Native Speakers And Native Users

'Native speakers' and 'native users' are playing the same game, sharing, as they do, the model of the Standard Language.

Presents a fresh look at the 'native speaker' by situating him/her in wider sociopolitical contexts. Using anthropological frameworks and ethnographic data from around the world, this book addresses the questions of who qualifies as a 'native speaker' and his/her social relations in the regime of standardization in multilingual situations.

Linguists, applied linguists and language teachers all appeal to the native speaker as an important reference point. But what exactly (who exactly?) is the native speaker? This book examines the native speaker from different points of view, arguing that the native speaker is both myth and reality.

Ten articles authored by linguists explore not only the cognitive terrain of what constitutes a native language, but also the socio-historical implications of constructed definitions of a "mother tongue." Among the issues examined are whether nativity in language can be said to constitute a mother tongue, whether proficiency and creativity in a language are indicative of the speaker's nativity, social empowerment through language, and language purity and linguistic corruption. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Introducing Global Englishes provides comprehensive coverage of relevant research in the fields of World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, and English as an International Language. The book introduces students to the current sociolinguistic uses of the English language, using a range of engaging and accessible examples from newspapers (Observer, Independent, Wall Street Journal), advertisements, and television shows. The book: Explains key concepts connected to the historical and contemporary spread of English. Explores the social, economic, educational, and political implications of English’s rise as a world language. Includes comprehensive classroom-based activities, case studies, research tasks, assessment prompts, and extensive online resources. Introducing Global Englishes is essential reading for students coming to this subject for the first time.

An authoritative overview of research into heritage language acquisition, covering key terminological and empirical issues, theoretical approaches, and research methodologies.

The notion of the native speaker and its undertones of ultimate language competence, language ownership and social status has been problematized by various researchers, arguing that the ensuing monolingual norms and assumptions are flawed or inequitable in a global super-diverse world. However, such norms are still ubiquitous in educational, institutional and social settings, in political structures and in research paradigms. This collection offers voices from various contexts and corners of the world and further challenges the native speaker construct adopting poststructuralist and postcolonial perspectives. It includes conceptual, methodological, educational and practice-oriented contributions. Topics span language minorities, intercomprehension, plurilingualism and pluriculturalism, translanguaging, teacher education, new speakers, language background profiling, heritage languages, and learner identity, among others. Collectively, the authors paint the portrait of the "changing face of the native speaker" while also strengthening a new global agenda in multilingualism and social justice. These diverse and interconnected contributions are meant to inspire researchers, university students, educators, policy makers and beyond.

ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS The debut novel from critically acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of On Such a Full Sea and My Year Abroad. In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away. Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has shaped him as a natural spy. But the very attributes that help him to excel in his profession put a strain on his marriage to his American wife and stand in the way of his coming to terms with his young son's death. When he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician, his very identity is tested, and he must figure out who he is amid not only the conflicts within himself but also within the ethnic and political tensions of the New York City streets. Native Speaker is a story of cultural alienation. It is about fathers and sons, about the desire to connect with the world rather than stand apart from it, about loyalty and betrayal, about the alien in all of us and who we finally are.

The book addresses the issue of native-speakerism, an ideology based on the assumption that 'native speakers' of English have a special claim to the language itself, through critical qualitative studies of the lived experiences of practising teachers and students in a range of scenarios.