The Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism

Abstract

This handbook chapter proposes to think of workplaces as specific spaces, as this conceptual move allows for a reflection on the institutional and individual interplay of language and work in specific settings. Considering workplaces as spaces will also highlight that workplaces are constituted by social practices, embedded in historical and political contexts, and simultaneously impacting on biographical experiences and trajectories. Different types of workplaces in different geographical and political economic settings will be examined throughout the chapter. This will include a range of examples of how practices and ideas of multilingualism in the workplace – and multilingualism as work – create different affordances and constraints for different groups of workers, often based on their status as speakers of specific languages. Finally, three ideal-typical spaces of work and language(s) as emerging from recent areas of research are discussed in more detail: (1) spaces of language learning, (2) spaces of valuing multilingualism, and (3) spaces of ordering multilingualism.

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