Language Socialization, Higher Education, and Work
- PDF / 122,776 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 439.37 x 663.307 pts Page_size
- 9 Downloads / 250 Views
LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION, HIGHER EDUCATION, AND WORK
INTRODUCTION
Although most language socialization research has historically been situated in homes and schools with relatively young language learners (see Ochs and Schieffelin, Language Socialization: An Historical Overview, Volume 8), a growing number of studies investigate socialization well beyond childhood and adolescence into adulthood. An examination of the length and breadth of language socialization, or “lifelong” and “lifewide” socialization, takes into account individuals’ and groups’ movement into new educational, vocational, professional, and other settings, and into the cultures, language and literacy practices, identities, and stances instilled there. In this chapter, I focus primarily on the linguistic socialization of learners at work or preparing for work by means of education activities and apprenticeship, keenly aware that the distinction between (higher) education and work is becoming increasingly blurred. Formal education now offers various kinds of on-the-job internships and integrative cooperative (co-op) experiences as well as traditional in-class, mixedmode (online and face-to-face), or distance-education study. At the same time, different kinds of work may involve considerable on-site training, professional development, and implicit or explicit socialization as well, especially in the context of the postindustrial, global knowledge economy. Furthermore, the traditional progression from secondary and tertiary education programs to work is not as seamless or linearly sequenced as it once was. Postsecondary programs admit a wide range of older or nontraditional students into diploma, certificate, and degree programs at various points in their lives and careers. In addition, nonformal education contexts, such as community center or afterschool or after-work programs, or even narrative activity about work in private homes, also provide rich sites for language socialization and preparation for work. In contemporary societies, the discourse demands of work are evolving with the endless infusion of new technologies, social and industrial restructuring, outsourcing and globalization, and with the emergence of powerful international lingua francas, such as English, that mediate P. A. Duff and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 8: Language Socialization, 257–270. #2008 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.
258
P AT R I C I A A . D U F F
higher education and work in many spheres. Because people’s career trajectories are quite dynamic and varied, they often must learn new ways of speaking and writing and representing meaning through graphic images and multimedia, for new purposes and audiences, and with new colleagues—both local and remote—as they move across jobs, communities, disciplines, professions, languages, cultures, and geographical boundaries. Thus, the need to understand complex socialization processes, outcomes, and points of tension has become quite acute. E A R LY D E V E L O P M E N T
Data Loading...
