{"title":"“Speak English”: A Comment on English Language Instruction in an Era of Neo‐Nationalism","authors":"Maureen A. Eger, Sarah Valdez","doi":"10.1002/tesq.3250","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Previous research on neo‐nationalism has largely focused on the political arena, analyzing voters, parties, and policies. The scholarship featured in this special issue moves beyond the analysis of neo‐nationalism in contemporary politics to show how the ideology is enacted at the micro level. The stage for these dynamic interactions is educational settings related to the teaching of English. In this article, we comment on this new research that illustrates the variety of ways English language instruction can either advance or combat neo‐nationalism. Despite the diversity of roles that English plays across different geographic and national‐level contexts, this corpus of work makes evident the importance of language in maintaining national group boundaries. Inspired by this knowledge, we use data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) to explore how attitudes about speaking the national language are related to neo‐nationalist stances cross‐nationally. Our findings, which echo the micro‐level evidence presented in the special issue, show that national languages are inextricably linked to the maintenance of national group boundaries and associated with neo‐nationalist concerns about the erosion of national culture, economy, and political institutions due to perceived foreign threats.","PeriodicalId":48245,"journal":{"name":"Tesol Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Tesol Quarterly","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3250","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Previous research on neo‐nationalism has largely focused on the political arena, analyzing voters, parties, and policies. The scholarship featured in this special issue moves beyond the analysis of neo‐nationalism in contemporary politics to show how the ideology is enacted at the micro level. The stage for these dynamic interactions is educational settings related to the teaching of English. In this article, we comment on this new research that illustrates the variety of ways English language instruction can either advance or combat neo‐nationalism. Despite the diversity of roles that English plays across different geographic and national‐level contexts, this corpus of work makes evident the importance of language in maintaining national group boundaries. Inspired by this knowledge, we use data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) to explore how attitudes about speaking the national language are related to neo‐nationalist stances cross‐nationally. Our findings, which echo the micro‐level evidence presented in the special issue, show that national languages are inextricably linked to the maintenance of national group boundaries and associated with neo‐nationalist concerns about the erosion of national culture, economy, and political institutions due to perceived foreign threats.
期刊介绍:
TESOL Quarterly, a professional, refereed journal, was first published in 1967. The Quarterly encourages submission of previously unpublished articles on topics of significance to individuals concerned with English language teaching and learning and standard English as a second dialect. As a publication that represents a variety of cross-disciplinary interests, both theoretical and practical, the Quarterly invites manuscripts on a wide range of topics, especially in the following areas: -psychology and sociology of language learning and teaching -issues in research and research methodology -testing and evaluation -professional preparation -curriculum design and development -instructional methods, materials, and techniques -language planning -professional standards Because the Quarterly is committed to publishing manuscripts that contribute to bridging theory and practice in our profession, it particularly welcomes submissions that address the implications and applications of research in, for example, -anthropology -applied and theoretical linguistics -communication education -English education, including reading and writing theory -psycholinguistics -psychology -first and second language acquisition -sociolinguistics The Quarterly prefers that all submissions be written in a style that is accessible to a broad readership, including those individuals who may not be familiar with the subject matter. TESOL Quarterly is an international journal. It welcomes submissions from English language contexts around the world.