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 Applied Linguistics and
Language Teaching in the
Neo-Nationalist Era
Edited by
Kyle McIntosh
Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching
in the Neo-Nationalist Era
 Kyle McIntosh
Editor

Applied Linguistics
and Language
Teaching in the
Neo-Nationalist Era
Editor
Kyle McIntosh
Department of English and Writing
University of Tampa
Tampa, FL, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-56549-7 ISBN 978-3-030-56550-3 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56550-3

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,
whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting,
reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical
way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software,
or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
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regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland
AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 This book is dedicated to the memory of Jean Babb (1922–2006), a
public-school teacher and literacy specialist who spent part of every summer
driving her grandson around the United States in an AMC hatchback so
that he could learn more about the history of this nation. She never shied
away from talking to him about the terrible atrocities that had been
committed in its name, while also pointing out the many great things it had
accomplished. I still miss you, Grandma.
 Preface

This edited volume explores how resurgent nationalism across the globe
demands a re-examination of many of the theories and practices in
applied linguistics and language teaching as political forces seek to limit
the movement of people, goods, and services across national borders
and, in some cases, enact violence upon those with linguistic and/or
ethnic backgrounds that differ from that of the dominant culture. Some
questions that this book addresses are: How does rising dissatisfaction
with globalization affect public perceptions of second or foreign language
learning and learners? How are nationalist ideologies reflected in teaching
practices, textbooks, educational policies, and public debates? Could neo-
nationalism in some countries be seen as a corrective to the hegemony of
the English language and Anglo-American power? How might the fields
of applied linguistics and language teaching reaffirm a commitment to
multilingualism and multiculturalism in the face of rising nationalism
without sounding like apologists for neoliberal globalization? To address
these questions and others, the authors in this volume have provided
their careful analysis of nationalist discourses and actions in disparate
contexts: from Africa to East Asia, Europe to the Middle East, and in

vii
viii Preface

North and South America. These authors offer unique historical and
cultural perspectives, as well as practical responses, to the fraught political
situations with which many language educators and policymakers must
now contend.
Following an introduction by Kyle McIntosh in Chapter 1, which
provides background on the rise of neo-nationalism and the dilemmas
that this political shift poses for the related fields of applied linguistics
and language teaching, the remainder of the volume is divided into two
parts: “Policies” and “Practices.” Of course, these two facets of our profes-
sional lives can never be totally separated, as policy always informs prac-
tice, and vice versa. Nevertheless, the chapters included in each section
tend to lean more in one direction than the other.
Part I focuses mainly on the ways in which neo-nationalist ideolo-
gies influence language-in-education policies in both the political and
public realms. As Bryan Meadows notes in Chapter 2, “From the begin-
ning, language has played a central role in the ideology of nationalism”
(p. 19). To see how this ideology is evolving in the United States today,
Meadows examines arguments in support of the so-called “English-Only”
movement. Through critical discourse analysis, he exposes monolingual
models of education as a form of border maintenance that attempts
to control who belongs in the country and who does not. While the
push to make English the U.S.’s official language has been stymied at
the federal level, it has been more successful on state and local levels.
Meadows finds evidence to suggest that the anti-immigration policies of
the Trump administration are reinvigorating those who view bilingual
education as a threat to their vision of a linguistically, culturally, and
ethnically homogenous nation.
While English is the dominant language in the United States, regard-
less of its official status, and commands a great deal of attention—and
criticism—worldwide as a lingua franca, it can also be marginalized,
especially when saddled with the complex legacies of colonialism, as
Bernard Ndzi Ngala reveals in Chapter 3. His fascinating account of the
“Anglophone crisis” in Cameroon, where the dominance of the French-
speaking majority in legal and educational domains has sparked protests
and violence among the English-speaking minority, clearly illustrates
how difficult it can be to maintain equality in a multilingual society.
 Preface ix

Meanwhile, in Chapter 4, Fatima Esseili looks at preemptive measures

taken by the government of the United Arab Emirates to prevent social
unrest and to promote unity in a country where the expatriate majority
has been excluded from many aspects of social and political life. She
then contrasts these moves toward a more inclusive, civic nationalism
with efforts by the ruling Emirati minority to protect their language and
culture from threats posed by globalization and the spread of English.
From these chapters, we begin to see just how fraught and fragile the
“imagined political community” (Anderson, 1983, p. 6) of the nation
can be in the face of perceived danger.
In many instances, neo-nationalism stands in opposition to the unfet-
tered movement of people, goods, and services promoted by neoliber-
alism, but it may also be used to disguise it, as Marlon Valencia and
Isabel Tejada Sánchez point out in Chapter 5 with their conversation
about the politics of language in Colombia. They note how, despite the
failure of a national program to promote Spanish–English bilingualism
and the unfulfilled promise of prosperity for all, the current right-wing
government, brought to power in part as a response to the crisis in neigh-
boring Venezuela, continues to promote self-motivated entrepreneurship
as a means of strengthening the country. In Chapter 6, Dat Bao and
Le-Ha Phan analyze the discussions of Vietnamese nationals and expa-
triates on social media to better understand how those who take pride in
their country’s resistance of western domination may still embrace poli-
cies that allow for increased globalization. What they find is a multi-
tude of voices, not always in harmony, coalescing around the idea of
belonging to a language and culture that represent the nation, as well
as its surrounding region.
While policies continue to be discussed in Part II, just as practices
were in Part I, the focus shifts to how neo-nationalism impacts the
learning, teaching, and use of foreign and second languages. As in the
previous chapter, Ramona Kreis studies social media in Chapter 7, but
she emphasizes how the technology is being used to promote right-wing,
anti-immigrant views in Germany, as well as voices of opposition, with
comments often posted in English to reach a global audience. For Kreis,
the speed and ease with which these discourses circulate online make
it imperative to continue studying and teaching digital literacy in order
x Preface

to avoid falling prey to disinformation and the demonization of others.

In Chapter 8, Aleksandra Kasztalska and Aleksandra Swatek investigate
the effect that such right-wing discourses are having on foreign language
teaching in Poland, where traditional nationalism coupled with growing
Euroscepticism is keeping teachers from promoting multiculturalism in
their classrooms for fear of offending the patriotic or religious sensibilities
of students, parents, and school administrators. Similarly, in Chapter 9,
Paul McPherron and Kyle McIntosh revisit a university in China where
they previously taught to examine how recent nationalist policies enacted
by the central government in Beijing have altered the teaching practices
of their former colleagues and the attitudes of students toward the study
of English and other foreign languages. In these two cases, both coun-
tries seem to be turning away from greater engagement with the outside
world, but top-down edicts from strong central governments could tilt
the balance either way.
Expressions of nationalism are not always overt. In Chapter 10, Trevor
Gulliver examines Canadian ESL textbooks and citizenship guides to
uncover how nationalism is often couched in everyday objects and
expressions, from a picture of the flag to who—or what—is mentioned
as “belonging” to the country (e.g., Wayne Gretzky, hockey). As Gulliver
explains, these instances of “banal nationalism” (Billig, 1995) also work
to hide the nation’s past injustices and to marginalize its newcomers.
In Chapter 11, Joel Windle and Brian Morgan explore how neo-
nationalists in different countries effectively employ remix and other
“culture jamming” techniques suited to the digital age to sow fear and
confusion in real and virtual spaces. They then provide sample lessons
from their own classrooms in Brazil and Canada that were designed to
foster critical awareness among their students. Lastly, Suhanthie Motha
provides an afterword in Chapter 12 that reflects upon the complex issues
covered in the previous chapters and draws clear connections between
them. She presents a bold vision for moving the field toward a more
“nation-conscious applied linguistic practice” (p. 296) that recognizes
the vital importance of protecting national identity and language rights
while actively combating racism, xenophobia, and other manifestations
of hatred and fear.
 Preface xi

While the scope of this volume is expansive, it is far from exhaus-

tive. There are many facets of nationalism, both neo- and otherwise, in
applied linguistics and language teaching that need to be explored. There-
fore, we encourage those who read these chapters to initiate or continue
their own research into the myriad ways in which such ideologies are
informing language-in-education policies and classroom practices in their
own countries, communities, and institutions. We all need to offer up
theoretical possibilities and practical suggestions to help educators and
researchers deal with the threats posed—and possibilities presented—by
a worldwide turn toward nationalism at the start of the third decade of
the twenty-first century.

Tampa, USA Kyle McIntosh

References
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and rise of
nationalism. London: Verso.
Billig, M. (1995). Banal nationalism. London: Sage.
 Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank Cathy Scott, Alice Green, Prabhu Elan-
gali, Abarna Antonyraj, Sham Anand, and everyone else at Palgrave
Macmillan for all of their hard work in ushering this edited volume along
from a kernel of an idea to the published book that you now hold in your
hands or see on your screen. I would also like to express my sincere appre-
ciation to all of the amazing scholars who contributed to this volume;
without your unique perspectives and dedicated research, this book never
would have taken shape. Furthermore, we all owe a debt of gratitude
to our anonymous reviewers, whose insightful comments helped us to
strengthen and polish these chapters.
On a personal note, I would like to recognize my outstanding
colleagues in the Department of English and Writing at the University of
Tampa, who have provided me with a stable, nurturing academic home
for the last six years. I want to give a special shout-out to Professors Sarah
Fryett, Caroline Hovanec, Joseph Letter, David Reamer, Yuly Restrepo,
Aimee Whiteside, and Daniel Wollenberg for always being there to lend
an ear, no matter how I may have been feeling at the time.

xiii
xiv Acknowledgments

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Carol Chun Zheng, who

inspires me daily with her brilliance and resolve; our son, Kieran, whose
creativity and kindness give me hope for the future; and my parents,
Beverly and Gary McIntosh, for their lifelong support. I love you all!
 Contents

1 Introduction: Re-thinking Applied Linguistics

and Language Teaching in the Face
of Neo-Nationalism 1
Kyle McIntosh

Part I Policies

2 Neo-Nationalism and Language Policy in the United

States: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Public
Discourse Advocating Monolingual English Use 17
Bryan Meadows

3 The Impact of the Resurgent Anglophone Crisis

in Cameroon on Language Education and Policy 51
Bernard Ndzi Ngala

xv
xvi Contents

4 Civic Nationalism and Language-in-Education

Policies in the United Arab Emirates 77
Fatima Esseili

5 Colombia’s Language Politics: Neoliberalism Under

the Guise of Messianic Nationalism 105
Marlon Valencia and Isabel Tejada Sánchez

6 The Voices of Vietnamese Nationalism and Informal

Discourse in Language Policy 133
Dat Bao and Le-Ha Phan

Part II Practices

7 The Role of Language in Social Media During

the European Migrant Crisis 163
Ramona Kreis

8 Ideologies of Pluriculturalism and Neo-Nationalism

in EFL Classrooms in Poland: An Exploratory Study
of Teachers’ Self-Reports 189
Aleksandra Kasztalska and Aleksandra Swatek

9 From “Sick Man” to Strong Man: The Changing Role

of English Language Teaching in China in an Era
of Rising Nationalism and Global Ambitions 217
Paul McPherron and Kyle McIntosh

10 Nationalism, Redemptive and Banal, in Canadian

ESL Textbooks and Citizenship Study Guides 241
Trevor Gulliver
 Contents xvii

11 Remix Nationalism and Critical Language Education 267

Joel Windle and Brian Morgan

12 Afterword: Towards a Nation-Conscious Applied

Linguistics Practice 295
Suhanthie Motha

Index 311
 Notes on Contributors

Dat Bao is a Senior Lecturer at Monash University in Australia. His

areas of expertise include curriculum design, intercultural communica-
tion, materials development, literacy development, creative pedagogy,
and visual pedagogy in language education.
Fatima Esseili is an Associate Professor of English at the University
of Dayton and at Zayed University. Her research interests include
teaching methods, second language writing, sociolinguistics, and world
Englishes.
Trevor Gulliver is a Professor in the School of Education at Bishop’s
University, where he prepares teachers of English as a second language for
Quebec public schools. His research explores issues of power and identity
in language learning and teaching.
Aleksandra Kasztalska is a Lecturer in ESL Writing at Boston Univer-
sity. Her research interests include World Englishes, English instruction
and assessment in Poland, and Legitimation Code Theory.

xix
xx Notes on Contributors

Ramona Kreis is a lecturer in English Linguistics at the University

of Bremen. Her research focuses on digital discourse, critical discourse
studies, L2 pragmatics, and multilingual practices.
Kyle McIntosh is an Assistant Professor of English and Writing at the
University of Tampa. His research interests include second language
writing, intercultural rhetoric, and the politics of English language
teaching.
Paul McPherron is a Professor of English at Hunter College of the
City University of New York (CUNY), where he also is Director of the
Academic Center for Excellence in Research and Teaching (ACERT). His
research involves questions about English language learning in relation to
identity, globalization, and teaching policies, particularly in China and
the United States.
Bryan Meadows is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educa-
tional Studies at Seton Hall University, where he also serves as program
director for the TESOL graduate certificate program. His research exam-
ines the interplay of nationalism and language education.
Brian Morgan is an Associate Professor of English at Glendon College,
York University, Canada, where he teaches courses in content-based EAP,
language teacher education, and applied linguistics. His primary research
area is in critical theories, literacies, and pedagogies.
Suhanthie Motha is a teacher educator and Associate Professor at the
University of Washington. Her practice is located on Coast Salish
homelands and examines race and empire within applied linguistics.
Bernard Ndzi Ngala is a teacher-trainer at the Higher Teacher-Training
College (HTTC) in Maroua, Cameroon, where he is an Assistant
Lecturer in French Language and Literature Didactics in the Depart-
ment of Educational Sciences. His research interests include bilin-
gual/immersion education policy and classroom practices, learning and
teaching of French as a Foreign/Second Language, French for Specific
Purposes, and contrastive linguistics.
 Notes on Contributors xxi

Le-Ha Phan is a Senior Professor in the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Insti-

tute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, and is also affiliated
with the Department of Educational Foundations, College of Education,
University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Isabel Tejada Sánchez is an Assistant Professor of Education and
Language Studies at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.
Her research interests include second language acquisition, language
policy, action research in teacher education, interculturality, and critical
discourse analysis.
Aleksandra Swatek is an Assistant Research Professor in the Scholarly
Communication Research Group at Adam Mickiewicz University in
Poznań, Poland. She obtained her Ph.D. in English/Second Language
Studies at Purdue University, where she specialized in writing research.
Her projects encompass the areas of second language writing, corpus
linguistics, and English for Academic Purposes.
Marlon Valencia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English
at Glendon College, York University. His research interests include multi-
literacies, language politics, and the use of technology in the language
classroom.
Joel Windle is an Assistant Professor of English at the Fluminense
Federal University, Brazil. His research focuses on educational inequal-
ities, literacy, and linguistic diversity.
 List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 An empty French language classroom at Buea Regional

Linguistic Center (February, 2020) 67
Fig. 3.2 Enrollment in language courses at extracurricular
settings 69
Fig. 3.3 Enrollment in international language proficiency
examinations 70
Fig. 3.4 An abandoned school site due to armed conflict
(February, 2020) 71
Fig. 5.1 Political campaign for legislative elections in Bogotá,
Colombia (October, 2019) 119
Fig. 5.2 Diverse learners in Colombia 124
Fig. 5.3 Privileged learners in Colombia 125
Fig. 9.1 Cultural Revolution Museum mural and pagoda
(June, 2007) 226
Fig. 11.1 A replica of the Statue of Liberty in front of the Havan
department store, Brazil 274
Fig. 11.2 Bagel World 287

xxiii
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 State justification statements 32

Table 2.2 State-level bills pertaining to language-in-education for
EL students, 2019 40
Table 2.3 Analysis summary 43
Table 4.1 Population of GCC countries in 2019 79
Table 5.1 Our academic paths 109
Table 5.2 Colombian in-service teachers’ answers to questionnaire
(unedited excerpts) 122
Table 6.1 Break-down of nationalist content in Quora Digest data 143
Table 8.1 Participant profiles 197

xxv
 1
Introduction: Re-thinking Applied
Linguistics and Language Teaching
in the Face of Neo-Nationalism
Kyle McIntosh

Confession: This is a chapter that I never imagined I would write in

a volume that I never thought would need to be published. Until a
few years ago, the idea of neo-nationalism emerging as a formidable
global force seemed to me the stuff of dystopian fiction. Granted, I have
lived and worked in the United States, South Korea, and the People’s
Republic of China where, over the past two decades, I have witnessed
firsthand—and through the news media—nationalist sentiments rising
up at different times in different places (e.g., post-9/11 saber-rattling in
the U.S., protests in Korea and China over the whitewashing of wartime
atrocities in Japanese history books). My general sense, however, was that
most countries were trending toward a more interconnected, interde-
pendent future in which multilingualism and multiculturalism would
be viewed as norms rather than exceptions. I drew this conclusion not

K. McIntosh (B)
Department of English and Writing,
University of Tampa, Tampa, FL, USA
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s) 2020 1

K. McIntosh (ed.), Applied Linguistics and Language
Teaching in the Neo-Nationalist Era,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56550-3_1
2 K. McIntosh

only from my personal experiences but also from reading and conducting
research in applied linguistics and language teaching.
So, when I went to bed on June 23, 2016 at an Airbnb in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, following the first day of the International Writing Across the
Curriculum (IWAC) Conference, I fully expected to wake up the next
morning in a world largely unchanged from the one in which I had fallen
asleep. Instead, when I opened my eyes, grabbed my iPhone, and looked
at my newsfeed, I saw this headline from The New York Times: “British
Stun the World with Decision to Leave the E.U.” I was, in fact, stunned.
Although it was known that the vote would be close, few polls had
predicted this outcome. Apparently, rising Euroscepticism triggered by
frustration with the fiscal policies coming out of Brussels, along with low
turnout among younger voters, had been enough to push through the
referendum. Suddenly, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that, come
November, Donald Trump would be riding a similar wave of economic
dissatisfaction and burgeoning neo-nationalism into the White House.
Never before in my life had I so wished to be wrong.
The trade-protectionist and anti-immigrant stances associated with
neo-nationalism, which Eger and Valdez (2015) posited as something of
a hybrid between the far left’s “anti-establishment populism” and the far
right’s “desire for a return to traditional values and an emphasis on law
and order” (p. 127), did not begin with Brexit or the election of Donald
Trump. For years prior to 2016, neo-nationalist movements had been
gaining ground across Europe, propelling figures like Hungarian Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán and Polish President Andrzej Duda into power.
Similar movements were springing up around leaders in other parts of the
world: Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalism in India, Recep Erdoğan’s
Ottoman revival in Turkey, and Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream,” to name a
few. Nevertheless, the shift toward neo-nationalism by what had hitherto
been the two strongest proponents of neoliberal globalization sent a clear
signal that the world was, in fact, starting to bend in a new direction.
If the United Kingdom and the United States—the very countries that
advanced English as an international language to serve their own political
and economic interests—were withdrawing from trade deals, tightening
their borders, and inciting violence against immigrants, then how long
before other nations began to rethink educational policies and practices
 1 Introduction: Re-thinking Applied Linguistics … 3

that, for decades, had touted learning English as a key to entering the
global marketplace? Would the rise of neo-nationalism across the world,
fueled in part by xenophobia, lead to a backlash against the teaching of
foreign languages in general?

Nationalism, Language, and Education

For many, the word “nationalism” conjures up dramatic images, like
Adolf Hitler screaming maniacally into a microphone before legions of
saluting Nazis shouting “Sieg Heil” in return or perhaps, more recently,
the bombed-out cities of the Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001). While such
extreme forms have led to interethnic conflict and genocide, nation-
alism has also been mobilized to drive out colonizers or resist other
outside aggressors, as was the case with Vietnam’s defeat of France and
the United States, respectively, in the First and Second Indochina Wars
(see Bao & Phan, Chapter 6 in this volume). Most everyday manifesta-
tions of nationalism, however, fall under what Billig (1995) categorized
as “banal” and are therefore easier to overlook: the face of a country’s
founder placed on its currency or the national anthem being played
before a sporting event. Nationalism is even embedded in the words that
we use to talk about ourselves and others: native, foreigner, compatriot,
expatriate, immigrant, alien.
The very idea of the nation, which Anderson (1983) called “an imag-
ined political community” (p. 6), depends heavily on the establishment
of a common language—or languages—to create a sense of shared iden-
tity among people who are unlikely to meet face-to-face and who may
experience very different linguistic realities on a day-to-day basis. China,
with its hundreds of often mutually unintelligible regional and local
“dialects,” provides a striking example of how an officially-mandated
“common speech” (putonghua, or standard Mandarin) and a relatively
uniform writing system work to construct the idea of a single national
language: Chinese. Other countries, like Singapore and Switzerland,
recognize multiple national languages to reflect their linguistic diversity,
but striking a balance between these languages remains challenging. In
Cameroon and the United Arab Emirates, for instance, official status
4 K. McIntosh

may not be enough to protect languages spoken by a minority of

the population, and the fear of this loss can spur ethnolinguistic
nationalism and conflict (see Ngala, Chapter 3 in this volume; Esseili,
Chapter 4 in this volume).
Of course, not all forms of nationalism are the same. In the current
political climate, we can hear differences in the voices of those promoting
a particular imagined community, whether it be a far-right ethno-
religious state or a more left-leaning civically-minded nation, but we may
also detect similar interests in maintaining borders or opposing global
markets, although likely for different reasons and through different
means (Svitych, 2018). As Blommaert (1996) noted:

The way in which language is symbolised may cohere with the general
set-up of the particular nationalism; its ideological construction may
be guided by similar underlying assumptions, viewpoints and visions
of the desired ‘ideal society’ which nationalists are trying to build.
Closer attention to language-ideological issues may thus contribute to
a better understanding of the conceptual, ‘deep’ structure of various
nationalisms [...]. (p. 236)

We find these idealized visions of the nation regularly reproduced in

political speeches and media coverage of events, in documentaries and
other historical accounts, and in language textbooks and citizenship
guides (see Gulliver, Chapter 10 in this volume). Studying the ways that
people in different places and with different political orientations speak
and write about the idea of the nation can help us to understand why
nationalism is on the rise again and how it may be contributing to the
formation of new alliances and oppositions across old ideological lines.
Just as nationalism has long been tied to language, so too is it tied to
language education, in policy if not in practice. Decisions as to which
languages can be spoken, written, taught and tested in schools are often
enshrined in law (Wright, 2016). Governments are involved in how
students from other countries with different immigration or residency
statuses are classified within education systems. Sometimes, countries
even establish public organizations, like the British Council or Confu-
cius Institute, to affect how national languages—official or de facto—are
taught in other countries. To Phillipson (1992), the entire enterprise of
 1 Introduction: Re-thinking Applied Linguistics … 5

English language teaching (ELT) was a form of “linguistic imperialism,”

through which Anglo-American power could continue to be exerted in a
post-colonial world by perpetuating the specious argument that English
is “a vehicle of the entire developing human tradition, well adapted
for change and development, not ethnic or ideological, the world’s first
truly global language, of universal interest” (p. 276). Today, we see
this same argument put forward not only by Anglophone nations but
also by multinational corporations that promote English, and perhaps a
handful of other lingua francas (e.g., Arabic, French, Mandarin), as vital
components of individual success in a globalized world.

Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics

In 1990, when Alastair Pennycook proposed adopting a more critical
approach to applied linguistics, the Berlin Wall had just fallen and the
Soviet Union was a year away from collapsing, but he was prescient
in calling for new ways of thinking about the roles that language and
education play in perpetuating inequalities in a world where few alterna-
tives to American-led free-market capitalism (i.e., neoliberalism) would
soon remain. Taking his cue from post-structuralist philosophers like
Michel Foucault, Pennycook (1990) reminded us that knowledge is never
neutral and that, as a field, we must repeatedly examine the ideolog-
ical basis/biases of our work by interrogating foundational concepts and
accepted research methods to uncover who or what is being excluded
from the conversation. Only then, he argued, can we truly understand
the power that language has to limit, as well as expand, the ways in which
we view our world and one another.
Around the same time, the number of so-called “non-native” speakers
of English began to outpace the number of “native” speakers, prompting
scholars to wonder if such a division still had meaning, if it ever did
(e.g., Davies, 1991; Phillipson, 1992). Yet, despite bodies of research
on the unique characteristics of World Englishes (see Kachru, 1997)
and the cognitive benefits of bilingualism (see Bialystock, 2011), mono-
lingual models of education have persisted and even spread, especially
in places where speaking a dominant or prestige language continues
6 K. McIntosh

to be viewed as a means of improving one’s socioeconomic status (see

Meadows, Chapter 2 in this volume).
The social turn in applied linguistics, which emphasized the effects
of context and interpersonal relations on language learning and use, has
helped us to challenge such monolingual ideologies and to reposition
multilingualism as the global norm. Likewise, the dynamic turn in ELT
has sought to connect classroom practices to students’ experiences with
language in the world. While these goals are laudable, they also happen
to align with what Flores (2013) called the “commodification of language
in service of transnational corporations” (p. 515). In other words, compa-
nies are happy to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, as long as the
languages and cultures possess some degree of capital, in the Bourdieuan
sense. Thus, learning a new language becomes a form of “job training,”
and workers are transformed into lifelong learners who must continually
adapt to changing conditions as they move from one “gig” to the next.
We reinforce such sentiments when, even with the best of inten-
tions, we tell our students that learning another language will increase
their employment prospects after graduation. Flores (2013) encouraged
teachers to push back against such “universalizing” narratives by guiding
students to see how different languages can be used to experiment
with identities and positionalities that challenge the tacit assumptions
of both neoliberalism and neo-nationalism. While I find this sugges-
tion promising, recent scholarship in applied linguistics has done a far
better job of critiquing the former, while giving less attention to the
latter in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. This oversight
was likely because, until fairly recently, the nation-state appeared to be
in decline, with free-trade agreements, high-speed communication, and
affordable travel making borders seem more permeable and barriers more
surmountable than ever before.
Understandably then, much of the research in applied linguistics and
language teaching in the early 2000s has focused on how to go beyond
simply paying lip service to multilingualism and multiculturalism in a
globalized world to actually finding viable means to ensure that students
and workers, regardless of language background, social status, ethnicity,
religion or gender, receive the educational support and equitable treat-
ment they deserve. One possible outcome might be the realization of a
more transnational, cosmopolitan existence for everyone, and not just
 1 Introduction: Re-thinking Applied Linguistics … 7

the global elite (see Canagarajah, 2013). Again, while much of the world
appeared to be moving in that direction prior to 2016, our view was
likely skewed by the places we live, work, and travel to, and by the people
who we meet, work with, and teach. Kubota (2016) questioned if, by
putting so much emphasis on cosmopolitanism and linguistic hybridity,
applied linguists had overlooked the ways in which even the most well-
intentioned theories and practices could be used to further marginalize
and oppress the poor and undereducated. In other words, how does the
notion of translingual fluency, or the ability to move between languages
depending on audience, impact the hundreds of millions of people in
the world who do not have access to the educational resources needed to
learn how to read and write in any language? How might an emphasis on
multiculturalism and mobility provoke hostility from those who cannot
afford to leave their villages or small towns? What will it mean for
foreign and second language teaching, which has undoubtedly benefited
from globalization, if more and more countries decide to retreat behind
borders and walls?

The End of Neoliberalism and the Rise

of Neo-Nationalism?
Even with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, it is prema-
ture to sound the death knell for neoliberalism. Multinational corpo-
rations continue to exert undue influence on politics, and stock
markets keep hitting record highs. Yet, tensions are also high, both
between and within nations. Lee (2017), for example, found that
increasing nationalist sentiment in higher education settings in South
Africa, as well as in South Korea (Lee, Jon, & Byun, 2016), led
to unfair treatment and open hostility against foreign students, espe-
cially those from neighboring countries who are seen as competing
for jobs and resources. Meanwhile, Ngala (Chapter 3 in this volume)
has chronicled the ongoing crisis in Cameroon, where speakers
of French and English are locked in a violent conflict over the
status of the languages of their former colonizers. To make matters
worse, the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-
19) has shut down borders, disrupted supply chains, and sparked
8 K. McIntosh

further instances of ethnic violence, from attacks on Asians in New York

City (Chapman, 2020) to discrimination against Africans in Guangzhou
(Nyabiage, 2020). The long-term impact of this pandemic on interna-
tional relations remains to be seen, but it will certainly alter the way we
think about our connections to the rest of the world.
Higher education was already experiencing a downturn even before
schools were shuttered in the spring of 2020. Three years prior, interna-
tional enrollments at U.S. universities had decreased by 6.9%, due in
part to the hostile political environment, as well as issues with visas,
a strong dollar, and competition from regional education hubs like
Germany, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates (Baer, 2017).
Meanwhile, countries like South Korea and Iran have raised the age
at which students begin studying English in school to protect their
own languages and cultures, while China has reduced the importance
the English language requirement on its college entrance exam (see
McPherron & McIntosh, Chapter 9 in this volume). These developments
raise several questions: Should we take declining enthusiasm for learning
English as a sign that its status as the international language is coming
to an end? Or is this part of a larger turn against multilingualism and
multiculturalism in general? Can we support the unfettered movement of
people, goods, and ideas without also propping up an economic system
on the verge of collapse?
In a 2017 opinion piece in The New York Times, Bhaskar Sunkara,
former vice chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, presented the
metaphor of a runaway train heading toward three possible destinations
to represent the directions that countries might take in a post-neoliberal
world. He claimed that right-wing populists (i.e., neo-nationalists) long
to arrive at “Budapest Station,” which is modeled on Orbán’s anti-
immigration and anti-globalization reforms in Hungary, but first they
need to throw the “undesirables” off the train. Meanwhile, most corpo-
ratists (i.e., neoliberals) are trying to hit the brakes so that they can get
off at “Singapore Station,” an authoritarian technocracy that embraces
officially-sanctioned multilingualism and prides itself on a cosmopolitan
worldview. Given those two choices, the latter would seem like the better
option for those working in fields related to the teaching and learning
of languages. As DeCosta and Jou (2016) pointed out, however, an
 1 Introduction: Re-thinking Applied Linguistics … 9

uncritical acceptance of cosmopolitanism can mask serious problems like

racism, sexism, and income inequality in what outwardly appears to be
a “harmonious” multicultural society.
The third stop, which Sunkara (2017) dubbed “Finland Station,”
marks a return to pre-Soviet socialist ideals, offering a form of radical
democracy where quality education, housing, and healthcare would be
guaranteed for all and where linguistic and cultural differences could
be negotiated via a more “dialogical” form of cosmopolitanism, similar
to what Canagarajah (2013) envisioned. We have seen versions of this
appear in Europe and Latin America with varying degrees of longevity
and success. We have even seen glimpses of it in the United States
with the rise of left-leaning populist politicians like Bernie Sanders and
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who invoke a more civic form of nationalism
when appealing to working class voters upset about manufacturing jobs
being outsourced to China, Mexico, and elsewhere.
At this moment in history, it is difficult to predict at which of these
three stations the metaphorical train will stop, even in a country like
the United States where many people still regard “socialism” as a dirty
word. Each country has a unique history and set of present circumstances
that will affect the way it deals with the decline of neoliberalism (see
Valencia & Tejada Sánchez, Chapter 5 in this volume, for the example
of Colombia). Complicating matters further is a growing distrust of any
form of government among the working classes who reap few benefits
from technology booms or stock market rallies, but who feel dispropor-
tionately harmed by economic downturns. This real, if often misdirected,
sense of injustice makes them susceptible to radicalization by religious or
racist extremists and to disinformation campaigns promoted by foreign
governments.
Conspiracy theories are hardly new, but the speed at which rumors,
half-truths, and outright lies spread across the Internet is unprecedented
(see Kreis, Chapter 7 in this volume, for an account of right-wing
discourses on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Berlin
terrorist attack). In many ways, these attempts to challenge credible
evidence for everything from the dangers of climate change to the safety
of vaccines recall earlier postmodern takedowns of the scientific method
and the very nature of facts, which led Bruno Latour (2004) to famously
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