Review of 'Challenging the Monolingual Mindset: Reconsidering Australia's 'language potential''

Abstract

In 2002, Professor Michael Clyne, celebrated Australian linguist, sociolinguist and language activist, established the Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-cultural Communication (RUMACCC) at The University of Melbourne. RUMACCC's work continues under the leadership of Professor John Hajek, and in 2012, to mark the tenth anniversary of RUMACCC, the passing of Michael Clyne in 2010 and the great legacy of his work in pursuit of linguistic knowledge for the broader benefits of society, RUMACCC sponsored a colloquium to bring together academics from around the world who had worked with Michael in some capacity, and who were also concerned about the persistence of the monolingual mindset in Australia and in other monolingual, usually Anglo-centric, nations. Many of the papers in the volume, Challenging the Monolingual Mindset, edited by Hajek and Yvette Slaughter, stem from that colloquium, and report on progress on a number of fronts, from language use and policy in international contexts, to the complex story of immigrant language use in Australia, and finally more directly addressing research on language policy and education initiatives aimed at increasing multilingualism in the Australian context.