Language and power

摘要

While interest in this area has been steadily mounting since the late 1980s, and an impressive array of theoretical work now exists on these constructs, how do they play out in practice? The purpose of the papers in this volume is to explore in depth the relationship between the two. To do so, we present cases that focus on bilingual proficiency, transformative pedagogy, identity negotiation, and power relations that critically address the constructs of language and power viewed from, related to, inspired by, or informed by Cummins' (1986, 1996, 2001) empowerment framework. This special issue is thus a tribute to Cummins' work on micro (school-based) and macro (societal) constraints in the development of bi/multilingualism, and how to overcome these constraints.