The Changing Face of the “Native Speaker” by Slavkov, Nikolay; Melo-Pfeifer, Sílvia; Kerschhofer-Puhalo, Nadja;

Long description:

The notion of the native speaker and its undertones of ultimate language competence, language ownership and social status has been problematized by various researchers, arguing that the ensuing monolingual norms and assumptions are flawed or inequitable in a global super-diverse world. However, such norms are still ubiquitous in educational, institutional and social settings, in political structures and in research paradigms. This collection offers voices from various contexts and corners of the world and further challenges the native speaker construct adopting poststructuralist and postcolonial perspectives. It includes conceptual, methodological, educational and practice-oriented contributions. Topics span language minorities, intercomprehension, plurilingualism and pluriculturalism, translanguaging, teacher education, new speakers, language background profiling, heritage languages, and learner identity, among others. Collectively, the authors paint the portrait of the "changing face of the native speaker" while also strengthening a new global agenda in multilingualism and social justice. These diverse and interconnected contributions are meant to inspire researchers, university students, educators, policy makers and beyond.

This ground-breaking book contributes new knowledge to debates about multilingual interaction. Taking a critical orientation to established presuppositions, leading scholars shed light on the contested notion of the ‘native speaker’. This is essential reading for anyone concerned with education and communication in multilingual contexts.

Adrian Blackledge, University of Stirling, UK.

Is the ghost of the Native speaker back? In this thought-provoking edited book, Nikolay Slavkov, Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer and Nadja Kerschhofer-Puhalo gathered major established and emerging scholars working on multi/plurilingualism, language acquisition and language education worldwide. Together, they unveil and push forward inspiring and rich discussions, from multiple angles and viewpoints, including those of the people all this is about, the multilingual learners and speakers themselves, their experiences, realities, identities, and practices; and challenge the "prêt-à-porter" assumptions that still too often prevail in society today. A must read for anyone ready to seriously engage in working towards equity and inclusion in the social debate, and advance how people learn and live.

Danièle Moore, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver & DILTEC, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris.