This mixed-design study examined the attitudes of native and non-native speakers of General American English with respect to four different accents (Arab, Latino, Eastern European and South-East Asian). The results revealed that peoples spontaneous reactions to accents tend to be more negative and biased than their rationalized reactions. It was also shown that people evaluated accents in view of a principle of Familiarity which was observed with respect to linguistic closeness/distance between the first languages of the judges and of the stimulus providers, gender-based affinities to...

This volume gathers contributions from a range of global experts in teacher education to address the topic of language teacher education. It shows how teacher education involves the agency of teachers, which forms part of their identity, and which they take on when integrating into the teaching community of practice. In addition, the volume explores the teachers' situated practice--the dynamic negotiation of classroom situations, socialization into the professional teaching culture, and "on the ground experimentation" with pedagogical skills/techniques.

This book focuses on the linguistic landscape as a site of conflict, exclusion, and dissent arising from mechanisms of language policy, language politics and language hierarchies. It examines the way language can be used in particular ideologies to marginalize and conceal other language and as a vehicle for social contestation, impacting local communities as well as the vitality of certain sociolinguistic groups.

The chapters engage with exclusion, covering broad socio-historical, economic, political and ideological issues that go much beyond language dimensions, such as the Occupy...