Linguistic Landscapes Beyond the Language Classroom

About the Author

Greg Niedt is Lecturer in Liberal Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, USA.

Tommaso M. Milani is Professor of Multilingualism at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Corinne A. Seals is a Senior Lecturer of Applied Linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Product Description

Linguistic landscapes can play an important role in educating individuals beyond formal pedagogical environments. This book argues that anywhere can be a space for people to learn from displayed texts, images, and other communicated signs, and consequently a space where teachable cultural moments are created.

Following language learning trajectories that 'exit through the language classroom' into city streets, public offices, museums and monuments, this volume presents innovative work demonstrating that anyone can learn from the linguistic landscape that surrounds them. Offering a bridge between theoretical research and practical application, chapters consider how we make sense of places by understanding how the landscape is used to express, claim and contest identities and ideologies. In this way, Linguistic Landscapes Beyond the Language Classroom highlights the unexpected potential of the informal settings for learning and for teachers to expand their students' intercultural experience.

Review

“Moving through public spaces we are surrounded by linguistic landscapes all the time. We perceive and react to the display of texts and images and we also learn. The captivating contributions in this volume focus on learning that takes place in non-traditional educational settings, as diverse as a summer camp, a factory, an airport, a museum, a hospital or activist and political signs. All provide teachable moments and this focus ties together these studies. This volume contributes in important ways to the expansion of the scenery of linguistic landscape studies.” ―Durk Gorter, Ikerbasque Research Professor, University of the Basque Country and Ikerbasque, Spain

“This exciting volume takes the reader on a fascinating tour across a myriad of spaces outside the classroom to illustrate how one can learn language and culture from the linguistic landscape. An important contribution to the growing literature on linguistic landscapes and inspirational input for both teachers and learners!” ―Elizabeth Lanza, Professor of Linguistics and Director, Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing), University of Oslo, Norway