English Linguistic Imperialism from Below

Leya Mathew

Description

Provides fresh insights on questions related to the intersection of political economy and English language pedagogy

Imperialism may be over, but the political, economic and cultural subjugation of social life through English has only intensified. This book demonstrates how English has been newly constituted as a dominant language in post-market reform India through the fervent aspirations of non-elites and the zealous reforms of English Language Teaching experts. The most recent spread of English in India has been through low-fee private schools, which are perceived as dubious yet efficient. The book is an ethnography of mothering at one such low-fee private school and its neighboring state-funded school. It demonstrates that political economic transitions, experienced as radical social mobility, fuelled intense desire for English schooling. Rather than English schooling leading to social mobility, new experiences of mobility necessitated English schooling. At the same time, experts have responded to the unanticipated spread of English by transforming it from a second language to a first language, and earlier hierarchies have been produced anew as access to English democratized.

Figures and Tables

Acknowledgments

Series Editors' Preface

Chapter 1. Moral Aspiration

Chapter 2. Development and its Afterlives

Chapter 3. Temporal Migrations

Chapter 4. Social Lives of Rote

Chapter 5. Scripted Lives of Communication

Chapter 6. Obsessive Hope

Chapter 7. Mandated Resistance

Chapter 8. Rote to Interaction

Chapter 9. Conclusion: Linguistic Imperialism from Below

References

Sujets

• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Teaching
• EDUCATION
• Lettres et linguistique
• Study
• English as a foreign or second language
• Professional
• Postgraduate education
• General officer
• Neoliberalism
• Sociolinguistics
• General
• Research
• Postgraduate
• India
• ELT

Informations

• Publié par: Channel View Publications
• Date de parution: 11 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781788929165
• Langue: English

Extrait

English Linguistic Imperialism from Below
CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY STUDIES
Series Editors : Professor Alastair Pennycook ( University of Technology, Sydney, Australia ) and Professor Brian Morgan ( Glendon College/York University, Toronto, Canada) and Professor Ryuko Kubota ( University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada )
Critical Language and Literacy Studies is an international series that encourages monographs directly addressing issues of power (its flows, inequities, distributions, trajectories) in a variety of language- and literacy-related realms. The aim with this series is twofold: (1) to cultivate scholarship that openly engages with social, political, and historical dimensions in language and literacy studies, and (2) to widen disciplinary horizons by encouraging new work on topics that have received little focus (see below for partial list of subject areas) and that use innovative theoretical frameworks.
All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.
Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com , or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
Other books in the series
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Ilham Nasser, Lawrence N. Berlin and Shelley Wong (eds)
The Struggle for Legitimacy: Indigenized Englishes in Settler Schools
Andrea Sterzuk
Style, Identity and Literacy: English in Singapore
Christopher Stroud and Lionel Wee
Language and Mobility: Unexpected Places
Alastair Pennycook
Talk, Text and Technology: Literacy and Social Practice in a Remote Indigenous Community
Inge Kral
Language Learning, Gender and Desire: Japanese Women on the Move
Kimie Takahashi
English and Development: Policy, Pedagogy and Globalization
Elizabeth J. Erling and Philip Seargeant (eds)
Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of Complexity
Jan Blommaert
Power and Meaning Making in an EAP Classroom: Engaging with the Everyday
Christian W. Chun
Local Languaging, Literacy and Multilingualism in a West African Society
Kasper Juffermans
English Teaching and Evangelical Mission: The Case of Lighthouse School
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Race and Ethnicity in English Language Teaching
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Language, Education and Neoliberalism: Critical Studies in Sociolinguistics
Mi-Cha Flubacher and Alfonso Del Percio (eds)
Scripts of Servitude – Language, Labor Migration and Transnational Domestic Work
Beatriz P. Lorente
Growing up with God and Empire – A Postcolonial Analysis of ‘Missionary Kid’ Memoirs
Stephanie Vandrick
Decolonising Multilingualism in Africa – Recentering Silenced Voices from the Global South
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English Learners’ Access to Postsecondary Education – Neither College nor Career Ready
Yasuko Kanno
CRITICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERACY STUDIES: 28
English Linguistic Imperialism from Below
Moral Aspiration and Social Mobility
Leya Mathew
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Jackson
DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/MATHEW9141
Names: Mathew, Leya, author.
Title: English Linguistic Imperialism from Below: Moral Aspiration and Social Mobility/Leya Mathew.
Description: Bristol, UK; Jackson, TN : Multilingual Matters, [2022] | Series: Critical Language and Literacy Studies: 28 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “The book shows how English has been newly constituted as a dominant language in post-market reform India. Political economic transitions experienced as radical social mobility fuelled intense non-elite desire for English schooling. Rather than English schooling leading to social mobility, new experiences of mobility necessitated English schooling”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021061177 (print) | LCCN 2021061178 (ebook) | ISBN 9781788929141 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781788929134 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781788929158 (PDF) | ISBN 9781788929165 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: English language—Political aspects—India. | English language—Social aspects—India. | English language—Study and teaching—India. | English language—Study and teaching—Foreign speakers. | Imperialism.
Classification: LCC PE3502.I6 M38 2022 (print) | LCC PE3502.I6 (ebook) | DDC 306.442/21054--dc23/eng/20220314
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021061177
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021061178
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78892-914-1 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78892-913-4 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA.
Website: www.multilingual-matters.com
Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters
Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2022 Leya Mathew.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.
Typeset by SAN Publishing Services.
Contents
Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Series Editors’ Preface
1 Moral Aspiration
2 Development and its Afterlives
3 Temporal Migrations
4 Social Lives of Rote
5 Scripted Lives of Communication
6 Obsessive Hope
7 Mandated Resistance
8 Rote to Interaction
9 Conclusion: Linguistic Imperialism from Below
References
Index
Figures and Tables
Figures
Figure 2.1 Relational geographies of the fieldwork region
Figure 2.2 Relational timelines of the school sites: St. Thomas and the New English School
Tables
Table 2.1 CBSE schools: Growth in sectors
Table 2.2 States/UTs with highest number of CBSE schools in 2014
Table 2.3 State-compiled statistics of student distribution in Edanadu for 2013–2014
Table 3.1 Reported monthly income of 22 families in 2014
Table 4.1 Educational levels of 22 families at the New English School
Table 4.2 Textbooks, comparative analysis
Table 4.3 English markets: Materials with price and availability during 2013–14
Table 4.4 Pedagogies, comparative analysis
Table 5.1 Student enrollment in Grades 10 and 12 in relation to school provision of coaching
Table 7.1 Reformed pedagogic materials
Table 7.2 Grade 2, Unit 3, In the Lap of Nature
Table 7.3 Kerala SCERT on rote and interaction
Table 8.1 Timeline of political events, formation of the three agencies and key reforms
Table 8.2 Reform agencies, roles and implications for English pedagogy
Table 8.3 Tiered expert communities
Acknowledgments
My greatest debt is to the mothers, children and teachers who shared their struggles with me. The book is a record of our journey. Raghu Eraviperoor, MA Khader and R Meganathan were co-travelers. Along the way, Nancy Hornberger and Nelson Flores patiently introduced me to Applied Linguistics. Spe cial thanks are also due to Rama Mathew and R. Amritavalli. Getting this book out was hard; it swims against some powerful currents. I am grateful to Anna Roderick and the series editors at Multilingual Matters for seeing value in the book. Thanks also to Flo McClelland, Stanzi Collier-Qureshy and Mythili Devi for shepherding me through the production process.
I gratefully acknowledge funding from the following sources: preliminary research was made possible by a summer travel award from the Center for Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania. I am also thankful to the American Institute of Indian Studies, whose Junior Fellowship funded part of the fieldwork. A write-up grant from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation was crucial for the completion of the project.
Before I came into academia, I worked in film and television. Ajay Raina and Sai Paranjpye taught me to value the everyday long before I had heard of ethnography. Once I made the shift to academia, Kathleen Hall taught me how to wrestle with theory meaningfully, and I am forever grateful for that. Ritty Lukose continued to engage with the project long after I finished my dissertation. John Jackson provided support throughout. Fellow graduate students provided friendship and conversation: Matthew Tarditi, Arjun Shankar, Gabriel Dattatreyan, Audrey Winpenny, Sofia Chapparo, Mariam Durrani, Julia McWilliams, Emmerich Davies, Roseann Liu, Kathy Rho, Talar Kaloustian, Mustafa Abdul-Jabbar and Scott Cody.
At the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, Jeebanlata Salam urged me to get started on the book. I have learned much from her. Savitha Suresh, Anu Bittianda, Krupa Rajangam, Varun Bhatta, Abha Rao, Keya Bardalai, Priya Gupta and R. Maithreyi helped me navigate the waters. Special gratitude is also due to Sundar Sarukkai, Carol Upadhya, Hemangini Gupta, Cheshta Arora, Anamika Ajay, Janaki Balakrishnan, Shivali Tukdeo, M. Mayilvaganan, Narendar Pani, Anitha Kurup and Srikumar Menon.
At Ahmedabad University, Patrick French provided much needed support. Karthik Rao Cavale, Aparajith Ramnath, Mary Ann Chacko, Karishma Desai and Tejaswini Niranjana provided valuable feedback. Aditya Vaishya, Aparajita Basu, Ashwin Pande, Apaar Kumar, Aditi Deo, Divita Singh, Keita Omi, Manomohini Dutta, Manish Datt, Murari Jha, Neha Jain, Ratna Ghosal, Samuel Wrig