Includes bibliographical references (pages 272-293) and index.

"How do children and adults become multilingual? How do they use their languages? What influence does being multilingual have on their identities? What is the social impact of multilingualism today and how do societies accommodate it? These are among the fascinating questions examined by this book. Exploring multilingualism in individuals and in society at large, Stavans and Hoffmann argue that it evolves not from one factor in particular, but from a vast range of environmental and personal influences and circumstances: from migration to globalisation, from the spread of English to a revived interest in minority languages, from social mobility to intermarriage. The book shows the important role of education in helping to promote or maintain pupils' multilingual language competence and multilingual literacy, and in helping to challenge traditional monolingual attitudes. A clear and incisive account of this growing phenomenon, it is essential reading for students, teachers and policy-makers alike.
- A multidisciplinary approach to the study of multilingualism involving descriptive, theoretical and analytical tools from sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and education
- Contains a range of examples of multilingualism from different contexts which will help the reader to develop a view of the subject as a multifaceted and complex phenomenon
- Explores the impact of multilingualism on society and identity, providing an organic description of multilingualism as a result of, and response to, contemporary social trends." (Publisher's Website)

CONTENTS:

List of figures and maps

List of tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I Global and societal issues in multilingualism and trilingualism

1 Historical perspectives of language contact 1.1 Introduction
1.2 Early records of language contact
1.3 Religion, military conquest and colonisation as determinants of language contact
1.4 The role of reading, writing and education
1.5 The creation of multilingual states as a result of dynastic politics
1.6 The creation of multilingual states as a result of federation
1.7 Migration and resettlement of people
1.8 Conclusion

2 Patterns of societal multilingualism
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Commonly used terms to denote types of languages and groups of speakers
2.3 Some contemporary social trends contributing to multilingualism
2.4 Multilingual organisation
2.5 Peru: a summative case study
2.6 Conclusion

3 Old and new linguistic minorities 3.1 Introduction
3.2 Linguistic minorities: communities and their languages
3.3 Two minorities and three languages: Germans and Ladins in South Tyrol
3.4 An autochthonous minority and a new minority in a young state: Arabs and Russians in Israel
3.5 Conclusion

4 Globalisation, language spread and new multilingualisms 4.1 Introduction
4.2 Decolonialisation and postcolonialism
4.3 Globalisation and internationalisation
4.4 Factors and forces behind language spread
4.5 The emergence of postcolonial patterns of multilingualism
4.6 Multilingualism with English
4.7 Conclusion

Part II Construing individual multilingualism

5 Individual multilingualism 5.1 Introduction
5.2 Multilingual individuals – who are they?
5.3 The study of multilingualism
5.4 How do children become trilingual?
5.5 Acquisition of a third language through schooling
5.6 Conclusion

6 Multilingual language competence and use 6.1 Introduction
6.2 Multilingual competence
6.3 Explaining multilingual competence: multilingual language processing models
6.4 Defining code-switching
6.5 Code-switching and code-mixing: how and why?
6.6 Multilingual language use: trilingual language mixing and code-switching
6.7 Conclusion

7 Accommodating multilingualism 7.1 Introduction
7.2 Accommodation at the individual level
7.3 Language choice and accommodation
7.4 Inclusion, identities and negotiating multiple identities
7.5 Accommodating multilingualism and family language policies
7.6 Effects of attitudes towards multilingualism on FLP
7.7 The establishment and maintenance of FLP: strategies, practices and outcomes

7.8 Conclusion

8 Multilingual education and multilingual literacies
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Aims of multilingual education
8.3 Types of multilingual education
8.4 Globalisation, multilingual education policies and outcomes
8.5 Literacy: development, social practice and consequences
8.6 Developing literacy in multilinguals: multiliteracy and multiple literacies
8.7 Models of multiliteracy: from theory to practice
8.8 Conclusion

Glossary

References

Author index

Places and languages index

Subject index