Associated with an important epistemological shift from language proficiency to language criticality in applied linguistic research, this book provides a sociological perspective on foreign language education in Japan. By employing ethnographic methods to investigate the relationship between three core analytical elements – foreign language education geared towards the development of learners’ intercultural communicative competence; nihonjinron and native-speakerism as potentially constraining ideological forces; and EFL practices observed at four Japanese junior high schools – the author not only shares valuable insights into how English is taught and learned in a stratum of the Japanese EFL system which has received limited attention from researchers over the years, but also clarifies the fundamental and complex changes currently taking place in the Japanese EFL landscape. This multi-faceted book also calls for greater consideration in postmodern ideology critique for the stratified nature of social processes as well as the material conditions and underlying generative mechanisms involved in the production and consumption of (including resistance to) ideological discourse. Accordingly, it outlines several challenges shaping ideology research in educational settings, and responds by developing a realist-oriented theoretical and methodological approach to address these challenges. This book serves as a unique point of reference for the study of parallel nationalist discourses embedded in foreign language education systems around the world.

Seeking to uncover underlying epistemic invisibilities in generating intercultural communication education and research knowledge and to open up space for envisaging interculturality alternatively, this book reexamines and problematizes the assumptions and ontologies in the conceptual systems of interculturality. In enunciating and critiquing what has been largely endorsed, normalized and taken for granted, this volume brings to the fore different, changing and situated understandings of intercultural ontologies and epistemologies in terms of premises, workings and objectives, unveiling the entangled factors and contexts that have delimited and circumscribed the realm. The authors believe that the field would benefit from some cognitive and sensory dissonance while reengaging effectively with notions to move forward. In particular, they endeavour to de-monumentalize and disrupt the very conceptual tenets that may have rendered interculturality myopic, repetitive, monolithic and aseptic in expanding the epistemic concerns of the “intercultural”, especially in the English language. This book will be an essential read for scholars and students of the sociology of education, educational philosophy and intercultural education and also for all readers interested in the broad field of interculturality.

This book explores native-speakerism in modern language teaching, and examines the ways in which it has been both resilient and critiqued. It provides a range of conceptual tools to situate ideological discourses and processes within educational contexts. In turn, it discusses the interdiscursive nature of ideologies and the complex ways in which ideologies influence objective and material realities, including hiring practices and, more broadly speaking, unequal distributions of power and resources. In closing, it considers why the diffusion and consumption of ideological discourses seem to persist, despite ongoing critical engagement by researchers and practitioners, and proposes alternative paradigms aimed at overcoming the problems posed by the native-speaker model in foreign language education.

This book provides the latest critical research in relation to the representations of ideologies in electronic media, including TV cartoons, animation, videos, and computer and video games, which are designed for children and young adults. As such, the book will appeal to general readers, including undergraduates, researchers, professionals, and anyone who is interested in cultural studies, literary studies, the humanities, and sociology, particularly ideology and discourse studies.

This book critically examines the main features of intercultural communication. It addresses how ideology permeates intercultural processes and develops an alternative 'grammar' of culture. It explores intercultural communication within the context of global politics, seeks to address the specific problems that derive from Western ideology, and sets out an agenda for research.

This collection brings together theory and ethnographic research from a range of national contexts to offer unique insights into the nature of agency in language policy and planning. Situated within a broader sociological framework, the book explores agentive processes at work in case studies from around the world, engaging in discussions of such key themes as language and identity, language ideologies, linguistic diversity in education, and language revitalization. Each chapter examines the ways in which decisions made at both the local and national level impact language use and in turn, the dynamic relationship between language use, policy, and practice in these contexts. Taken together, this volume advances our understanding of agency in language policy and planning and directions for future research, making this key reading for students and scholars in language and education, critical sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.

Globalization has triggered an increased need to extend linguistic and cultural awareness into action from our daily encounters to our professional interactions. As our communities continuously grow into linguistically and culturally rich environments, so, too, should our pedagogical and research approaches. Specifically, this volume provides an overview of pedagogies and research methodologies that reflect the urgent need to develop intercultural competence in diverse professions including (but not limited to) law, medicine, business, foreign and second language instruction, and communications. The book re-examines and highlights pedagogical and research approaches to intercultural competence development across disciplines, paving the way to promote collaborative efforts and reassess the critical role of intercultural competence development in distinct fields.