Synopses & Reviews
This fully-updated new edition engages with topics such as orality and literacy, the history of literacy, the uses and abuses of literacy in that history, the analysis of language as cultural communication, and social theories of mind and meaning, among many other topics. It represents the most current statement of a widely discussed and used theory about how language functions in society, a theory initially developed in the first edition of the book, and developed in this new edition in tandem with analytic techniques for the study of language and literacy in context, with special reference to cross-cultural issues in communities and schools.
Built around a large number of specific examples, this new edition reflects current debates across the world about education and educational reform, the nature of language and communication, and the role of sociocultural diversity in schools and society. One of the core goals of this book, from its first edition on, has been to develop a new and more widely applicable vision of applied linguistics. It will be of interest to researchers, lecturers and students in education, linguistics, or any field that deals with language, especially in social or cultural terms.
Synopsis
In its first edition, Social Linguistics and Literacies was a major contribution to the emerging interdisciplinary field of sociocultural approaches to language and literacy, and was one of the founding texts of the 'New Literacy Studies'.
This new edition includes much updated and revised material, and discusses some of the criticisms that have been made of the 'New Literacy Studies' and how work in this field relates to current debates about reading, literacy and schools. Critically examining digital literacy in the context of popular culture, the book also:
- engages with topics such as orality and literacy, the history of literacy, the nature of discourse analysis and social theories of mind and meaning
- explores how language functions in a society
- through the exploration of the notion of 'Discourse', it surveys the current state of the field with specific reference to cross-cultural issues in communities and schools.
This book serves as a classic introduction to the study of language, learning and literacy in their social, cultural and political contexts. It shows how contemporary sociocultural approaches to language and literacy emerged