Abstract
The publication of this book is timely for two reasons: (a) the financial meltdown of 2008 seems to have delivered a blow to the dominant ideology of neoliberalism, and the authors explain, ‘the wondrous workings of the market … all seemed like dangerous decadence in the cold light of market failure’ (p. 33); (b) the book is, following Rampton (1997), based on the tacit assumption that applied linguistics is not just about language teaching, but about real-world problems in which language is a central issue.
Apart from the Introduction, the book is divided into six main chapters, five of which are sole-authored chapters and one of which is a two-authored chapter. In their Introduction to the volume, Block, Gray and Holborow claim that their concerns in writing Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics were above and beyond ‘the use of social theory to the real-world activities of the ELT industry and UK ELT in particular’ (p. 8). As a consequence, they took the view that ‘the ELT industry is an area of applied linguistics activity in which language and political economy come together in ways that it would be unwise for the field to ignore’ (p. 9).
Arguably, one of the most illuminating chapters of the volume is David Block’s ‘Economising globalization and identity in applied linguistics in neoliberal times’, which explains how cultural globalization has been the most common way to view globalization in applied linguistics. Also, Block works his way ‘towards a consideration of class as the identity inscription too often marginalised in applied linguistics research’ (p. 58). In fact, Block’s argument is that class has been marginalised in identity-based research in applied linguistics and thus has to be brought to the fore as an identity inscription which interrelates with gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and nationality.
Another insightful chapter is John Gray’s ‘Neoliberalism, celebrity and aspirational content in English language teaching textbooks for the global market’, which focuses on the dramatic rise in representations of celebrities in UK-produced English language teaching (ELT) textbooks from the late 1970s until the present, ‘a period which coincides with the global expansion of the ELT industry and the spread of neoliberalism across much of the world’ (p. 87). As Gray’s analyses show, the kind of celebrity most featured in ELT textbooks is of the ‘achieved kind’. In this way, ‘celebrity characters tend to be presented to students as worthy of their approval on account of their single-minded dedication to a chosen path in life and distinction in their field’ (p. 99). Gray argues that ‘many ELT textbooks originate in the highly marketised commercial sector’ (p. 109) and that the ELT industry’s view of aspiration is thoroughly individualistic in orientation. Finally, the chapter features some teachers who regard celebrity with a degree of equanimity. Gray’s explanation is that ‘in many settings teaching is viewed as an apolitical activity’ (p. 110). Furthermore, there is also the fact that the teachers who work in the private sector are positioned as ‘service providers and their students are seen as customers’ (p. 111).
While I praise the authors for bringing us such immensely insightful discussions, I have two reservations for future editions of the book. First, there are some inconsistencies in the References which need to be taken care of by the authors. For example, on page 149, one of the references to Blommaert should be changed from The Sociology of Globalization to The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Second, it would be wise to discuss the views expressed by those living in the so-called periphery when writing about, say, ELT textbooks and the amount of cultural load. Several studies have been conducted to date examining the views of teachers on ELT materials. Such studies could have been used to boost some of the arguments presented throughout the book (see e.g. Zarei and Khalessi, 2010).
All in all, Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics is a very substantial volume. I highly recommend the book to both undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as to researchers in applied linguistics. Further to this, the book is a welcome addition to the literature on language teacher education.