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Dynamic Ecologies pp 31–47Cite as

Plurilithic and Ecological Perspectives on English: Some Conceptual and Practical Implications

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Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 9))

Abstract

Since the 1990s, a number of ideological ‘strands’ in applied linguistics have added considerable momentum to the debate around how we should conceive of English in a global world that is fast-changing and where English—in its many varieties—is undeniably the prevailing lingua franca. Yet, while the momentum of this debate may have gathered pace, the degree of controversy and the strength of feeling it provokes continue unabated and can broadly be characterised as a divide between the monolithic view of English and the plurilithic view. This is high stakes territory, marking as it does a place where the personal and the scholarly and ideological intersect: it reaches to the heart of notions of identity, history and culture, of the perceived and relative status of English, its varieties, boundaries and relationships to other languages, and of what this means for those concerned. In this chapter, we argue that the debate raises important questions concerning the conceptualisation and practice of English and English language teaching and we explore some of the implications of the plurilithic view vis-à-vis the ecological, pedagogical, commercial and personal questions it raises.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

    Jonathan Crichton

  2. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Neil Murray

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  1. Jonathan Crichton
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  2. Neil Murray
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Correspondence to Jonathan Crichton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Applied Linguistics S1.74 Social Sciences Building, University of Warwick, Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom

    Neil Murray

  2. Research Centre for Lang. & Cultures School of Comm., Int. Studies & Lang., University of South Australia, Magill, South Australia, Australia

    Angela Scarino

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Crichton, J., Murray, N. (2014). Plurilithic and Ecological Perspectives on English: Some Conceptual and Practical Implications. In: Murray, N., Scarino, A. (eds) Dynamic Ecologies. Multilingual Education, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7972-3_3

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