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CHAPTER1

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ENGLISH AROUND THE
GLOBE AND TRANSLOCAL
FLOWS
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Jos Aldemar lvarez V.
Universidad del Valle, Colombia
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As English continues its linguistic and semiotic spread, English language

teachers, learners, researchers, and the general population are faced with
novel social and cultural dynamics that impact their lives and reshape the
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nature and status of English in a globalizing world. This process of semiotic

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rearrangement of English across the globe is heightened by the changing

realities of societies that include shifting patterns of mobility and popula-
tion configurations, issues of world peace, climate change, access to social
media and other types of technologies, and the development of diverse
forms of local and translocal cultural expressions, all in the backdrop of

contemporary conditions of superdiversity (Blommaert & Rampton, 2012;

Vertovec, 2007). English is confronted by the complexity of elements that
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underpin social interaction in ecological spaces where language is local-

ized, delocalized, and relocalized, processes that stem from the inflection
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of the cultural repertoires (norms, values, and customs) and meanings of

language users. Examining the status and nature of English is not enough

Critical Views on Teaching and Learning English Around the Globe, pages 114
Copyright 2016 by Information Age Publishing
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 1
 2 J. A. LVAREZ V.

in light of the new configuration of social and cultural processes; as Blom-

maert (2010) puts it, the traditional concept of language is dislodged
and destabilized by globalization (p.2), which, in turn, implies the need to
rethink the ways in which language has been conceptualized (Kress, 2000;
Pennycook, 1994).

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The chapters composing this book in many ways address the need to
reconceptualize language by depicting English as a language dislocated
from its traditional symbolic and geographic spaces and functions. Draw-

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ing on Blommaert (2010), language is regarded as a repertoire of semiotic
resources that have mobility in space and time. Unlike traditional static

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views of language that conceive of languages as linguistically defined ob-
jects belonging to certain spaces, peoples, and cultural practices, Blom-
maert (2010) poses that in current globalization processes:

We now see that the mobility of people also involves the mobility of linguistic

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and sociolinguistic resources, that sedentary or territorialized patterns of
language use are complemented by translocal or deterritorialized forms
of language use, and that the combination of both often accounts for unex-
pected sociolinguistic effects. (pp.45)
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Semiotic resources (languages) move across time and space and follow
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different trajectories that take them to places where they engage in the dy-
namics of appropriation, rejection, or oppression, as is the case with English
around the globe. It is this mobilizing of English language discourses and
ideologies in multiple spaces or localities of the globe that has created the
tension between the local and the global (Block & Cameron, 2002; Kuma-
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ravadivelu, 2008; Warriner, 2007). As Higgins (2009) points out, this ten-
sion has developed a well-known dichotomy in language studies. One side of
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the dichotomy views English as a hegemonic and imperialistic language that

draws on its colonial history and political power to position itself as an op-
pressive force. Issues of power, misrecognition, social justice, empowerment,
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and cultural and academic hegemony surrounding English language edu-

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cation are some of the concerns considered by scholars such as Phillipson

(1992), Pennycook (1994, 1998), Canagarajah (1999), and Kumaravadivelu
(2008). The other side of the dichotomy focuses on how English is appro-
priated by local communities for creative expression of cultural meanings

through hybridization, as exemplified by Quirk (1985), Kachru (1992), Jen-

kins (2009), and others who have worked on describing the linguistic forms
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and functions of English language varieties of the outer circle.

While this dichotomy is helpful in understanding different dynamics en-
gendered by the local and global dichotomy, it does not capture other forms
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of transcultural and translingual semiotic practices that take place in con-

texts of language use. An alternative view has been championed by several
scholars (e.g.,Canagarajah, 2005, 2006, 2013; Higgins, 2009; Pennycook,
 English Around the Globe and Translocal Flows 3

1994, 1998, 2007) who, to a great extent in line with Blommaert (2010),
consider that English language users reinterpret, adapt, and recontextu-
alize underlying cultural practices and identities of English language to
meet local needs, norms, conventions, and interests. Pennycook (2007),
for instance, analyzes hip-hop artists and the ways they produce transgres-

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sive texts with semiotic practices of global English and localized forms and
cultural meanings. The author introduces the term transcultural flows to
address the ways in which cultural forms move, change and are reused to
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fashion new identities in diverse contexts (p.6).

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By looking at language as a delocalized, dynamic, unstable, and fluid

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semiotic resource that interplays with other semiotic and cultural systems
in complementary ways, Pennycook suggests that semiotic production and
identity performance through English are neither strictly global nor strictly
local (as cited in Higgins, 2009, p.12). Blommaert (2010) pursues this idea

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further and discusses translocalization that consists of a process of mobility

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in which one form of locality, for example a local English practice, is trans-
ported into another local system of meanings (e.g.,an English language
classroom in Brazil). Translocalization intends to stray way from the more

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common term glocalization, which is slightly misleading because it suggests
the global-in-the-local (p.79). The use of the term translocal implies mobi-
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lization of meanings between localities, contesting the concept of global that
suggests a hierarchical relationship between the languages involved.
The three perspectives on the dichotomy of the global-local are useful in
informing about different facets of English language teaching and learning
around the globe and its role at the educational, political, historical, social,
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cultural, and economic level. We argue that, given the particular ecologies
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of global English, these three perspectives crystalize in multiple and nu-

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anced ways. The chapters in this volume illustrate how stakeholders in dif-
ferent language learning contexts privilege any or various of these purviews
either challenging the role of English in their communities or appropriat-
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ing semiotic resources for localized practices. Mackinneys research on met-

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alinguistic awareness and the role of Spanglish (mixed languaging prac-

tices of English and Spanish) of immigrants in Miami, Florida, for example,
is a compelling illustration of how bilingual learners language patterns
are complemented by translocal forms of meaning making imported from

spatio-temporal scales that invoke students socioeconomic status, gender,

family positioning (e.g.,oldest child, only child), immigrant generation,
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previous schooling, and oral fluency and literacy in the native language.
In line with Canagarajahs (2013) research with African immigrants in the
United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, these students semiotic
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productions are a good example of how through transgression of conven-

tions of language use in English and Spanish, they delocalize and relocalize
semiotic resources of the languages in a reciprocal way.
 4 J. A. LVAREZ V.

Other authors in the volume (e.g.,Amanti, Brown, Stone, and Deus)

take an ideological stance to examine the cultural politics of English (Pen-
nycook, 1994) as an international or additional language. Brown offers an
interesting account of Taiwanese English learners representations of the
foreigner. The author finds that unlike commonplace understandings

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of native speakerism centered on linguistic prestige, learners draw on the
connections between race and language to create notions of a foreigner

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phenotype that is correlated with the status of countries traditionally asso-
ciated with English,...and White privilege in understanding who counts

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as English teacher and language model. Browns examination of how the

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semiotic landscape of Taiwan enhances ideologies associated with native
speakerism clearly aligns with the dynamic and mobile nature of semiotic
resources assumed in the volume and highlights the need for diverse re-
search methods that provide access to other forms of semiotic representa-
tion of English in the world.

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The social, cultural, and semiotic bricolage that characterizes English in
the world requires that language studies examine it from diverse method-
ological frameworks (Kumaravadivelu, 2012; McKay, 2006). At the heart of
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this book is our view that one way to offer a richer account of the stories be-
hind global ecological spaces of language teaching and learning is by draw-
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ing on the multifacetedness and interdisciplinarity of qualitative research
approaches. The volume explores English language teaching and learning
around the globe from interdisciplinary frameworks, involving multimodal
social semiotics, educational anthropology, general education, feminism,
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and the general field of applied linguistics. As it will be seen throughout

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the book, our contributors emphasize the voices of the actors involved in
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language learning and teaching practices across the globe. In this regard
Kumaravadivelu (2012) explains:
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For a long time, language teaching research, like education research, was
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engaged in a futile exercise by following the conventional forms of scientific

inquiry ignoring the lived experiences of teachers and learners. (p.89)

This turn toward the phenomenological understanding of the multidi-

mensionality of social, cultural, and historical issues (e.g.,identity, gender,

race) that intertwine in language learning and teaching evokes the ongo-
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ing epistemological shift that calls for the social in language education
research (Block, 2003; Firth & Wagner, 2007; Richards, 2009). Richards
(2009) posits that the paradigm shift toward qualitative research has opened
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new avenues of exploration with an emphasis on practical and contextual

research issues. We consider that the studies included in this volume align
with Denzin and Lincolns (2005) understanding of qualitative research in
 English Around the Globe and Translocal Flows 5

that they represent a set of interpretive, material practices that make the
world visible (p.3) and also transform it. These practices

turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews,
conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self...[through

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which] researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make
sense of or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring
to them. (p.3)
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The research conducted by the contributors of the volume highlights

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the socio-semiotic practices that make the workings of English around the
globe visible. It gives prominence to the meanings participants bring along.
The research reported is consistent with the description provided by Rich-
ards (2009) of the type of research that is being practiced in the field of
English language teaching, comprising ethnographic research (critical

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ethnography, autoethnography), discourse and semiotic analysis, life his-
tories, and action research. In her review of 15 journals published since
2000, Richards (2009) concludes that qualitative research as practiced by
language teaching researchers is:
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locally situated (it studies human participants in natural settings and
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conditions, eschewing artificially constructed situations);
participant-oriented (it is sensitive to, and seeks to understand, partici-
pants perspectives on their world);
holistic (it is context sensitive and does not study isolated aspects inde-
pendently of the situation in which they occur); and
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inductive (it depends on a process of interpretation that involves immer-

sion in the data and draws on different perspectives). (p.149)
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One approach that has gathered strength in language studies is eth-

nography. Although ethnography is a research tradition within a variety of
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disciplines, it is most often thought of as being in the domain of anthro-

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pology. Fetterman (2008) describes ethnography as the art and science

of describing a group or culture (p.288). Its hallmark research method
is participant observation and an important characteristic of this type of
research is the immersion of the researcher in the culture under investi-

gation for an extended period of time. This better allows the researcher
to perceive repeated patterns of behavior. Other data collection methods
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used by ethnographers include interviewing, photography, and document

gathering among others. Traditionally, anthropologists studied non-West-
ern cultures. That is no longer the case as exemplified in this volume in
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which Western and non-Western cultures are explored not only in terms of
their own dynamics but also their transcultural and transemiotic dynamics
of meaning-making.
 6 J. A. LVAREZ V.

There is a history of applying anthropology and ethnographic methods

to the study of education. According to Bogdan and Biklen (2007), perhaps
the earliest incidence of this was Margaret Meads work on U.S. education.
She utilized her fieldwork experience in non-Western societies to exam-
ine how particular contextsthe kinds of schools she categorized as the

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little red schoolhouse, the city school, and the academycalled for par-
ticular kinds of teachers and how these teachers interacted with students
(p.9). In language studies, the attempt to bring together linguistics and

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ethnography materialized through the development of linguistic ethnog-

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raphy (Blommaert, 2007; Rampton et al., 2004; Richards, 2009). Linguistic

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ethnography acknowledges the reciprocal effect that language and social
life have in shaping each other and emphasizes the study of situated lan-
guage use as the main window to the study of the mechanism and dynam-
ics of meaning-making in culture and society (Rampton et al., 2004). As a

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theoretical and methodological development, linguistic ethnography has

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already produced illuminating studies of the relationship between class-
room and community and offers an energizing reconfiguration of practical
and conceptual orientations (Richards, 2009, p.167). Examples of the ap-

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plication of linguistic ethnography to the study of classrooms and schools
can be found in the chapters written by Krulatz and Torgersen, Mackinney,
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Amanti, Keyl, and Silvester. An example of the application of a particular
type of ethnography to virtual classrooms, autoethnography, can be found
in the chapter written by lvarez.
It is not an accident that so many of the authors in this book have drawn
on ethnographic research methods in their studies. Given that the goal
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of this book is to try to understand the perspectives of English language

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learners and teachers on learning English and the meanings they attach to
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the English language, ethnography is a particularly appropriate research

method. Again quoting Fetterman (2008), The ethnographer enters the
field with an open mind...[ interested in capturing the essence of a] so-
2

cial and cultural scene from the emic or insiders perspective (p.288).
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Ethnographers do their best to suspend judgment as well as refrain from

imposing their own cultural models on their data. That is not to say that
they enter the field theoretically nave (Alasuutari, 1996). But the theories
with which they are equipped do not act as blinders. Rather they enlarge

the researchers perspective, many times from a critical perspective.

A key part of this book is the adoption of a critical stance to the discussion
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about global English. It is essential to develop a critical understanding of

how the global uptake of English has shaping effects on the modern world
due to its connection with economic and political power and the expansion
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AU: Not in reference of diverse and complex forms of culture and knowledge (Block & Camer-
list, unless year is
1992. Please check,
on, 2002; Canagarajah, 2005, 2006; Higgins, 2009; Kumaravadivelu, 2008;
and correct if needed.. Pennycook, 1994, 1998; Phillipson, 1997; Rassool, 2007; Widdowson, 2003).
 English Around the Globe and Translocal Flows 7

Contributors examine discourses that, as posited by Pennycook (1994), tend

to look at the spread of English as natural, neutral and beneficial (p.5).
As will be described in more detail below, these discourses have enmeshed
with particular narratives of language users who move in a continuum be-
tween the rhetoric of English as colonial expansion (see Chapter8, Lega-

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cies of Language Ideology in Alaska), development aid (see Chapter12, A
Pedagogy of Enthusiasm), commodity for the global market (see Chapter6,
What! You Dont Speak English?), and English as a semiotic resource that
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can be territorialized in more fluid and egalitarian terms to users advantage

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(see Chapter10, Learning English in the Margins).

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BOOK OVERVIEW

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The 11 chapters that follow are organized thematically in three sections.

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The first section, English Language Users and Identity Positionings, consists
of four chapters that report research conducted in four translocal spaces:
a social networking site for language learning; a Spanish-English dual lan-

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guage middle school in Miami, Florida; two multilingual schools in Norway;
and a bilingual elementary school in Honduras. A common thread in these
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four chapters is the role of language in hindering or facilitating translocal
connections wherein cultural identities are performed, negotiated, and con-
structed. Chapter2, by Jos A. lvarez, differs from the other chapters in the
volume in that it hones in on the material and symbolic affordances of the
translocal space under scrutiny. The choice of cyberspace instead of a geo-
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graphical locality aligns with Canagarajahs (2005) assertion that locality is a

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discursive construction. The study investigates the workings of the semiotic

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design of a language learning website in indexing identities that members

of the language community are prompted to adopt. Drawing on multimodal
social semiotics and autoethnographic accounts, lvarez observes how this
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community of transnational language learners contests native versus nonna-

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tive identity roles enacted by the website. Users negotiate alternative identi-
ties that involve positioning themselves as members of an imagined com-
munity where members, on the basis of their own semiotic repertoires, can
contribute regardless of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

In Chapter3, Erin Mackinney gives voice to middle school students bi-

lingual identities in regards to their understanding of their own bilingual
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development. Her ethnographic work is located at Coral Way School, an

institution that welcomes translocal knowledge by allowing immigrant stu-
dents to learn the second language while drawing on their L1 as a scaffold-
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ing resource. Mackinney engages a group of Latin American students in pro-

cesses of metalinguistic awareness and provides insight into their language
practices. Her findings indicate that students develop representations of
 8 J. A. LVAREZ V.

language as a system, as well as phonological awareness and communica-

tion strategies such as translation and translanguaging, defined as dynam-
ic, multimodal language practices across language modes and other modes
such as imagery, gestures, and math symbols. What is noticeable about
translanguaging practices is that they facilitate translocal connections be-

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cause language practices are always cultural practices. Therefore, bringing
in the home language (Spanish) to an English for Speakers of Other Lan-
guages (ESOL) context mobilizes the cultural space of the home in the

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school locality and vice versa.

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In Chapter4, Anna Krulatz and Eivind Nessa Torgersen take us to Nor-

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way where they develop an action research project with teachers of Eng-
lish in two multilingual schools. The study emerged from the researchers
interest in raising awareness about multilingualism and helping teachers
develop adequate EFL [English as a foreign language] pedagogies that

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support the multilingual identities of their students and capitalize on the

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students funds of knowledge The authors findings are positive in that
teachers practices are respectful of multilingual students identities and
the knowledge they bring to the classroom. However, they express lack of

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preparation to face challenges inherent in new classroom demographics
such as how to establish the bridge between the students world, theirs and
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their familys funds of knowledge, and the classroom experience. Krulatz
and Torgersen suggest that one way to help multilingual students is by sup-
porting teachers professional development that, in turn, helps them un-
derstand and be aware of multilingual dynamics. The authors concerns are
reminiscent of Pennycooks (1994) view of teachers as critical pedagogues.
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In a time where complex global and cultural flows converge in the language
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classroom, teachers need to enhance self-reflexivity and attentiveness to

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the cultures, knowledges, languages and voices of others. (p.305) Citing

Kramsch (1993), Pennycook explains that teachers are called to develop
awareness of global context through which teachers acknowledge stu-
2

dents local knowledge and identities and the processes of meaning-making

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that they engage in with limited language skills.

In closing the first section of the book (Chapter5), Carla McNelly takes
us to a multilingual community in Flowers Bay, Honduras, where there is
a significant population of Black English speakers. Descendants of freed

slaves, the Black English speakers have sought to maintain English as a local
language in a country where Spanish predominates. McNelly uses ethno-
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graphic methods to explore the perspectives and experiences of teachers,

administrators, and parents from a bilingual Spanish-English elementary
school in regards to language learning. Her findings, framed within Ruiz
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(1994) and Bakers (2011) work on language orientations, indicate that

there is considerable support for learning both Spanish and English from
a language as right perspective as well as language as resource perspective.
 English Around the Globe and Translocal Flows 9

In particular from a language as resource perspective, McNelly notes that

participants view maintaining English as a central element of identity ex-
pression and of maintaining cultural identity. McNellys work gives insight
into contexts where noncore varieties of World English are spoken as a
result of British colonialism.

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The second part of the bookLanguage Ideologies, Hierarchies, and
Social Practiceis composed of four chapters that report on research con-
ducted primarily in educational settings: a public high school in Mexico, a
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university in Taiwan, and a high school in the United Arab Emirates. The

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fourth chapter (Chapter8) examines the perspectives and experiences of

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Alaskans from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds regarding the
impact English language policies have had, and continue to have, on heri-
tage and world languages in Alaska. Many of the English-language policies
discussed are school-based, as well. A common thread in these chapters is

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their focus on how language ideologies materialize in social practice. They

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also share the perspective that, rather than something neutral emanating
from a shared cultural background, language ideologies are always in-
terestedthat is, they reflect asymmetries of power and often map onto

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other forms of social inequality. Together these chapters demonstrate that
there is wide variety in language ideologies and that they represent con-
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tested terrain.
In the first chapter in this section (Chapter6), Cathy Amanti investigates
why it is that English is the only language besides Spanish that is offered at
a public high school in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. Not only is it
the only additional language offered, but all students are also required to
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take English for their first two years of high school. Drawing on the inter-
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views of students, teachers, and administrators, as well as participant obser-

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vation carried out over 9 months, Amanti found that a variety of local and
extralocal factors contribute to the privileged status of English in the high
school where she conducted her research. She also found that local actors
2

do not passively adopt hegemonic English ideologies; rather, they are as

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likely to engage in producing and reproducing dominant English ideolo-

gies in their actions as they are to challenge and resist those ideologies. This
confirms the suggestion by Pennycook (2010) and others that the history
of the so-called spread of English is neither linear nor uniform; rather, it

consists of multiple, heterogeneous, and simultaneous histories (p.14).

In Chapter7, as mentioned previously, Charles Brown examines Taiwan-
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ese English learner perspectives on preferred language models and teach-

ers of English. Through interviews of current and former English majors
at a Taiwanese university, Brown discovers that not only are native English
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speakers preferred as language models and teachers, but that specific ra-
cial categories of native English speakers are preferred over others, as well.
This was evident in study participants frequent reference to foreigners as
 10 J. A. LVAREZ V.

being the ideal English model and teacher. When pressed to elaborate on
what they mean by foreigner, participants described someone who is light
skinned and has colored rather than black eyes. Although some study
participants expressed the view that being a native English speaker alone
does not guarantee the ability to teach English, Brown concludes that ide-

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ologies of race are interwoven with language ideologies in regards to the
ideal English model and teacher.
Next, Jennifer Stone takes us to Alaska (Chapter8), a state in the United

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States marked by a highly complex and contested linguistic terrain. Home

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to many indigenous languages, colonial languages (Russian and English),

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and now migrant languages from diverse parts of the world, Stone and her
team collected life histories of (a) people who identified as Alaska Native,
(b) people whose families came to Alaska as immigrants or refugees from
places where English was not the primary language, and (c) people whose

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families came to Alaska from other parts of the United States for economic

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opportunities. The purpose of the life history interviews was to capture
the historical legacies of language ideology that the participants had ex-
perienced, identify the agents who supported these ideologies and their

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motives, and understand the effects of language ideologies on individu-
als access to and participation in heritage languages. Drawing on theo-
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ries of history in person, sponsorship, and stewardship, Stone found that
the sponsorship of ideologies of English language dominance and heritage
language loss continues to define English education in the state. However,
participants also identified key stewards who enabled them to gain access
to their heritage languages, illustrating the ongoing, historically rooted
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struggles over language in Alaska.

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The final chapter of the second section (Chapter9), written by Thomas

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Deus, takes us to a high school in the United Arab Emirates, where English
is a required part of the curriculum. In this study, Deus investigates how
his study participants, all English language teachers at the school, define
2

their roles in the classroom. Grounded in the premise that teachers beliefs
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about their roles in the classroom reciprocally shape their language ideolo-
gies, in this study Deus combined interviewing with classroom observations
and document collection and found that teachers beliefs fell into one of
two categories. One category he describes as viewing the teachers role as

being an enthusiastic motivational speaker. The other he describes as view-

ing the teachers role as being a familial role model. These beliefs were
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further entwined with the teachers beliefs about the role of English and
Arabic in the world. Those who view the teachers role as being enthusiastic
motivational speaker construct Arabic as private and the bearer of culture
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and tradition. Those teachers that view the role of the teacher as being a fa-
milial role model prioritize the role of Arabic in their students lives. Deus
contrast of the narratives of the local and native English teachers once
 English Around the Globe and Translocal Flows 11

more illustrates the complexity of the language classroom, which helps us

realize that we need to explore not only the translocal imaginaries of teach-
ers but also how these imaginaries interweave with students own ideologies
about the L1 and the L2.
In the final section of the bookEnglish, NGOS, and Development

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we turn to English language teaching and learning contexts involving mo-
bile social actors migrant domestic workers, adult refugees, and native
English-speaking volunteers in non-English-speaking countries. The three
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chapters in this section problematize the link between teaching English,

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and aid and development work. In Chapter10, Shireen Keyl reports on her

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research in a community center for migrant African domestic workers in
Beirut, Lebanon. More a GRO (grassroots organization) than a NGO (non-
governmental organization), the community center was established to pro-
vide migrant workers, who often face extremely hostile working conditions,

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with their own space to meet for cultural, educational, and community-

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related activities. One of the educational activities conducted at the com-
munity center is teaching English. Keyl combined interviews and analysis
of social media in her critical analysis of participants perceptions of the

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role and value of English in their lives. Her findings show that the migrant
workers perceive English as much a tool for advocacy and activism across
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linguistic difference as a tool for economic advancement. This recalls the
role English and French played in the struggle against imperialism by colo-
nized peoples in Africa (Brutt-Griffler, 2002).
Next, Katherine Silvester takes us to a Bhutanese refugee camp in Ne-
pal, for a look at pre-resettlement opportunities to learn English there
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(Chapter11). Using the framework of participatory action research, Sil-

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vester combined interviewing, participant observation, photography, and

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document analysis to explore the refugee camp as a translocal space where

English is imported into new contexts, then reshaped and recontextualized
for local linguistic conditions. Participants in her study included English
2

learners, many of whom had no prior formal education, as well as the local
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English teachers who worked at the Spoken English Center. Her findings
show that teaching practices in the center revolved around local knowledge
and everyday experiences, and that teachers served as language brokers,
helping their students negotiate language and cultural differences through

their practice. Teachers there are anything but passive technicians and,
in fact, are strategic thinkers who are capable of theorizing from their
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classrooms (Kumaravadivelu, 2012, p.11).

In the final chapter in this section, Cora Jakubiak explores the experi-
ences of volunteer native English speakers who teach English in non-Eng-
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lish speaking countries under the auspices of a U.S. NGO. The volunteer
English teaching industry rests on the assumption that to speak English as a
native language is to be naturally equipped to be a teacher of English. This
 12 J. A. LVAREZ V.

is confirmed by Jakubiaks finding that, typically, volunteers are told it is

not necessary for them to have a background in English language teaching
(ELT) and they receive little training before beginning their service. Based
on her own experience as a volunteer as well as interviews of current and
former ELT volunteers, Jakubiak notes that what results is poor quality Eng-

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lish language instruction and the substitution of love, games, smiles, and
cheerleading, what she calls a pedagogy of enthusiasm, in place of high qual-
ity English language instruction. Jakubiak reminds us that although NGOs

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actions may stem from good intentions, actors involved in such programs

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uncritically reproduce contested discourses of English as an opportunity

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for cultural, social, and economic development.
Following section three, in a concluding commentary, we offer a final
reflection on the studies presented in this volume. While each stands on
its own merits, taken together they remind us that English language teach-

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ers and students face many of the same challenges across the globe, but

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they also face unique challenges and possibilities conditioned by their in-
dividual histories and sociohistorical contexts. We honor their efforts and
dedicate ourselves to continuing to bring their stories to light as we have

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done in this volume.
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