Why do children from some minority groups and children living in poverty do poorly in school when compared to white middle-class children? Researchers have offered a large number of different answers to this question. One of the most popular answers has been based on the notion of "decontextualized language." This article argues that…

This article interrogates the notion of "glocalization" (Moja, 2004, based on Castells, 2001) as a concept that seeks to integrate the local and the global to address both the need for social justice and the need to participate in a global market economy. The article argues that the relation between the global and the local cannot be explored…

"Globalization", a prominent and ubiquitous term in the academy associated with linguistic human rights, power, hypercapitalism, socio-political constraints, and social justice, is defined as powerful dynamic global forces stemming from the new world economy that constrict and restrict local contexts, progress, and possibilities--in this case, of…

In this article, the authors briefly describe key issues central to what Spring (2007) refers to as the "industrial-consumer paradigm" and the role of English as the global language characterized by what Harvey (1990) called "time and space compression." The authors also comment and provide a critique of some of its primary principles examining…

In an article on English and national identity, Spring gives a historical survey of the role of English and its relation to Japanese national identity. Although English was discouraged during World War II, as it was considered the language of enemy, it was again "made an important academic language and in 1956 was included in entrance examinations…

In this article, the author comments on Peter Roos's article (this issue). The author sees a strong need to clarify whether the horse that is to be remounted is more and better English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs or the goal of promoting bilingual education as a positive practice in the nation's schools or something else altogether. If the…

Joel Spring (2007/this issue) argues that in most nation states around the world today, English plays a central role primarily as a commodity of globalization. At the same time in the United States, English is being perpetuated in nationalistic terms as the only legitimate language. This is done through a variety of mechanisms such as language…

For decades bilingual education in the United States has faced political adversity to varying degrees. Having survived several waves of English-only activism since the late 1970s, these programs seem unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Research has increasingly demonstrated their superiority to all-English approaches for educating English-language…

Choosing any one alternative out of the three educational models provided by Joel Spring (2007/this issue) may not really be adequate for a new social-sociolinguistic theory for a potentially just world order. In this article, the author contends that as an alternative to the persistently degenerating consumerist model of the education security…

As Joel Spring's (2007/this issue) description of Singapore's Orchard Road suggests, Benetton, Zara, Nike, BMW, LG, and Microsoft dominate the visual and textual landscape where signage, advertising, packaging, labeling, and the environments of the connected underground malls and walkways merge into a wall-to-wall, 24/7 print and visual…