Dr Francis M Hult

MOSAIC Research Seminar Series 2017-18

Pre-service Teachers as Language Policy Arbiters

With speaker Dr Francis M Hult, Associate Professor at Lund University, Sweden

Abstract

Teachers are on the front lines of educational language policy and planning (LPP).  Without training in conceptual tools for reflection and engagement, there is a risk that educators become uncritical implementers of top-down government initiatives (Hult, 2014; Shohamy, 2006).  As contemporary LPP research has shown, well-trained teachers have the potential to act as active agents in policy processes, serving as what Menken and García (2010) and Johnson (2013) refer to as ‘language policy arbiters,’ when designing lessons or managing linguistic resources in their classrooms.  A key consideration in teacher education, then, is to guide pre-service educators towards an understanding of LPP principles and how those principles can be applied in practice.

Francis M. Hult is an associate professor at the Centre for Languages and Literature at Lund University, Sweden where he is also director of studies for English.  He has lectured and published widely on topics in discourses studies, educational linguistics, and sociolinguistics.  His most recent book is Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide (2015, Wiley-Blackwell; with Johnson).  He is editor of the Educational Linguistics book series for Springer, co-editor of the Contributions to the Sociology of Language book series for de Gruyter, and founder of the Educational Linguistics List.  He serves on the advisory board of the Language Policy Research Network, and he is a member of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education network of experts.  He was the 2016 Charles A. Ferguson Fellow at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC.

For more information and to register please go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mosaic-research-seminar-francis-m-hult-associate-professor-at-lund-university-sweden-tickets-38620072677

All welcome.