenous and/or bi/multilingualspeakers and construct their language use in both overtly and covertly racialized terms. The result is regular linguistic discrimination and subordination experienced by non-dominant language speakers, inevitably framed within wider racialized institutional and everyday discursive practices. The contributions herein explore these issues in relation to Indigenous and other non-dominant language use(s), and their (mis)representation, in the media, workplace, and academia, in the contexts of New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, and the United States.
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 18, 2, 131-148.
Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multil... more Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multilingualism within political philosophy, drawing on continental European contexts where multilingualism is the norm. Van Parijs argues, in effect, for linguistic cosmopolitanism via English as the current world language, and this seems ostensibly to be a considerable improvement on ‘the untrammeled public monolingualism’ of Anglo-American political theory. However, Van Parijs’s account is flawed in four key respects. First, there is the fundamental problem of his reductionist account of language – by which language is viewed only in terms of its communicative uses and reach and not in relation to its symbolic and identity functions. Second is his simplistic advocacy of English as a global lingua franca, which ignores issues of power and inequality, along with related delimited access to high-status English language varieties. Third are the inherent limitations associated with his advocacy of linguistic territoriality, which recognizes state-sanctioned languages but little else, thus failing to mitigate existing linguistic hierarchies. Finally, the wider argument for English as a global lingua franca is inevitably underpinned by a monolithic/hegemonic view of English itself. This monolithic conception of English stands in contradistinction, not only to the actual plethora of Englishes in the world today, but also, more importantly, to their widely varying status and use in furthering cross-communication and related notions of social and economic mobility. The latter thus fatally undermines Van Parijs’s central argument linking social and economic mobility ineluctably to access to English.
Language Policy 13, 371-393, 2014
In many language policy and political theory discussions, there is an overt skepticism, and at ti... more In many language policy and political theory discussions, there is an overt skepticism, and at times outright hostility, towards the ongoing maintenance of private and, especially, public multilingualism, particularly when these include/incorporate the languages of linguistic minorities. For linguistic minority individuals, ongoing multilingualism is seen as delimiting the possibilities of their integration into the national society and the successful acquisition of the dominant (national) language(s). For linguistic minority groups, the maintenance/support of minority languages is viewed as a willful form of communal ghettoization, while any accommodation of public multilingualism—via, for example, bilingual education—is concurrently constructed as both an obstacle to effective communication for these groups in the wider society and a threat to their social mobility. The latter preoccupations with effective communication and social mobility also underlie recent linguistic cosmopolitan arguments in political theory that link globalization, communication and social mobility inextricably with the need for acquiring English as the global lingua franca. In this article, I critique and contest both this ongoing opposition to multilingualism, and the related privileging of English as global lingua franca, drawing primarily on political theory accounts, by way of example. Following from this, I argue that ongoing support for individual and public multilingualism provides not only greater opportunities for linguistic justice but also, counter-intuitively, facilitates wider inclusion and social mobility for linguistic minorities in an increasingly globalized world.
Journal of Language, Identity and Education 13, 4, 229-235., 2014
Review of Research in Education 38, 215-241, 2014
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Education 1, 1, 34-69, 2013
This article outlines key developments internationally over the last 40 years in indigenous immer... more This article outlines key developments internationally over the last 40 years in indigenous immersion education. Most notable here has been the establishment of community-based, bottom-up immersion programs, instigated by indigenous communities with the aim of maintaining or revitalizing their indigenous languages. As such, the article addresses a relative lacuna in immersion education literature, which has to date focused primarily on second-and foreign-language contexts. The article first provides a wider sociohistorical and sociopolitical context, focusing on key developments in international law, and in specific national contexts, which have facilitated the establishment of these indigenous immersion programs. The interrelationship between indigenous immersion educational policy and pedagogy is then explored, highlighting, in the process, the various challenges involved in developing, implementing, and maintaining effective indigenous immersion programs. Finally, international exemplars of indigenous education programs are discussed, including, Hawaiian, Navajo, and Cherokee programs in the U.S., and Māori-medium education in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Journal of Multicultural Discourses 7, 1, 21-27, 2012
Linguistics and Education 22, 3, 233-247, 2011
For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in S... more For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in SLA and TESOL research, which invariably constructs bi/multilingualism in deficit terms. In contrast, these critics have advocated an additive bilingual approach to SLA and TESOL, albeit, not as yet to any great effect.
Journal of Human Rights 10, 3, 265-289, 2011
Revista de Antropología Social 19, 131-159, 2010
En los últimos sesenta años, hemos sido testigos del creciente desarrollo y de la articulación de... more En los últimos sesenta años, hemos sido testigos del creciente desarrollo y de la articulación de los derechos humanos, en especial en el seno del derecho internacional y a través de las organizaciones internacionales. Sin embargo, en ese periodo, el derecho a mantener una o varias lenguas propias sin discriminación permanece particularmente relegado y/o cuestionado como un derecho humano clave. Esto se debe principalmente a que el reconocimiento de los derechos lingüísticos presupone el reconocimiento de la importancia de un grupo amplio de miembros y contextos sociales -concepciones éstas que chocan ostensiblemente con la primacía de los derechos individuales en la era posterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial-. Este artículo explora los argumentos a favor y en contra de los derechos lingüísticos, en particular de grupos minoritarios en Europa, y sostiene que los derechos lingüísticos pueden y deben ser reconocidos como un importante derecho humano. De este modo, el artículo se basa en los debates ideológicos de teoría política y derecho internacional, así como en el importante ejemplo empírico de Cataluña.
Language and Education 21, 5, 387-405, 2007
Language and Education 21, 5, 2007, 370-376, 2007
This paper discusses the challenges and possibilities attendant upon successfully implementing li... more This paper discusses the challenges and possibilities attendant upon successfully implementing literacy across the curriculum initiatives -or 'school language policies' as they have come to be known -particularly at the secondary or high school level. It provides a theoretical background to these issues, exploring previous academic discussions of school language policies, and highlights key areas of concern as well as opportunity with respect to school implementation of such policies. As such, it provides a necessary conceptual background to the subsequent papers in this special issue, which focus upon the Secondary Schools' Literacy Initiative (SSLI) -a New Zealand funded programme that aims to establish cross-curricular language and literacy policies in secondary schools.
Journal of Language, Identity and Education 5, 4, 301-308 , 2006
Journal of Sociolinguistics 9, 3, 319-347, 2005
This article provides an overview of the current issues and challenges facing the nascent paradig... more This article provides an overview of the current issues and challenges facing the nascent paradigm of minority language rights (MLR). It focuses on the theoretical points of dispute and tension with respect to MLR, as well as the challenges attendant upon their implementation in complex, multiethnic and multilingual contexts. The article acknowledges, but also responds to, key critiques of MLR to date. These include debates about linguistic modernisation, linguistic identities and essentialism, language and social mobility, and macro and micro language practices. In light of these debates, the article speculates about possible ways forward for the MLR paradigm.
Routledge, 2014
Drawing on the latest developments in bilingual and multilingual research, The Multilingual Turn ... more Drawing on the latest developments in bilingual and multilingual research, The Multilingual Turn offers a critique of, and alternative to, still-dominant monolingual theories, pedagogies and practices in SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. Critics of the ‘monolingual bias’ argue that notions such as the idealized native speaker, and related concepts of interlanguage, language competence, and fossilization, have framed these fields inextricably in relation to monolingual speaker norms. In contrast, these critics advocate an approach that emphasizes the multiple competencies of bi/multilingual learners as the basis for successful language teaching and learning.
This volume takes a big step forward in re-situating the issue of multilingualism more centrally in applied linguistics and, in so doing, making more permeable its key sub-disciplinary boundaries – particularly, those between SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. It addresses this issue head on, bringing together key international scholars in SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education to explore from cutting-edge interdisciplinary perspectives what a more critical multilingual perspective might mean for theory, pedagogy, and practice in each of these fields.
"Boundary-breaking, with wonderful width as well as originality, this book is at the cutting edge. The star-studded list of chapter authors are THE experts in their fields of study.” Prof. Colin Baker, Bangor University, UK"
Routledge, 2012
This significantly revised and updated second edition of Stephen May's ground-breaking and award ... more This significantly revised and updated second edition of Stephen May's ground-breaking and award winning book on language and minority rights addresses new theoretical and empirical developments since its initial publication, including the burgeoning influence of globalization and the relentless rise of English as the current world language. May’s broad position, however, remains largely unchanged. He argues that the causes of many of the language-based conflicts in the world today still lie with the nation-state and its preoccupation with establishing a 'common' language and culture via mass education. The solution, he suggests, is to rethink nation-states in more culturally and linguistically plural ways while avoiding, at the same time, essentializing the language-identity link.
This edition, like the first, adopts a wide interdisciplinary framework, drawing on sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, sociology, political theory, education and law. It also includes new discussions of cosmopolitanism, globalization, the role of English, and language and mobility, highlighting the ongoing difficulties faced by minority language speakers in the world today.
"This is a very important book and should be required reading for students, scholars, policy makers and others interested in linguistic pluralism." – CHOICE"
Routledge, 2010
Critical multiculturalism has emerged over the last decade as a direct challenge to liberal or be... more Critical multiculturalism has emerged over the last decade as a direct challenge to liberal or benevolent forms of multicultural education. By integrating and advancing various critical theoretical threads such as anti-racist education, critical race theory, and critical pedagogy, critical multiculturalism has offered a fuller analysis of oppression and institutionalization of unequal power relations in education. But what do these powerful theories really mean for classroom practice and specific disciplines?
Edited by two leading authorities on multicultural education, Critical Multiculturalism: Theory and Praxis brings together international scholars of critical multiculturalism to directly and illustratively address what a transformed critical multicultural approach to education might mean for teacher education and classroom practice. Providing both contextual background and curriculum specific subject coverage ranging from language arts and mathematics to science and technology, each chapter shows how critical multiculturalism relates to praxis. As a watershed in the further development of critical multicultural approaches to education, this timely collection will be required reading for all scholars, educators and practitioners of multicultural education.
"This masterful treatment of transformative critical multiculturalism within unconventional disciplines, in one collection and across many nations, positions this book as an important contribution to the field and marks a turning point in critical multiculturalism."--Language Arts
"I truly believe that this book is a must-read for critical race theorists, critical pedagogues, and critical multicultural practitioners…. [and] conclude that May and Sleeter accomplished their ambitious goal: to show how critical multiculturalism relates to praxis."--Education Review"
Cambridge University Press, 2004
Focusing on minority rights and recognition, this interdisciplinary collection addresses the posi... more Focusing on minority rights and recognition, this interdisciplinary collection addresses the position of minorities in democratic societies. Featured topics include the constructed nature of ethnicity, class and the "new racism," different forms of nationalism, self-determination and indigenous politics, the politics of recognition versus the politics of redistribution, and the re-emergence of cosmopolitanism.
Ethnicities, 2023
A key feature of the confluence of modern nation-state formation and colonization has been the ma... more A key feature of the confluence of modern nation-state formation and colonization has been the marginalization and denigration of minoritized language varieties, particularly Indigenous languages, over time. Indigenous languages have been actively proscribed in public language domains, such as education, leading to their inevitable shift and loss, in settler-colonial contexts worldwide. This process of linguistic hierarchization has long been recognized in the sociology of language and the sociology of nationalism but the overt and covert linguistic racism attendant upon it had remained relatively under-explored. Recent discussions within sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, however, have addressed this lacuna, particularly through the development of raciolinguistics as a theoretical framework. Linguistic racism, a form of cultural racism, uses discursive constructions of language use and related linguistic hierarchies as a proxy for the racialized discrimination and subordination of Indigenous peoples and other minoritized ethnic groups. Here, I explore discourses of linguistic racism by Pākehā (White) New Zealanders in Aotearoa New Zealand toward te reo Māori, the Indigenous Māori language, in everyday discourses and the media. I focus particularly on the public contestation of the increasing normalization of te reo Māori in contemporary New Zealand society, the result of the successes of the last 40 years of Māori language revitalization, via both overt and covert forms of linguistic racism toward te reo Māori. These discourses act in defense of English monolingualism, the direct linguistic legacy of New Zealand’s settler-colonial history, along with the privileges this history has provided for White, monolingual English-speaking New Zealanders. Interestingly, the racialized opposition to te reo Māori is most evident among older, White New Zealanders. This suggests the potential for change among younger New Zealanders and New Zealand’s increasingly diverse migrant population, both of whom appear more open to the ongoing development of societal bilingualism in English and te reo Māori.
Ethnicities, 2023
This special issue of Ethnicities focuses on the phenomenon of linguistic racism. Linguistic raci... more This special issue of Ethnicities focuses on the phenomenon of linguistic racism. Linguistic racism constitutes the intersection of language, race/ism, and in/equality, as seen in racialized discourses on the relative status of languages and bi/multilingual language use, particularly as these are directed toward non-dominant language speakers. The theoretical framings underpinning the contributions in this issue draw on sociological discussions of critical race theory, and sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological discussions of language ideologies, linguistic racism, and raciolinguistics. Racialized discourses of language (use) are situated within sociohistorical and sociopolitical contexts, grounded in nationalism and colonialism, that privilege dominant national and international languages, public monolingualism, and native-speaker competence in those languages. In contrast, related linguistic hierarchies of prestige pathologize the language uses of non-dominant languageoften Indigenous and/or bi/multilingualspeakers and construct their language use in both overtly and covertly racialized terms. The result is regular linguistic discrimination and subordination experienced by non-dominant language speakers, inevitably framed within wider racialized institutional and everyday discursive practices. The contributions herein explore these issues in relation to Indigenous and other non-dominant language use(s), and their (mis)representation, in the media, workplace, and academia, in the contexts of New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, and the United States.
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 18, 2, 131-148.
Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multil... more Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multilingualism within political philosophy, drawing on continental European contexts where multilingualism is the norm. Van Parijs argues, in effect, for linguistic cosmopolitanism via English as the current world language, and this seems ostensibly to be a considerable improvement on ‘the untrammeled public monolingualism’ of Anglo-American political theory. However, Van Parijs’s account is flawed in four key respects. First, there is the fundamental problem of his reductionist account of language – by which language is viewed only in terms of its communicative uses and reach and not in relation to its symbolic and identity functions. Second is his simplistic advocacy of English as a global lingua franca, which ignores issues of power and inequality, along with related delimited access to high-status English language varieties. Third are the inherent limitations associated with his advocacy of linguistic territoriality, which recognizes state-sanctioned languages but little else, thus failing to mitigate existing linguistic hierarchies. Finally, the wider argument for English as a global lingua franca is inevitably underpinned by a monolithic/hegemonic view of English itself. This monolithic conception of English stands in contradistinction, not only to the actual plethora of Englishes in the world today, but also, more importantly, to their widely varying status and use in furthering cross-communication and related notions of social and economic mobility. The latter thus fatally undermines Van Parijs’s central argument linking social and economic mobility ineluctably to access to English.
Language Policy 13, 371-393, 2014
In many language policy and political theory discussions, there is an overt skepticism, and at ti... more In many language policy and political theory discussions, there is an overt skepticism, and at times outright hostility, towards the ongoing maintenance of private and, especially, public multilingualism, particularly when these include/incorporate the languages of linguistic minorities. For linguistic minority individuals, ongoing multilingualism is seen as delimiting the possibilities of their integration into the national society and the successful acquisition of the dominant (national) language(s). For linguistic minority groups, the maintenance/support of minority languages is viewed as a willful form of communal ghettoization, while any accommodation of public multilingualism—via, for example, bilingual education—is concurrently constructed as both an obstacle to effective communication for these groups in the wider society and a threat to their social mobility. The latter preoccupations with effective communication and social mobility also underlie recent linguistic cosmopolitan arguments in political theory that link globalization, communication and social mobility inextricably with the need for acquiring English as the global lingua franca. In this article, I critique and contest both this ongoing opposition to multilingualism, and the related privileging of English as global lingua franca, drawing primarily on political theory accounts, by way of example. Following from this, I argue that ongoing support for individual and public multilingualism provides not only greater opportunities for linguistic justice but also, counter-intuitively, facilitates wider inclusion and social mobility for linguistic minorities in an increasingly globalized world.
Journal of Language, Identity and Education 13, 4, 229-235., 2014
Review of Research in Education 38, 215-241, 2014
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Education 1, 1, 34-69, 2013
This article outlines key developments internationally over the last 40 years in indigenous immer... more This article outlines key developments internationally over the last 40 years in indigenous immersion education. Most notable here has been the establishment of community-based, bottom-up immersion programs, instigated by indigenous communities with the aim of maintaining or revitalizing their indigenous languages. As such, the article addresses a relative lacuna in immersion education literature, which has to date focused primarily on second-and foreign-language contexts. The article first provides a wider sociohistorical and sociopolitical context, focusing on key developments in international law, and in specific national contexts, which have facilitated the establishment of these indigenous immersion programs. The interrelationship between indigenous immersion educational policy and pedagogy is then explored, highlighting, in the process, the various challenges involved in developing, implementing, and maintaining effective indigenous immersion programs. Finally, international exemplars of indigenous education programs are discussed, including, Hawaiian, Navajo, and Cherokee programs in the U.S., and Māori-medium education in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Journal of Multicultural Discourses 7, 1, 21-27, 2012
Linguistics and Education 22, 3, 233-247, 2011
For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in S... more For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in SLA and TESOL research, which invariably constructs bi/multilingualism in deficit terms. In contrast, these critics have advocated an additive bilingual approach to SLA and TESOL, albeit, not as yet to any great effect.
Journal of Human Rights 10, 3, 265-289, 2011
Revista de Antropología Social 19, 131-159, 2010
En los últimos sesenta años, hemos sido testigos del creciente desarrollo y de la articulación de... more En los últimos sesenta años, hemos sido testigos del creciente desarrollo y de la articulación de los derechos humanos, en especial en el seno del derecho internacional y a través de las organizaciones internacionales. Sin embargo, en ese periodo, el derecho a mantener una o varias lenguas propias sin discriminación permanece particularmente relegado y/o cuestionado como un derecho humano clave. Esto se debe principalmente a que el reconocimiento de los derechos lingüísticos presupone el reconocimiento de la importancia de un grupo amplio de miembros y contextos sociales -concepciones éstas que chocan ostensiblemente con la primacía de los derechos individuales en la era posterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial-. Este artículo explora los argumentos a favor y en contra de los derechos lingüísticos, en particular de grupos minoritarios en Europa, y sostiene que los derechos lingüísticos pueden y deben ser reconocidos como un importante derecho humano. De este modo, el artículo se basa en los debates ideológicos de teoría política y derecho internacional, así como en el importante ejemplo empírico de Cataluña.
Language and Education 21, 5, 387-405, 2007
Language and Education 21, 5, 2007, 370-376, 2007
This paper discusses the challenges and possibilities attendant upon successfully implementing li... more This paper discusses the challenges and possibilities attendant upon successfully implementing literacy across the curriculum initiatives -or 'school language policies' as they have come to be known -particularly at the secondary or high school level. It provides a theoretical background to these issues, exploring previous academic discussions of school language policies, and highlights key areas of concern as well as opportunity with respect to school implementation of such policies. As such, it provides a necessary conceptual background to the subsequent papers in this special issue, which focus upon the Secondary Schools' Literacy Initiative (SSLI) -a New Zealand funded programme that aims to establish cross-curricular language and literacy policies in secondary schools.
Journal of Language, Identity and Education 5, 4, 301-308 , 2006
Journal of Sociolinguistics 9, 3, 319-347, 2005
This article provides an overview of the current issues and challenges facing the nascent paradig... more This article provides an overview of the current issues and challenges facing the nascent paradigm of minority language rights (MLR). It focuses on the theoretical points of dispute and tension with respect to MLR, as well as the challenges attendant upon their implementation in complex, multiethnic and multilingual contexts. The article acknowledges, but also responds to, key critiques of MLR to date. These include debates about linguistic modernisation, linguistic identities and essentialism, language and social mobility, and macro and micro language practices. In light of these debates, the article speculates about possible ways forward for the MLR paradigm.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 8, 5, 377-403, 2005
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 8, 5, 365-376, 2005
a School of Educati on , Uni versi ty of W ai kato , Ham i l ton, New Zeal and Publ i shed onl i ... more a School of Educati on , Uni versi ty of W ai kato , Ham i l ton, New Zeal and Publ i shed onl i ne: 22 Dec 2008. To ci te thi s arti cl e: Stephen M ay (2005) Bi l i ngual /I m m ersi on Educati on i n Aotearoa/New Zeal and: Setti ng the Context, I nternati onal Journal of Bi l i ngual Educati on and Bi l i ngual i sm , 8:5, 365-376,
Current Issues in Language Planning, 4,2, 95-125, 2003
Publ i cati on detai l s, i ncl udi ng i nstructi ons for authors and subscri pti on i nform ati ... more Publ i cati on detai l s, i ncl udi ng i nstructi ons for authors and subscri pti on i nform ati on: http://w w w.tandfonl i ne.com /l oi /rcl p20
Comparative Education, 39, 2, 139-145
Journal of Language, Identity and Education 13, 4., 2014
In S. May (ed.), The Multilingual Turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 7-31). New York: Routledge., 2014
In S. May (ed.), The Multilingual Turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 1-6). New York: Routledge., 2014
In R. Race & V. Lander (eds.), Advancing race and ethnicity in education (pp.128-144). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014
In M. East & S. May (eds.), Making a Difference in Education and Social Policy (pp. 191-212)., 2013
In A. Yiakoumetti (ed.), Harnessing Linguistic Variation for Better Education (pp. 11-44), 2012
In T. McCarty (ed.), Ethnography in Language Policy (pp. 161-184)., 2011
In M. Grenfell (ed.) Bourdieu: Language and linguistics (pp. 147-169), 2011
In S. May, & C. Sleeter (eds.) Critical Multiculturalism: Theory and praxis (pp. 1-16)., 2010
In J. Fishman & O. Garcia (eds.), Handbook of Language and Ethnicity (pp. 501-517). Oxford University Press, 2010
his volume argues that language, ethnicity, and identity are defined by the circumstances under w... more his volume argues that language, ethnicity, and identity are defined by the circumstances under which they are created, The foundational chapter by Joshua A. Fishman describes how language, ethnicity, and identity are variable and changeable. The essays in the first part of the Handbook view language and ethnic identity through the lenses of sociolinguistics, psychology, anthropology, politics, and economics. These essays address important topics such as diasporic languages, language and ethnic identity near state borders, and the education of lndigenous peoples, language minorities, and the Deaf.
In J. Cummins & N. Hornberger (eds.) Bilingual education. The Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd edition, Volume 5 (pp. 19-34), 2008
In S. May & N. Hornberger (eds.) Language policy and political issues in education. The Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd edition, Volume 1 (pp. 15-29), 2008
In T. Ricento (ed.) An Introduction to Language Policy. (pp. 255-272), 2006
In S. May, T. Modood, & J. Squires (eds.), Ethnicity, nationalism and minority rights (pp. 1-26)).
In P. Spoonley, C. Macpherson & D. Pearson (eds.), Tangata Tangata (Pp. 247-264), 2004
In J. Tollefson & A. Tsui (eds.), Medium of Instruction Policies (pp.21-41), 2004
In W. Kymlicka & A. Patten (eds.), Language and political theory (pp. 123-152). , 2003
In N. Hornberger & D. Corson (eds.) Research methods and Education. The Encyclopedia of Language and Education (1st ed. Volume 8; pp. 197-206)., 1997
Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ), 2013
New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2007
LEAP is an innovative, reseach based, professional development resource developed by a research t... more LEAP is an innovative, reseach based, professional development resource developed by a research team led by Prof. Stephen May. The specific aim of the project was to develop a research-informed professional development resource for New Zealand teachers working in mainstream (English-medium) schools, focusing on enhancing their teaching practices with bilingual Pasifika students and, by extension, improving (bilingual Pasifika) student learning. While the focus of the resource is thus specifically on Pasifika bilingual students, its principles and practices can be extended/extrapolated to other bilingual students in similar majority language teaching contexts.
LEAP is interesting, and unusual, for two reasons. First, it integrates research on bilingualism, SLA, and TESOL in order to provide an additive approach to issues of SLA and TESOL in English-medium teaching and learning contexts. This approach is in direct contrast with most existing SLA/TESOL courses that, even when they do incorporate discussion of bi/multilingual education, usually do so as a separate/discrete section. These latter courses seldom, if ever, apply additive bilingual principles, let alone dynamic notions of bilingualism, to existing SLA/TESOL practices. LEAP attempts precisely that. In so doing, it is a still rare example internationally of a resource that addresses/redresses directly the longstanding criticism of the monolingual bias in SLA and TESOL.
Second, it is an equally rare example of an interactive web-based resource for teachers that is both explicitly research informed and directly accessible to teachers. The latter has been achieved by developing LEAP on the principles of activity theory (Leont’ev, 1981; Shulman, 1987) and by providing over 50 individual “inquiries” for teachers, working in both elementary and high school contexts, to explore issues pertinent to the teaching and learning experiences of bilingual (Pasifika) students. These inquiries include supporting material and related investigations that teachers can complete, either individually or collectively as part of a professional development group.
New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2006
New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2004
Based on a comprehensive review of national and international research on bilingualism and biling... more Based on a comprehensive review of national and international research on bilingualism and bilingual/immersion education, this report explores effective approaches for bilingual education. While the focus of the report is on Māori-medium education, the indicators of good practice can also be applied to other bilingual contexts in Aotearoa/New Zealand, such as Pasifika bilingual education.
LED 2015 Conference Sponsored by the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland ... more LED 2015 Conference
Sponsored by the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland
Monday 23 - Thursday 26 November 2015
Owen G. Glenn Building, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
As with its predecessors, the LED 2015 conference will focus on language and education, with particular reference to addressing/accommodating diversity. Within this broad focus, there will be specific conference streams on:
Bilingual/immersion education
English language education (TESL/TEFL)
Language education planning and policy
Literacy education (both school and adult literacy)
Keynote Speakers for the LED 2015 conference include:
Professor Jasone Cenoz, Professor of Research Methods in Education at the University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU.
Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin, a prominent New Zealand Pacific academic and leader of Samoan ancestry.
Professor Ryuko Kubota, Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Professor Alastair Pennycook, Professor of Language in Education at the University of Technology Sydney.
Professor Elana Shohamy, Professor of Language Education at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
Professor Steven L. Thorne, Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Portland State University (USA), with a secondary appointment in the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands).
For up-to-date information about LED 2015, please visit the conference website - www.led.ac.nz - or contact the conference organisers.
Nāku noa, nā
Yours sincerely,
Professor Stephen May
Conference Convenor and Chair
Te Puna Wānanga (the School of Māori Education)
Faculty of Education
University of Auckland
(on behalf of the Organising Committee)
Contact the Conference Organisers
For further details about the LED Conference, please contact the Conference Organisers, Paardekooper & Associates, at:
Phone: +64 4 562 8259
Email: led@paardekooper.co.nz
Advancing Race and Ethnicity in Education, 2014
One of the historical artefacts of the construction of academic disciplines is a tendency towards... more One of the historical artefacts of the construction of academic disciplines is a tendency towards paradigmatic closure — that is, an often unreflexive and hermetic defence of the particular academic paradigm within which one is situated and a related dismissal of alternative paradigms. Bernstein (1990, 2000) describes these self-regulating academic communities as ‘singulars’. Singulars, for Bernstein, are characterised by strong boundary maintenance (classification), which is supported culturally (via professional associations, networks, and writing) and psychologically (in students, teachers, and researchers). As a result, ‘singulars develop strong autonomous self-sealing and narcissistic identities’ (Bernstein, 2000, p. 54). The only means by which to avoid these hermetic tendencies is to develop interdisciplinary and/or applied fields of enquiry, which Bernstein describes as ‘regions’. For Bernstein, regions are ‘created by a recontextualising [and, one might add, expansion] of singulars’ (Bernstein, 2000, p. 9). From this, potential new lines of enquiry can be drawn from related disciplines. As Becher and Trowler (2001) observe of this: It often happens that adjoining disciplinary groups lay claim to the same pieces of intellectual territory. This does not necessarily entail a conflict between them. In some cases, depending on the nature of the claimants and the disposition of the no man’s land, it may involve a straightforward division of interest; in others it may mark a growing unification of ideas and approaches. (Becher and Trowler, 2001, p. 60)
Critical Multiculturalism, 2010
Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 2014
Cities have always had a certain cache, a certain fascination—especially, large urban conurbation... more Cities have always had a certain cache, a certain fascination—especially, large urban conurbations. They are the first (and often only) port of call for most migrants who see within them the greatest opportunity for employment; scope for upward social mobility; and/or access to wider social, cultural, and economic networks. Irrespective of whether this actually ever proves to be the case, since cities are riven with stark inequalities and related social, cultural, linguistic, and economic hierarchies (Goldsmith & Blakely, 2010; Gugler, 2004; Musterd & Ostendorf, 2013), the pull and influence of cities remains strong. Indeed, for the first time, more people across the world are now living in cities than in the countryside (Davis, 2004; Green & Corbett, 2013a, 2013b; Schafft & Youngblood Jackson, 2010). This longstanding fascination with, and privileging of, cities—which has been aptly termed by Green (2013, p. 19) as metronormativity—has also been evident in a wide range of academic fields, not least our own. In sociolinguistics, for example, we are currently seeing what I have elsewhere termed the multilingual turn (May, 2014a, 2014b). The multilingual turn comprises a (renewed)1 focus on the multilingual speaker, rather than the monolingual speaker, as the norm for language learning and teaching (see also Conteh & Meier, 2014; García, 2009). In addition, it involves an examination of the contexts in which such multilingual speakers live and “language.” These contexts are shaped by the current conditions of late modernity, not least the rise of globalization2 and related, rapidly increasing, patterns of transmigration. As a result,
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2015
Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multil... more Van Parijs’s Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World furthers a nascent examination of multilingualism within political philosophy, drawing on continental European contexts where multilingualism is the norm. Van Parijs argues, in effect for linguistic cosmopolitanism via English as the current world language, and this seems ostensibly to be a considerable improvement on ‘the untrammeled public monolingualism’ of Anglo-American political theory. However, Van Parijs’s account is flawed in four key respects. First, there is the fundamental problem of his reductionist account of language – by which language is viewed only in terms of its communicative uses and reach and not in relation to its symbolic and identity functions. Second is his simplistic advocacy of English as a global lingua franca, which ignores issues of power and inequality, along with related delimited access to high-status English language varieties. Third are the inherent limitations associated with his advocacy of linguistic territoriality, which recognizes state-sanctioned languages but little else, thus failing to mitigate existing linguistic hierarchies. Finally, the wider argument for English as a global lingua franca is inevitably underpinned by a monolithic/hegemonic view of English itself. This monolithic conception of English stands in contradistinction, not only to the actual plethora of Englishes in the world today, but also, more importantly, to their widely varying status and use in furthering cross-communication and related notions of social and economic mobility. The latter thus fatally undermines Van Parijs’s central argument linking social and economic mobility ineluctably to access to English.
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 2013
This article outlines key developments internationally over the last 40 years in indigenous immer... more This article outlines key developments internationally over the last 40 years in indigenous immersion education. Most notable here has been the establishment of community-based, bottom-up immersion programs, instigated by indigenous communities with the aim of maintaining or revitalizing their indigenous languages. As such, the article addresses a relative lacuna in immersion education literature, which has to date focused primarily on second- and foreign-language contexts. The article first provides a wider sociohistorical and sociopolitical context, focusing on key developments in international law, and in specific national contexts, which have facilitated the establishment of these indigenous immersion programs. The interrelationship between indigenous immersion educational policy and pedagogy is then explored, highlighting, in the process, the various challenges involved in developing, implementing, and maintaining effective indigenous immersion programs. Finally, international ...
Argues that the field of multicultural education, as it is currently conceived and practiced, is ... more Argues that the field of multicultural education, as it is currently conceived and practiced, is riven with theoretical inconsistencies and a seemingly terminal inability to translate its emancipatory intentions into actual practice. Describes the Richmond Road School in Auckland, New Zealand, which has implemented an informed, coherent, and emancipatory approach to multicultural education. (RS)
The principle of cultural and linguistic homogeneity, upon which the organization of modern natio... more The principle of cultural and linguistic homogeneity, upon which the organization of modern nation-states is predicated, is becoming increasingly hard to defend and maintain. At the demographic level, nation-states comprise (indeed, have always comprised) a variety of different cultural and linguistic groups. These include, alongside majority populations, indigenous peoples and other national minorities, as well as migrant communities. This long-standing demographic diversity has also increased markedly in modern times, particularly with patterns of increased migration and the forced relocation of refugees. These demographic changes have, in turn, placed increasing pressure on the public policies of nation-states which have historically been inimical or formal recognition of cultural and linguistic diversity. As a result, nation-states are having to address more seriously the 'politics of multiculturalism' - that is, the degree to which the languages and cultures of so calle...
Language Policy, 2014
In many language policy and political theory discussions, there is an overt skepticism, and at ti... more In many language policy and political theory discussions, there is an overt skepticism, and at times outright hostility, towards the ongoing maintenance of private and, especially, public multilingualism, particularly when these include/ incorporate the languages of linguistic minorities. For linguistic minority individuals, ongoing multilingualism is seen as delimiting the possibilities of their integration into the national society and the successful acquisition of the dominant (national) language(s). For linguistic minority groups, the maintenance/support of minority languages is viewed as a willful form of communal ghettoization, while any accommodation of public multilingualism-via, for example, bilingual education-is concurrently constructed as both an obstacle to effective communication for these groups in the wider society and a threat to their social mobility. The latter preoccupations with effective communication and social mobility also underlie recent linguistic cosmopolitan arguments in political theory that link globalization, communication and social mobility inextricably with the need for acquiring English as the global lingua franca. In this article, I critique and contest both this ongoing opposition to multilingualism, and the related privileging of English as global lingua franca, drawing primarily on political theory accounts, by way of example. Following from this, I argue that ongoing support for individual and public multilingualism provides not only greater opportunities for linguistic justice but also, counter-intuitively, facilitates wider inclusion and social mobility for linguistic minorities in an increasingly globalized world.
Review of Research in Education, 2014
ABSTRACT This article explores the bases for language minority rights – that is, the language rig... more ABSTRACT This article explores the bases for language minority rights – that is, the language rights that might be attributable to linguistic minorities– in modern liberal democracies. It draws on developments in international law and in some national contexts to outline what those rights might comprise and their potential impact on the provision of language education. However, the article also highlights how difficult it is for such rights to be established, let alone maintained. This is because of an ongoing skepticism towards language rights, which are deemed to be collective rights and, as such, are often viewed as militating against the individual tenets of human rights as they have developed post-Second World War. An advocacy for language education rights, most notably, via the provision of bilingual education, is also seen as potentially delimiting the engagement of students with the wider world and, particularly, English as the global language and standard-bearer for new cosmopolitan identities. Both coalesce to delimit the possibilities of more pluralistic, plurilingual, educational approaches to linguistic minority students, although they do not entirely foreclose them.
Linguistics and Education, 2011
For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in S... more For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in SLA and TESOL research, which invariably constructs bi/multilingualism in deficit terms. In contrast, these critics have advocated an additive bilingual approach to SLA and TESOL, albeit, not as yet to any great effect. In this paper, I explore why so little progress has been made in this area with respect to SLA and TESOL. By drawing on Bourdieu's notion of field, and Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing, I argue that the construction of SLA and TESOL as academic disciplines actively delimits the possibilities of developing an additive bilingual approach, although it does not foreclose it. By way of example, I conclude by discussing LEAP, a major web-based professional development resource for teachers, which integrates research in bilingualism and bilingual education with second language teaching and learning. LEAP thus provides a still rare international exemplar that takes seriously the challenge of developing an additive bilingual pedagogy for SLA and TESOL.
Language, Culture and Curriculum, 1998
... In the process, the public discourse on national identity, its parameters, and its constituen... more ... In the process, the public discourse on national identity, its parameters, and its constituent ... In Charles Taylor's succinct analysis, the'supposedly neutral set of difference-blind principles [that ... However, the significance of the treaty as the founding document of a bicultural Aotearoa ...
Language and Education, 1995
Recent developments in critical discourse analysis and critical ethnography have argued for a bro... more Recent developments in critical discourse analysis and critical ethnography have argued for a broader institutional perspective in the study of schools. In this view, the concerns of micro‐linguistics and micro‐ethnography are broadened to include an examination of how school discourses are situated within wider societal discourses and power relations. The dialectical nature of this process—which allows for the possibility of
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2000
... status. This accords a minority language comparable (or near comparable) legal and symbolic r... more ... status. This accords a minority language comparable (or near comparable) legal and symbolic rights to the majority national language, although the latter usually continues to remain dominant in most language domains. The ...
International Journal of Educational Development, 2004
Nations and Nationalism, 2006
Click here if your download doesn"t start automatically Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Minority Righ... more Click here if your download doesn"t start automatically Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Minority Rights Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Minority Rights This interdisciplinary collection addresses the position of minorities in democratic societies, with a particular focus on minority rights and recognition. For the first time, it brings together leading international authorities on ethnicity, nationalism and minority rights from both social and political theory, with the specific aim of fostering further debate between the disciplines. In their introduction, the editors explore the ways in which politics and sociology can complement each other in unravelling the many contradictory aspects of complex phenomena. Topics addressed include the constructed nature of ethnicity, its relation to class and to 'new racism', different forms of nationalism, self determination and indigenous politics, the politics of recognition versus the politics of redistribution, and the re-emergence of cosmopolitanism. This book is essential reading for all those involved in the study of ethnicity, nationalism and minority rights.
Critical Multiculturalism, 2005
The theory and practice of multiculturalism, of which multicultural and antiracist education form... more The theory and practice of multiculturalism, of which multicultural and antiracist education form a central part, currently faces opposition on two key fronts. The first constitutes an alliance of conservative and some liberal commentators whose principal aim is to defend ...
In this third, fully revised edition, the 10 volume Encyclopedia of Language and Education offers... more In this third, fully revised edition, the 10 volume Encyclopedia of Language and Education offers the newest developments, including an entirely new volume of research and scholarly content, essential to the field of language teaching and learning in the age of globalization. In the selection of topics and contributors, the Encyclopedia reflects the depth of disciplinary knowledge, breadth of interdisciplinary perspective, and diversity of sociogeographic experience in the language and education field.