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The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning

A Sociocultural Perspective

  • Book
  • © 2004

Overview

Editors:
  1. Leo Lier

    1. Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA

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  • The ecological perspective on language and language education has in recent years become a major focus of interest in the fields of second language teaching and learning, and linguistics and education in general.
  • This is the first book-length attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of an ecology of language learning, including both theoretical discussions on language, semiotics, emergence, and self, and the practical consequences of an ecological view for classroom work.

Part of the book series: Educational Linguistics (EDUL, volume 3)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introduction

    Pages 1-22

  3. Theories of Language

    Pages 23-53

  4. Semiotics

    Pages 55-77

  5. Emergence and Affordance

    Pages 79-105

  6. The Self and Language Learning

    Pages 107-132

  7. Language Learning Pathways

    Pages 133-163

  8. Critical Ecological Linguistics

    Pages 165-192

  9. Ecological Research

    Pages 193-219

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 221-249
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Keywords

About this book

In this book I try to give a coherent and consistent overview of what an ecological approach to language learning might look like. This is not a fully fledged grand theory that aims to provide an explanation of everything, but an attempt to provide a rationale for taking an ecological world view and applying it to language education, which I regard as one of the most important of all human activities. Goethe once said that everything has been thought of before, but that the difficulty is to think of it again. The same certainly is true of the present effort. If it has any innovative ideas to offer, these lie in a novel combination of thoughts and ideas that have been around for a long, long time. The reader will encounter influences that range from Spinoza to Bakhtin and from Vygotsky to Halliday. The scope of the work is intentionally broad, covering all major themes that are part of the language learning process and the language teaching profession. These themes include language, perception and action, self, learning, critical pedagogy and research. At the same time I have attempted to look at both the macro and the micro sides of the ecological coin, and address issues from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. This, then, aims to be a book that can be read by practitioners and theoreticians alike, and the main idea is that it should be readable and challenging at the same time.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA

    Leo Lier

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Ecology and Semiotics of Language Learning

  • Book Subtitle: A Sociocultural Perspective

  • Editors: Leo Lier

  • Series Title: Educational Linguistics

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-7912-5

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2004

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-7904-7Published: 20 July 2004

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4020-7993-1Published: 20 July 2004

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4020-7912-2Published: 18 April 2006

  • Series ISSN: 1572-0292

  • Series E-ISSN: 2215-1656

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 248

  • Topics: Applied Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Language Education, Philosophy of Education, Sociolinguistics

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