Language and culture are concepts increasingly found at the heart of developments in applied linguistics and related fields. Taken together, they can provide interesting and useful insights into the nature of language acquisition and expression. In this volume, Joan Kelly Hall gives a perspective on the nature of language and culture looking at how the use of language in real-world situations helps us understand how language is used to construct our social and cultural worlds.The conceptual maps on the nature of language, culture and learning provided in this text help orient readers to some current theoretical and practical activities taking place in applied linguistics. They also help them begin to chart their own explorations in the teaching and researching of language and culture.

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION SECTION 1 DEFINING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Chapter One A sociocultural perspective on language and culture1.1 Introduction 1.2 Language as sociocultural resource 1.2.1 Dialogue as the essence of language use1.2.2 Single- and double-voiced utterances1.3 Culture as sociocultural practice1.4 Linguistic relativity1.5 A socially constituted linguistics1.5.1 A socially constituted approach to the study of language and culture1.5.2 The recent turn in studies of communicative activities1.5.3 From linguistic relativity to sociolinguistic relativity1.6 Systemic functional linguistics1.7 SummaryFurther reading Chapter Two Language and identity2.1 Introduction 2.2 Social identity 2.2.1 Contextual relevancy of social identity2.3 Agency, identity and language use2.3.1 Giddens' theory of structuration2.3.2 Bourdieu's notion of habitus 2.4 Research on language use and identity 2.4.1 Interactional sociolinguistics 2.4.2 Co-construction of identity2.5 SummaryFurther reading Chapter Three Language-and-culture learning3.1 Introduction 3.2 A sociocultural perspective on language and culture learning 3.2.1 Mediational means3.3 Language socialisation3.4 Learning how to mean3.5 Social activity and language development3.6 Social activity and cognitive development3.7 Contexts of learning3.7.1 Language classrooms as fundamental sites of learning3.7.2 Learning beyond the traditional