Peter Ignatius De Costa

Michigan State University | MSU · Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages

This volume contributes to ongoing discussions of ethics in Applied Linguistics scholarship by focusing in depth on several different sub-areas within the field. The book is comprised of four sections: methodological approaches to research; specific participant populations and contexts of research; (language) pedagogy and policy; and personal and i...

This volume contributes to ongoing discussions of ethics in Applied Linguistics scholarship by focusing in depth on several different sub-areas within the field. The book is comprised of four sections: methodological approaches to research; specific participant populations and contexts of research; (language) pedagogy and policy; and personal and i...

This volume contributes to ongoing discussions of ethics in Applied Linguistics scholarship by focusing in depth on several different sub-areas within the field. The book is comprised of four sections: methodological approaches to research; specific participant populations and contexts of research; (language) pedagogy and policy; and personal and i...

As English continues to spread and become enmeshed in the local social, political, and economic contexts of various countries, English in these varied multilingual spaces has come under increasing scrutiny through three main streams of research that focus on English as a lingua franca (ELF), English as an international language (EIL), and world Eng...

Narrative inquiry has gained traction in applied linguistics as a complementary approach to positivistic research, focusing on the subjectivities of individuals’ lived experiences and using stories as data, analytical tools, and reporting practice. Although numerous methodologically oriented publications on narrative inquiry in the field reflect it...

Addressing the ongoing calls to reform teacher education to prepare future teachers to serve students from diverse backgrounds, this introduction reviews recent developments in teacher education to situate our thematic issue on critical teacher education for equitable learning in multilingual classrooms. The five empirical papers and two commentari...

Ideologies, as shared beliefs about what is acceptable or valued in a society, are present in various aspects of everyday life, including education, public discourse, and popular culture. Applied linguistics research has increasingly used the concept of ideology to examine the intersection of language and social structures, including the social nor...

This paper investigates the emotion labor experienced by transnational world language teachers (TWLTs), with a focus on Chinese language teacher candidates in a US dual immersion school residency program. Despite existing research on emotion labor in language teaching, the experiences of Chinese TWLTs have been underexplored. Through an analysis of...

This article presents a narrative inquiry of a Chinese heritage mother to theorize and explicate how historical, relational, and spatial processes impacted her negotiation with power and agency in relation to her own heritage language (HL) identity development. A narrative approach enables us to draw on participant counter-stories against master na...

Although numerous studies about the experiences of teachers in English-medium instruction (EMI) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) include calls for greater collaboration between content subject teachers and their English (or second language) teacher counterparts, few describe actual collaborative relationships. In this Kazakhstan-...

This chapter documents the various ways two university TESOL teachers at different US universities navigate identity tensions while completing their work. Specifically, practices like setting course goals and providing student feedback proved to be salient moments where they had to negotiate the expectations of the institution, the goals and needs...

Building on the long-standing tradition of challenging oppression and questioning whose interests are being served in the field of language education, we report on a study that involved a group of U.S.-based graduate students who collaborated with a ninth-grade English teacher in Nepal. The study comes out of a larger project that sought to interna...

Given the significance of creating an inclusive academic environment for international students, our study examines how three newly arrived international students (a Chinese female and two Korean males) navigated the institutional and interactional norms in an academic orientation class at a U.S. university. Drawing on nexus analysis, we examine st...

This study explores how teachers' well-being is shaped by their ability to participate in cultures of care through their teaching practices and within their respective institutions. With a focus on teacher agency at play in their interactions with students, colleagues, and their institutions, this study contributes to a growing body of research exa...

This editorial piece is the introduction to our special issue on the emotional landscape of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education. In this piece, we argue for a greater focus on examining the emotional environment of EMI in higher education—the variety of emotions that get entangled in policies, discourses, and practices in local EMI...

This session explores the relationship between teacher agency, emotional labor, and well-being, focusing on individual practices and institutional contexts. Using examples from a recent case study and our own experiences, we seek to foster a collaborative discussion where participants reflect and dialogue about enacting professional well-being in t...

Teaching English to the speakers of other languages (TESOL) sits at the nexus of constant change, which makes it vitally important for language teachers to engage in continuous development to survive professionally. Central to moving with the proverbial times, is keeping abreast with the sociopolitical milieu in which teachers are embedded. However...

In this chapter, we introduce the principles and practices underlying qualitative methodologies (e.g., ethnography, case studies, action research) and qualitative methods (e.g., field observations, interviews) that are compatible with socioculturally-oriented SLA theories (e.g., language socialization, identity theory, Vygotskian sociocultural theo...

Educational reforms often precipitate teacher tensions that subsequently impact teacher identity (re)construction. Adopting a community of practice (CoP) framework to examine identity-, belief- and emotion-inflected tensions, and drawing on data from five rounds of interviews, our longitudinal case study traced the identity reformation of an Englis...

In keeping with discipline-specific genre expectations for writing in scientific and technological fields, students enrolled in English writing classes for future engineers are often required to produce collaborative reports on team projects. For freshman engineering students, such collaborative report writing, which constitutes a cornerstone in th...

As a linguistically and ethnically diverse region in China, Xinjiang has received much scholarly attention in multilingual and multicultural education research. Given that minority Uyghur students need to learn three languages (i.e. Uyghur, Mandarin Chinese, and English), and that they generally have limited access to educational resources, some of...

The guest editors, Masatoshi Sato (Universidad Andres Bello) and Shawn Loewen (Michigan State University), feature a collection of empirical studies focusing on the relationship between research and practice in the field of second language (L2) learning and teaching—a much-debated yet rarely-investigated topic. With articles written by like-minded...

Consistent with recent calls to bridge the research–practice divide in second language acquisition, this article reports on the findings of a collaborative autoethnographic study that we, authors of this article, conducted as critical second language teacher educators. Conducting a series of constructive dialogues among ourselves for a semester, we...

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump’s branding of the virus as the “China” or “Wuhan” virus, anti-Asian sentiment has swept through the United States, resulting in developments involving antiracist discourse. Our commentary draws upon these events and other recent incidents in the United States to demonstrate the power that words...

As the educational landscape evolves to address emerging international demands (De Costa, Green-Eneix & Li, 2020), teacher educators and researchers have begun to reevaluate what it means to be a ‘good’ teacher within digital classrooms. An area that has not been fully explored is how language (LTC) and (LTE) dialectically occur through the stories...

This case study investigates how one community college instructor in California navigated a set of rules regarding how teachers should feel – feeling rules (Zembylas, 2006) – in the workplace, imposed by a new language policy to accrue emotional capital, embodied emotions developed over time through power structures and daily interaction with stude...

Multilingual learners confront challenges not only in mastering new languages but also in forming new identities. Guided by the investment model, we traced the learning of Chinese and English of two Uyghur women who attended a coastal Chinese university and investigated how they navigated the Chinese mainstream education system to university level....

TESOL teacher education (TESOL TE) research seeks to understand how to prepare ESL and EFL teachers, primarily in regards to language teaching, to navigate and negotiate within their (future) professional contexts (De Costa & Norton, 2017; Yuan & Lee, 2014). Such research continues to examine how in-service teachers attempt to embrace the complexit...

The multilingual turn in TESOL (May in The multilingual turn: implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education. Routledge, New York, 2014) is overdue with the field still viewing languages as separate entities that exist in individuals (Deroo et al. in Envisioning TESOL through a translanguaging lens. Springer, New York, pp. 111–134, 2020). By...

Methodological and theoretical innovations in second language (L2) narrative research have yielded helpful insights into L2 learning and teaching over the past four decades. However, with the creation of this vibrant line of inquiry, new ethical dilemmas have correspondingly emerged. These dilemmas threaten to violate the core ethical principles of...

This is the pre-draft of our editorial piece for our upcoming special issue in the RELC Journal. Please go to this web address: https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211018540 , or to the RELC Journal website for the final published version. This editorial piece is the introduction of our special issue on English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and tra...

This is a predraft of our editorial for the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics special issue: Green-Eneix, C. A., De Costa, P. I., & Li, W. (eds) (2021). Problematizing language policy and practice in EMI and transnational higher education. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 44(2). https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/18337139...

Problematizing language policy and practice in EMI and transnational higher education: Challenges and possibilities Special issue of Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 44:2 (2021)

In this Methods Showcase Article, we highlight a qualitative research methodology called netnography, an adaptation of ethnography and ethnographic methods applied to researching digital/online communities. We briefly discuss how netnography has evolved from its origins in the fields of consumer research and marketing to its more recent application...

This article explores the nature of reflective practice in a professional development process based on lesson study. The authors examine how a lesson study model initiates reflection as a meta‐action scaffolding reflective practice among teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) at a university in Turkey. Fieldnotes, interviews, and audio dia...

This book chapter examines the use of ethnography as a methodology for investigating individual differences in second language acquisition. The authors begin by providing the reader with a comprehensive overview of ethnography and its associated methods. Next, the researchers further investigate how ethnography has been used in exploring four core...

This chapter explores the sociopolitical implications of adopting multilingual pedagogies in teacher education. More specifically, the authors draw on data from a qualitative inquiry of how racism manifested and was addressed and ignored within an online undergraduate ESL methodology course for pre-service teachers (PSTs). Classwork from PSTs and i...

The 40 th anniversary of the Journal of Language and Social Psychology occurs around the corner of another anniversary, the language motivation field reaching 60 years. At this occasion, we pause to reflect on the contribution of language motivation research to language teaching practice. We argue that this contribution has been negligible and put...

Within TESOL over the past two decades, much of the vibrant discussion on the native/non-native English-speaking teacher (NEST/NNEST) ideological dichotomy has begun to put race front and center. It is this centering of race that forms the focus of this chapter. To this end, we examine the ideologies surrounding language, the language learner, and...

Identity research in second language acquisition (SLA) and second language teacher education (SLTE) attempts to (1) understand how, through language, an individual achieves a sense of belonging within a sociocultural context, and (2) how relationships change over time and space as individuals traverse physical and cultural borders. Building on thes...

This introduction builds on De Costa et al.'s (2016, 2019) notion of linguistic entrepreneurship, which is defined as "the act of aligning with the moral imperative to strategically exploit language-related resources for enhancing one's worth in the world" (2016: 696). The four empirical studies and two critical commentaries that constitute this sp...

The global spread of English has made it the dominant language in academic publishing (Hyland, Ken. 2015. Academic Publishing: Issues and Challenges in the Construction of Knowledge . Oxford: Oxford University Press). Influenced by enterprise culture, scholars from peripheral non-Western countries face mounting pressure to publish in English (Curry...

This case study explores the experience of a Chinese-born postdoctoral STEM scholar, Miles, who has lived in the United States for six consecutive years. Our research illuminates Miles’s complex identity-making process by taking a close look at his language practices and language ideologies. Guided by identity theory (Norton 2013; De Costa/Norton 2...

Recent global social unrest that stems from historical racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality and inequity has elevated the need for language educators to challenge traditional understandings of and practices in the language classroom. Such a development warrants an examination of language teacher agency in contemporary society. To this end a...

In this chapter, we present two case studies of a pre-service and in-service teacher as they make sense of translanguaging as theory and pedagogy with particular attention to their adoption of a translanguaging stance. Specifically, we asked: What course and field experiences support PST and ISTs' adoption of a translan-guaging stance as a part of...

The growing concern for ethics in applied linguistics may be attributed to attempts to stem the rising incidence of ethical lapses in order to ensure that the core ethical principles of (1) respect for persons, (2) yielding optimal benefits while minimizing harm, and (3) justice are preserved. Following a brief historical review of this topic, and...

Linguistic racism is magnified when a speaker is multilingual and shuttles between different languages and language varieties. This reality is underscored in this commentary that reviews four empirical studies that comprise this special issue on linguistic racism. We see linguistic racism enacted in different forms and contexts: through racial micr...

Language policies generally seek to establish, regulate, and conform linguistic practices – whether explicit or implicit – that occur within an ‘authorized’ domain. While there are multiple levels (societal, institutional, and interpersonal) at which such policies are enacted (Hornberger & Johnson, 2007), academic institutions are often significant...

The Annual BAAL Conference, 29-31 August, 2019, Manchester, UK (https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/education/baal/) Colloquium: “Problematizing Language Policy and Practice in EMI and Transnational Higher Education: International Perspectives”, Organized and Convened by Peter de Costa, Curtis Green-Eneix, & Wendy Li (Michigan State University); Discussant...

Conceived as the act of aligning with the moral imperative to enhance one’s worth in the world through a strategic management of language-related resources (De Costa et al. in Asia Pac Educ Res 25(5–6):695–702, 2016), linguistic entrepreneurship is used as a framework to guide this paper that examines the growing influence of neoliberalism within t...

The Cambridge Handbook of Language Learning - edited by John W. Schwieter June 2019

Cambridge Core - Applied Linguistics - The Cambridge Handbook of Language Learning - edited by John W. Schwieter

This book provides readers with an in- depth understanding of the methodological tools that have to date been implemented within World Englishes (WE) research. It serves as a tool to allow for better methodological rigour in interpreting prior research, as well as in conducting future research in this important area of sociolinguistic investigatio...

A limited ability to pursue postsecondary education often leaves English language learners (ELLs) with a gamut of negative emotional experiences. Using an emotionally oriented framework to guide our study, this article focuses on the experiences of two female South Asian students who graduated from different U.S. high schools. We explored what emot...

Building on recent calls to examine the material realities of people’s lives, our paper explores how developments in ecological approaches to second language acquisition (SLA) and recent SLA identity work can help advance the language policy and planning (LPP) research agenda. To this end, we draw on (1) the multi-level transdisciplinary framework...

The exponential growth of research and enormity of the body of knowledge that has been accumulated in applied linguistics make the need for quality and reliable synthesis of the available research more pressing than ever. Traditional reviews seek to critique existing research, provide an overview of the research, and/or contextualize a new study. R...

Recognizing the inherent value of refugee youth’s diverse and powerful linguistic and cultural capital, this case study adds to the growing body of research regarding refugee youth’s intersecting identities and multiliteracies by exploring (1) how youth who have settled in the American Midwest as refugees express their emerging notions of identity...

The exploration of links between faith and second language pedagogy has been underexplored, and the emotional experiences of English language teachers of religious faith are even less studied in applied linguistics circles. This qualitative case study is an effort to address this gap in the research by investigating the faith-based emotional experi...

29 June 2018 Issue No:512 http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180626103409378&query=de+costa Dr. Peter De Costa's commentary on Phan Le-Ha (2017).Transnational Education Crossing 'Asia' and 'the West': Adjusted Desire, Transformative Mediocrity, Neo-colonial Disguise. London and New York: Routledge. Thank you to Peter De Cost...

When collaborating remotely and cross-culturally, negotiating control, navigating ambiguities in context, and recognizing one's own cultural influences require immense amounts of self-awareness when positioning oneself within a project. This is of particular relevance to the field of TESOL as the everexpanding realm of English language education br...

Following the sociocultural turn (e.g., Zembylas in Teaching with emotion: a postmodern enactment. Information Age Publishing, Greenwich, CT, 2005a) in teacher emotion research, we explore second language (L2) teacher emotions from a critical perspective. Such a perspective extends Benesch’s (Considering emotions in critical English language teachi...

In spite of the explosive growth in the global use of English, the subfields of Second Language Acquisition and world Englishes have failed to establish a synergistic relationship that can propel both areas of research forward well into the 21st century. In this pedagogically‐oriented article, we survey how previously established barriers between t...

The growing interest in identity and language education over the past two decades, coupled with increased interest in digital technology and transnationalism, has resulted in a rich body of work that has informed language learning, teaching, and research. To keep abreast of these developments in identity research, the authors propose a series of re...

This Handbook provides a comprehensive treatment of basic and more advanced research methodologies in applied linguistics and offers a state-of-the-art review of methods particular to various domains within the field. Arranged thematically in 4 parts, across 41 chapters, it covers a range of research approaches, presents current perspectives, and a...

This chapter provides an overview of methodologies key to World Englishes inquiry, an empirical field focused on the linguistic and sociocultural dimensions of Global English usage. Despite a continuously growing scholarly interest, few volumes have provided information on methods of empirical investigation. We first outline three major streams of...

The growing interest in identity and language education over the past two decades, coupled with increased interest in digital technology and transnationalism, has resulted in a rich body of work that has informed language learning, teaching, and research. To keep abreast of these developments in identity research, the authors propose a series of re...

Ingrid Piller , Linguistic diversity and social justice: An introduction to applied sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. 282. Pb. $29.93. - Volume 46 Issue 5 - Peter I. De Costa

This study explored the negotiation of a Chinese EFL teacher’s teaching identity in light of recent critique of neoliberalism. Ms. Q, our focal participant, worked in a private English school that commodified English, and her main teaching responsibility was to prepare students for the IELTS test. We adopted an agency-centered approach to explore h...

The notion of translingual practice has gained much currency within college composition and sociolinguistics over the last few years. Translingual practices challenge structuralist conceptualizations of language as discrete, bounded, impermeable, autonomous systems, conceptualizations that unfortunately (1) privilege linguistic codes over nonlingui...