Transcultural Flows of English and Education in Asian Contexts

Edited by Tyler Andrew Barrett and Melissa Fellin - Contributions by Tyler Andrew Barrett; Melissa Fellin; Sender Dovchin; Andy Halvorsen; Dwi Riyanti; Loukia K. Sarroub; Naomi C. F. Yamada; Yiming Jin; Jennifer D. Heung; John R. Haught; Luke Rowland and In Chull Jang

Transcultural Flows of English and Education in Asian Contexts examines issues concerning the potential of English learning and teaching to go beyond the classroom and affect the multicultural realities of Asian societies. Asian societies often carry long histories and traditions that influence beliefs about identities,which are changing in our globalizing world. The authors in this volume explore the synthesis that occurs when culture is shared and re-constructed in different contexts. Specifically, the authors show how English is appropriated and refashioned through language and culture exchanges both inside and outside of traditional classrooms in East Asia (i.e., Japan, South Korea, China) and Southeast Asia (e.g.., Indonesia, Thailand). Inside the classroom, transcultural flows have the potential to result in take-up, exchange, appropriation, and refashioning of language and cultural practices that can generate transcultural realities outside the classroom. Understanding transcultural flows may also require understanding circumstances outside of the classroom—for instance, transcultural exchanges that lead to friendships and professional relationships; as companies embrace English and attempt to reach a global audience; as English facilitates access to global interaction in cyberspace; and as membership to nation states, recognition, and identity often confront the politics of English as a global language. For both teachers and students of English, the impact of transcultural connections reaches far beyond the teaching and learning experience. English connects people around the globe—even after students and teachers have finished their lessons or teachers have left the country. To examine the transcultural flows that result from English learning and teaching in Asia, this book addresses the following questions: What becomes of English when it is unmoored from local, national, and regional spaces and imaginatively reconceptualized? What are new forms of global consciousness and cultural competency? How is English rediscovered and reinvented in Asian countries where there are long traditions of cultural beliefs and language practices? How are teachers and students taking up and appropriating English inside and outside classrooms? How has English learning and teaching affected social, political, and business relationships?

This book will be of interest to scholars in sociolinguistics, anthropology, and education.

Lexington Books

Pages: 246 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4985-2699-9 • Hardback • October 2016 • $103.00 • (£79.00)

978-1-4985-2700-2 • eBook • October 2016 • $97.50 • (£75.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics

Transcultural Flows of English and Education in Asian Contexts

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Transcultural Flows of English and Education in Asian Contexts examines issues concerning the potential of English learning and teaching to go beyond the classroom and affect the multicultural realities of Asian societies. Asian societies often carry long histories and traditions that influence beliefs about identities,which are changing in our globalizing world. The authors in this volume explore the synthesis that occurs when culture is shared and re-constructed in different contexts. Specifically, the authors show how English is appropriated and refashioned through language and culture exchanges both inside and outside of traditional classrooms in East Asia (i.e., Japan, South Korea, China) and Southeast Asia (e.g.., Indonesia, Thailand). Inside the classroom, transcultural flows have the potential to result in take-up, exchange, appropriation, and refashioning of language and cultural practices that can generate transcultural realities outside the classroom. Understanding transcultural flows may also require understanding circumstances outside of the classroom—for instance, transcultural exchanges that lead to friendships and professional relationships; as companies embrace English and attempt to reach a global audience; as English facilitates access to global interaction in cyberspace; and as membership to nation states, recognition, and identity often confront the politics of English as a global language. For both teachers and students of English, the impact of transcultural connections reaches far beyond the teaching and learning experience. English connects people around the globe—even after students and teachers have finished their lessons or teachers have left the country. To examine the transcultural flows that result from English learning and teaching in Asia, this book addresses the following questions: What becomes of English when it is unmoored from local, national, and regional spaces and imaginatively reconceptualized? What are new forms of global consciousness and cultural competency? How is English rediscovered and reinvented in Asian countries where there are long traditions of cultural beliefs and language practices? How are teachers and students taking up and appropriating English inside and outside classrooms? How has English learning and teaching affected social, political, and business relationships?

This book will be of interest to scholars in sociolinguistics, anthropology, and education.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 246 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4985-2699-9 • Hardback • October 2016 • $103.00 • (£79.00)

978-1-4985-2700-2 • eBook • October 2016 • $97.50 • (£75.00)

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics

Author

Tyler Barrett teaches English as a second language at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Melissa Fellin earned her PhD in socio-cultural anthropology and migration and ethic relations at Western University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Tyler Barrett and Melissa Fellin
Part 1: Mongolia, Thailand, and Indonesia
Chapter 2: The transcultural role of English in the out-of-classroom linguascapes of EFL university students in Mongolia
Sender Dovchin
Chapter 3: Plurilingual competencies and the appropriation of English in the online discourse of Thai high school students
Andy Halvorsen
Chapter 4: Indonesian pre-service teachers’ identities in a microteaching context: Learning to teach English in an Indonesian teacher education program
Dwi Riyanti and Loukia Sarroub
Part 2: China
Chapter 5: Navigating the sanyu: English as a tool for success in a Confucian meritocratic imaginary
Naomi C.F. Yamada
Chapter 6: Behind China’s English Fever: The Contested Discourses on English and People’s Yearning for Social Mobility
Yiming Jin
Chapter 7: Leisure Time and English: Transnational Urban Consumption, World Citizenship, and the Embodiment of Language
Jennifer D. Heung
Chapter 8: Facilitating Transcultural Flows through Embodied Language Performance
John Haught
Part 3: Japan
Chapter 9: Selections and deflections of English in Japan
Luke Rowland
Chapter 10: Perceptions of Japanese ethnic church-member parents teaching their children in Japanese in English-speaking Canadian contexts
Tyler Barrett
Part 4: South Korea
Chapter 11: Global Friendship: Transcultural Experiences in South Korean Undergraduates’ English Study Abroad
In Chull Jang
Chapter 12: Cultural Immersion and Authentic Relationships: The Complicated Relationships between Foreign English Teachers and Koreans in South Korea
Melissa Fellin
Chapter 13: Conclusion: The localization of English in Asian Contexts
Melissa Fellin and Tyler Barrett