SLA and the Study of Equitable Multilingualism

2019/01/01 by LOURDES ORTEGA, Lourdes Ortega · 414 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Discourse Analysis in Language Studies #Law #Linguistics #Mainstream #Multilingual Education and Policy #Multilingualism #Pedagogy #Political science #Psychology #Second Language Learning and Teaching #Sociology #Translanguaging #Undoing

paper · doi:10.1111/modl.12525

published in Modern Language Journal 103(S1), 23-38 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2019/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Abstract The Douglas Fir Group (2016) sought to articulate a transdisciplinary agenda for SLA but said little about multilingualism specifically. Moreover, many multilinguals are under siege in a worrisome world where threats to human difference have risen to the mainstream in the aftermath of Brexit and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. I argue that considering multilingualism as the central object of inquiry and embracing social justice as an explicit disciplinary goal are two moves necessary to provide sustainable support for the kind of transdisciplinary SLA that the Douglas Fir Group (2016) envisioned. I examine some missing pieces of the puzzle of transdisciplinary transformation that may make it possible for SLA researchers, and particularly those who investigate linguistic–cognitive dimensions of language learning, to contribute knowledge about the human capacity for language while supporting equitable multilingualism for all.

Citations

• Evidence for Multicompetence
• A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World
• Ethno‐nationalist populism and the mobilization of collective resentment

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