the multi/plural turn, postcolonial theory, and neoliberal
TRANSCRIPT
Applied Linguistics 2016 374 474ndash494 Oxford University Press 2014
doi101093applinamu045 Advance Access published on 14 August 2014
The MultiPlural Turn Postcolonial Theoryand Neoliberal MulticulturalismComplicities and Implicationsfor Applied Linguistics
RYUKO KUBOTA
Department of Language and Literacy Education University of British Columbia 2034
Lower Mall Rd Vancouver BC Canada V6T 1Z2
E-mail ryukokubotaubcca
In applied linguistics and language education an increased focus has been
placed on plurality and hybridity to challenge monolingualism the native
speaker norm and the modernist view of language and language use as unitary
and bounded The multiplural turn parallels postcolonial theory in that they
both support hybridity and fluidity while problematizing the essentialist under-
standing of language and identity However postcolonial theory which has
been influenced by poststructuralism met criticisms in the 1990s in cultural
studies The notion of hybridity has been especially criticized for its privileged
status individual orientation and disparity between theory and practice
Furthermore the conceptual features of the multiplural turn overlap with neo-
liberalism and neoliberal multiculturalism which uncritically support diversity
plurality flexibility individualism and cosmopolitanism while perpetuating
color-blindness and racism The multiplural turn also neglects the ways in
which neoliberal competition and the dominance of English affect scholars
This article examines the multiplural trend by drawing on some critiques of
postcolonial theory and neoliberal ideologies and proposes an increased atten-
tion to power and inequalities as well as collective efforts to resist the neoliberal
academic culture underlying the multiplural turn
INTRODUCTION
Recently I proposed a colloquium for an applied linguistics conference on
plurilingualism and language teaching In the proposal my co-organizer and
I mentioned that the concept of plurilingualism often runs into conflict with
the current dominance of English in language teaching in many non-Englishndash
dominant countries We received a comment that the global dominance of
English is passe and it has been replaced by multilingualismmdasha more nuanced
and complex situation in which the market saturation of English has opened
up opportunities for other languages This was surprising and made me
wonder how the popular theoretical trend to highlight linguistic multiplicity
can or cannot adequately address challenges that exist in our society
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A recent prominent trend in applied linguistics is a multilingual or dynamic
turn (Flores 2013 May 2014) which focuses on the plurality multiplicity and
hybridity of language and language use to challenge a traditional paradigm of
understanding linguistic practices in various contexts In this article I will
focus on this turn and call it lsquomultiplural turnrsquo The multiplural turn can
be observed in a large number of publications and conference presentations
on such inquiry foci as multilingualism (Martin-Jones et al 2012 May 2014)
plurilingualism (Taylor and Snoddon 2013) world Englishes (WE) (Kachru
et al 2006) English as a lingua franca (ELF) (Seidlhofer 2011) codemeshing
(Canagarajah 2006) metrolingualism (Otsuji and Pennycook 2010) translin-
gual approach (Horner et al 2011) translanguaging (Blackledge and Creese
2010 Garcıa and Sylvan 2011) multiliteracies (Cope and Kalantzis 2009) and
hybridity (Rubdy and Alsagoff 2013)
Although linguistic multiplicity is nothing new in human history (Cenoz
2013) the recent interest has been influenced by postmodern poststructural-
ist and postcolonial thought as seen in such notions as multiplicity hetero-
geneity fluidity hybridity and constructedness which expand and blur the
fixed boundaries of the social and linguistic categories that are defined in an
essentialist binary logic in the previous modernist paradigm (Pennycook 2010)
However as this lsquoturnrsquo grows in popularity it seems as though its critical
impetus has faded and its knowledge is becoming another canonmdasha canon
which is integrated into a neoliberal capitalist academic culture of incessant
knowledge production and competition for economic and symbolic capital
and neoliberal multiculturalism that celebrates individual cosmopolitanism
and plurilingualism for socioeconomic mobility In bolstering neoliberal dis-
courses the multiplural approaches lose a transformative edge that seeks sig-
nificant changes in the sociopolitical and economic conditions of people who
are using learning and teaching language Indeed while our discipline en-
gages with multiplural frameworks we continue to see not only the domin-
ance of English and standard language ideology but also ethnic conflicts civil
wars racism xenophobia and growing economic gaps both nationally and
internationally While applied linguistics alone will not cure these social
evils some are within the purview of our discipline and the gap between
our celebrated lsquomultipluralrsquo perspectives and real lives of many people con-
cerns me
Similar concerns about a theorypractice divide were raised in the 1990s in
many publications critiquing postcolonial theory to which our field has paid
little attention (cf Kumaravadivelu 2008) Critiques of postcolonial theory are
useful in alerting us to the problematic ideological overlap between the multi
plural turn and neoliberal multiculturalism Drawing on some literature criti-
quing postcolonial theory and neoliberalism this article demonstrates how
facets of postcolonial theory and neoliberal multiculturalism parallel the con-
ceptual foundations of the multiplural turn in applied linguistics and suggests
a shift in attention from individual plurality and hybridity to asymmetrical
R KUBOTA 475
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power relations social injustices and resistance to neoliberalism in our aca-
demic community
In critically examining the multiplural turn my focus is not specific argu-
ments made in applied linguistics literature but rather a macro discourse on
plurality and hybridity that has attracted so much attention Neither is it my
intention to deny the significance and utility of the multiplural turn in under-
standing linguistic forms and practices In fact these conceptualizations are
valuable as they challenge a broader political and educational discourse that
privileges a dominant language and culture My aim is instead to encourage us
to critically reflect on ideological complicities that undermine the philosophical
impetus of the multiplural turn
Below I provide an overview of the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
followed by a review of relevant criticisms of postcolonial theory neoliberal-
ism and neoliberal multiculturalism and their implications for applied linguis-
tics Finally I suggest narrowing a gap between theory and practice by focusing
more on power and inequalities in research and on resistance to neoliberal
scholarly practices in our academic communities and institutions
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Some of the aforementioned inquiry areas constituting the multiplural turn
describe linguistic forms and practices while others inform language pedagogy
In these discussions two closely related orientations are observed pluralism
and hybridity The pluralist orientation focuses on using and learning multiple
languages or varieties of a language in social and educational contexts
Frameworks such as WE traditional foreign language pedagogies and immer-
sion or maintenance bilingual education are pluralist in the sense that they
challenge previous linguistic normsmdashAnglocentric native speakerness or
monolingualismmdashand embrace linguistic pluralism and multilingual compe-
tence However they tend to support an atomistic view (Cenoz 2013) or segre-
gationist view of language (Harris 1998) which regards languages language
varieties and language use as autonomous entities with clear linguistic bound-
aries (Garcıa and Flores 2012) and constitutes monoglossic instruction or what
Cummins (2007) called two-solitude pedagogies of bilingual education in
which language mixing is discouraged
In contrast the hybrid orientation support the holistic view (Cenoz 2013) or
integrational view of language (Harris 1998) which regards multilingual lin-
guistic practices as products of language usersrsquo multiple repertoires that are
employed in a contingent and flexible manner rather than an aggregate use of
languages that are separated along structural boundaries In this sense the
hybridity orientation is distinct from the pluralist one even though they
both attempt to pluralize the traditional norms In contrast to WE for instance
recent research on ELF focuses on the investigations of fluidity and hybridity as
observed in English usersrsquo negotiation of meaning expressions of their
476 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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identities and multilingual interactions in fluid contingent and heteroge-
neous ways (Jenkins et al 2011 Cogo 2012)
The hybrid orientation has also influenced pedagogy Garcıa and her col-
leagues proposed translanguaging as a communicative and pedagogical prin-
ciple of multilingual communities in which multiple discursive practices
across languages such as code-switching and translation are performed by
language users to express their meanings in multilayered and multidirectional
processes (Garcıa and Sylvan 2011) This is a heteroglossic dynamic multilin-
gual pedagogical approach as opposed to the traditional monoglossic view of
bilingualism or multilingualism as a manifestation of two (or more) separate
competencies in one individual From a similar perspective Canagarajah
(2013) advocated the translingual practice of code-meshing (as opposed to
code-switching) in English writing While code-switching presupposes switch-
ing between two or more separate semiotic systems code-meshing views lan-
guages symbols and communicative modes as a single unified hybrid system
(Canagarajah 2006 2013) Translanguaging and translingual practices under-
score plural and hybrid language use and identity as legitimate forms of
expression
The rejection of the monoglossic and fixed view of bimultilingualism is also
seen in the notion of metrolingualism According to Otsuji and Pennycook
(2010 264)
Metrolingualism describes the ways in which people of differentand mixed backgrounds use play with and negotiate identitiesthrough language it does not assume connections between lan-guage culture ethnicity nationality or geography but ratherseeks to explore how such relations are produced resisted defiedor rearranged its focus is not on language systems but on languagesas emergent from contexts of interaction
Although Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) draw attention to metrolingualism as
hybrid expressions of language and identity they problematize the notion of
hybridity as a fixed category of pluralization a notion that reflects a modernist
view of language as a bounded and countable object (Makoni and Pennycook
2005 2012) rather than complexification Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) also
reveal contradictions as manifested in the cultural and linguistic fixity
observed in metrolingual users who simultaneously demonstrated hybridity
in language and identity Although metrolingualism problematizes hybridity as
superficial celebration it is still grounded in the postmodern affirmation of
multiplicity and fluidity which keeps it from critiquing how inequality is
often solidified or intensified within multiplicity and fluidity
As implied thus far there are some significant differences and disagreements
among scholars supporting multiplural frameworks One intriguing tension is
seen in the discussion of ELF and WE in the context of Singapore (Pakir 2009)
Although both frameworks support a pluricentric view of the form and use of
English they differ in that ELF implies borderless hybrid uses of English by
R KUBOTA 477
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nonnative speakers whereas English in Singapore though similarly used as a
lingua franca is forming nativized uniqueness as seen in the emerging creative
literature and new canons that denote national linguistic identity This exem-
plifies a tension between hybridity and rootedness as discussed later
In sum the inquiry foci and concepts of pluralism and hybridity problem-
atize the previous view of language as a bounded system with one-to-one
relationships between the signified and the signifier between language and
the nation state culture or ethnicity and between language and language
user They underscore the fluid dynamic multiple flexible and hybrid na-
tures of language language learning and language use and call for transform-
ing fixed monoglossic thinking which supports the native speaker norm the
monolingual norm and the superiority of standard language Other areas of
inquiry such as nonnative English speakers (Moussu and Llurda 2008) and
usage-based linguistics of second language acquisition including complexity
theory (Larsen-Freeman 2012 Ortega 2014) share this skepticism of trad-
itional monoglossic approaches
These multiplural perspectives parallel aspects of poststructuralism and
postcolonial theory which have been applied to various inquiry areas in
applied linguistics As a critique of modernist ideas of objectivity and essen-
tialism poststructuralism which postcolonial theory significantly draws on
pays attention to the dynamics fluidity and contingency of social cultural
and linguistic categories as well as power that circulates and constructs know-
ledge and subjectivities (Morgan 2007)
However scholarly discussion on multilingualism has been critiqued from a
poststructuralist perspective as well Drawing on poststructuralist tenets of
critiquing social political and cultural systems and raising critical awareness
of lsquothe irrational of violence within social structurersquo McNamara (2011 431)
critiqued the multilingual turn in a special issue of The Modern Language Journal
entitled lsquoToward a multilingual approach in the study of multilingualism in
school contextsrsquo McNamara cautions against assuming that lsquomultilingualism
in itself is simply a cause for celebrationrsquo (p 432) and calls for a more critical
and complex understanding by examining monolingual ideologies These
ideologies are seen in Africa where learning English rather than local lan-
guages is promoted for economic and political causes and in Europe where
multilingualism is promoted for speakers of majority languages but not for
immigrants The denial of multilingualism for marginalized populations indi-
cates how power produces and justifies social violence a problem to be scru-
tinized (McNamara 2011) Also from Marxist globalization and
poststructuralist perspectives OrsquoRegan (2014) critiqued the ELF movement
as idealist hypostatization that obscures ideology discourse and power that
underlie racial gender and socioeconomic inequalities of English learners
users around the world
Although McNamara (2011) and OrsquoRegan (2014) draw on poststructuralism
to challenge the celebratory trend of multilingualism or ELF the multiplural
turn can also be theoretically scrutinized by the criticisms of postcolonial
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theory that were published in the 1990s in cultural studies Paradoxically such
criticisms challenge poststructuralist and postmodernist thought underlying
the influential works by postcolonial scholars such as Edward Said Homi
Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Below I present some criticisms of hybridity a
major concept underlying both postcolonial theory and the multiplural trend
and related issues These criticisms offer alternative conceptual lenses to chal-
lenge the multiplural turn as shown briefly in the next section and in more
detail in the subsequent one
CRITICISM OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
Hybridity has been theorized by Bhabha (1994) and discussed widely as a key
concept of postcolonial theory Whereas Edward Said focused on binary rep-
resentations of the colonizer and the colonized and critiqued how colonial
power was exercised in their discursive construction Bhabha proposed hybrid-
ity as a space for enunciating and translating cultural difference in which
culture is never understood as primordially fixed or universal and cultural
purity is untenable As the Third Space of enunciation hybridity is a space
in which cultural meanings and signs lsquocan be appropriated translated rehis-
toricized and read anewrsquo (Bhabha 1994 55) Resistance can be articulated in
the Third Space where lsquoit is possible to return the colonial gaze and subvert
the ambivalent construction of cultural supremacy itself where colonial rule
and the relational construction of colonizer and colonized can be destabilized
from withinrsquo (Andreotti 2011 31) Hybridity is performed via translation
mimicry and appropriation colonized peoplersquos use of the colonizerrsquos cultural
and linguistic codes destabilizes power hierarchy and has subversive effects of
resistance
Although hybridity aims to provide the colonized with a new identity and
possibility for liberation the notion has been critiqued First it has been
argued that the notion of hybridity is predicated on the existence of non-
hybrid cultures Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that the Center and to a lesser
extent the Periphery tends to be described with such non-hybridity leading to
cultural homogenization This problem appears to be solved by the argument
that lsquoall forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridityrsquo forming the
lsquothird spacersquo rather than a mixture of lsquotwo original moments from which the
third emergesrsquo (Rutherford 1990 211) However if all cultures are hybrid
and in-between a postcolonial critique conflicts with its original impetus to
recreate a distinct agency and identity of the colonized (Moore-Gilbert 1997)
Here hybridity can become a fixed categorization (cf Otsuji and Pennycook
2010) either existing in a binary of hybrid or non-hybrid or referring to the
all-encompassing In applied linguistics this problem is exemplified by the
recent contradictory advocacy for rhetorical hybridity to be achieved by
mixing culturally essentialized rhetorical styles in academic writing for
unique self-expression (Li 2014)
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Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
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in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
A recent prominent trend in applied linguistics is a multilingual or dynamic
turn (Flores 2013 May 2014) which focuses on the plurality multiplicity and
hybridity of language and language use to challenge a traditional paradigm of
understanding linguistic practices in various contexts In this article I will
focus on this turn and call it lsquomultiplural turnrsquo The multiplural turn can
be observed in a large number of publications and conference presentations
on such inquiry foci as multilingualism (Martin-Jones et al 2012 May 2014)
plurilingualism (Taylor and Snoddon 2013) world Englishes (WE) (Kachru
et al 2006) English as a lingua franca (ELF) (Seidlhofer 2011) codemeshing
(Canagarajah 2006) metrolingualism (Otsuji and Pennycook 2010) translin-
gual approach (Horner et al 2011) translanguaging (Blackledge and Creese
2010 Garcıa and Sylvan 2011) multiliteracies (Cope and Kalantzis 2009) and
hybridity (Rubdy and Alsagoff 2013)
Although linguistic multiplicity is nothing new in human history (Cenoz
2013) the recent interest has been influenced by postmodern poststructural-
ist and postcolonial thought as seen in such notions as multiplicity hetero-
geneity fluidity hybridity and constructedness which expand and blur the
fixed boundaries of the social and linguistic categories that are defined in an
essentialist binary logic in the previous modernist paradigm (Pennycook 2010)
However as this lsquoturnrsquo grows in popularity it seems as though its critical
impetus has faded and its knowledge is becoming another canonmdasha canon
which is integrated into a neoliberal capitalist academic culture of incessant
knowledge production and competition for economic and symbolic capital
and neoliberal multiculturalism that celebrates individual cosmopolitanism
and plurilingualism for socioeconomic mobility In bolstering neoliberal dis-
courses the multiplural approaches lose a transformative edge that seeks sig-
nificant changes in the sociopolitical and economic conditions of people who
are using learning and teaching language Indeed while our discipline en-
gages with multiplural frameworks we continue to see not only the domin-
ance of English and standard language ideology but also ethnic conflicts civil
wars racism xenophobia and growing economic gaps both nationally and
internationally While applied linguistics alone will not cure these social
evils some are within the purview of our discipline and the gap between
our celebrated lsquomultipluralrsquo perspectives and real lives of many people con-
cerns me
Similar concerns about a theorypractice divide were raised in the 1990s in
many publications critiquing postcolonial theory to which our field has paid
little attention (cf Kumaravadivelu 2008) Critiques of postcolonial theory are
useful in alerting us to the problematic ideological overlap between the multi
plural turn and neoliberal multiculturalism Drawing on some literature criti-
quing postcolonial theory and neoliberalism this article demonstrates how
facets of postcolonial theory and neoliberal multiculturalism parallel the con-
ceptual foundations of the multiplural turn in applied linguistics and suggests
a shift in attention from individual plurality and hybridity to asymmetrical
R KUBOTA 475
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power relations social injustices and resistance to neoliberalism in our aca-
demic community
In critically examining the multiplural turn my focus is not specific argu-
ments made in applied linguistics literature but rather a macro discourse on
plurality and hybridity that has attracted so much attention Neither is it my
intention to deny the significance and utility of the multiplural turn in under-
standing linguistic forms and practices In fact these conceptualizations are
valuable as they challenge a broader political and educational discourse that
privileges a dominant language and culture My aim is instead to encourage us
to critically reflect on ideological complicities that undermine the philosophical
impetus of the multiplural turn
Below I provide an overview of the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
followed by a review of relevant criticisms of postcolonial theory neoliberal-
ism and neoliberal multiculturalism and their implications for applied linguis-
tics Finally I suggest narrowing a gap between theory and practice by focusing
more on power and inequalities in research and on resistance to neoliberal
scholarly practices in our academic communities and institutions
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Some of the aforementioned inquiry areas constituting the multiplural turn
describe linguistic forms and practices while others inform language pedagogy
In these discussions two closely related orientations are observed pluralism
and hybridity The pluralist orientation focuses on using and learning multiple
languages or varieties of a language in social and educational contexts
Frameworks such as WE traditional foreign language pedagogies and immer-
sion or maintenance bilingual education are pluralist in the sense that they
challenge previous linguistic normsmdashAnglocentric native speakerness or
monolingualismmdashand embrace linguistic pluralism and multilingual compe-
tence However they tend to support an atomistic view (Cenoz 2013) or segre-
gationist view of language (Harris 1998) which regards languages language
varieties and language use as autonomous entities with clear linguistic bound-
aries (Garcıa and Flores 2012) and constitutes monoglossic instruction or what
Cummins (2007) called two-solitude pedagogies of bilingual education in
which language mixing is discouraged
In contrast the hybrid orientation support the holistic view (Cenoz 2013) or
integrational view of language (Harris 1998) which regards multilingual lin-
guistic practices as products of language usersrsquo multiple repertoires that are
employed in a contingent and flexible manner rather than an aggregate use of
languages that are separated along structural boundaries In this sense the
hybridity orientation is distinct from the pluralist one even though they
both attempt to pluralize the traditional norms In contrast to WE for instance
recent research on ELF focuses on the investigations of fluidity and hybridity as
observed in English usersrsquo negotiation of meaning expressions of their
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identities and multilingual interactions in fluid contingent and heteroge-
neous ways (Jenkins et al 2011 Cogo 2012)
The hybrid orientation has also influenced pedagogy Garcıa and her col-
leagues proposed translanguaging as a communicative and pedagogical prin-
ciple of multilingual communities in which multiple discursive practices
across languages such as code-switching and translation are performed by
language users to express their meanings in multilayered and multidirectional
processes (Garcıa and Sylvan 2011) This is a heteroglossic dynamic multilin-
gual pedagogical approach as opposed to the traditional monoglossic view of
bilingualism or multilingualism as a manifestation of two (or more) separate
competencies in one individual From a similar perspective Canagarajah
(2013) advocated the translingual practice of code-meshing (as opposed to
code-switching) in English writing While code-switching presupposes switch-
ing between two or more separate semiotic systems code-meshing views lan-
guages symbols and communicative modes as a single unified hybrid system
(Canagarajah 2006 2013) Translanguaging and translingual practices under-
score plural and hybrid language use and identity as legitimate forms of
expression
The rejection of the monoglossic and fixed view of bimultilingualism is also
seen in the notion of metrolingualism According to Otsuji and Pennycook
(2010 264)
Metrolingualism describes the ways in which people of differentand mixed backgrounds use play with and negotiate identitiesthrough language it does not assume connections between lan-guage culture ethnicity nationality or geography but ratherseeks to explore how such relations are produced resisted defiedor rearranged its focus is not on language systems but on languagesas emergent from contexts of interaction
Although Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) draw attention to metrolingualism as
hybrid expressions of language and identity they problematize the notion of
hybridity as a fixed category of pluralization a notion that reflects a modernist
view of language as a bounded and countable object (Makoni and Pennycook
2005 2012) rather than complexification Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) also
reveal contradictions as manifested in the cultural and linguistic fixity
observed in metrolingual users who simultaneously demonstrated hybridity
in language and identity Although metrolingualism problematizes hybridity as
superficial celebration it is still grounded in the postmodern affirmation of
multiplicity and fluidity which keeps it from critiquing how inequality is
often solidified or intensified within multiplicity and fluidity
As implied thus far there are some significant differences and disagreements
among scholars supporting multiplural frameworks One intriguing tension is
seen in the discussion of ELF and WE in the context of Singapore (Pakir 2009)
Although both frameworks support a pluricentric view of the form and use of
English they differ in that ELF implies borderless hybrid uses of English by
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nonnative speakers whereas English in Singapore though similarly used as a
lingua franca is forming nativized uniqueness as seen in the emerging creative
literature and new canons that denote national linguistic identity This exem-
plifies a tension between hybridity and rootedness as discussed later
In sum the inquiry foci and concepts of pluralism and hybridity problem-
atize the previous view of language as a bounded system with one-to-one
relationships between the signified and the signifier between language and
the nation state culture or ethnicity and between language and language
user They underscore the fluid dynamic multiple flexible and hybrid na-
tures of language language learning and language use and call for transform-
ing fixed monoglossic thinking which supports the native speaker norm the
monolingual norm and the superiority of standard language Other areas of
inquiry such as nonnative English speakers (Moussu and Llurda 2008) and
usage-based linguistics of second language acquisition including complexity
theory (Larsen-Freeman 2012 Ortega 2014) share this skepticism of trad-
itional monoglossic approaches
These multiplural perspectives parallel aspects of poststructuralism and
postcolonial theory which have been applied to various inquiry areas in
applied linguistics As a critique of modernist ideas of objectivity and essen-
tialism poststructuralism which postcolonial theory significantly draws on
pays attention to the dynamics fluidity and contingency of social cultural
and linguistic categories as well as power that circulates and constructs know-
ledge and subjectivities (Morgan 2007)
However scholarly discussion on multilingualism has been critiqued from a
poststructuralist perspective as well Drawing on poststructuralist tenets of
critiquing social political and cultural systems and raising critical awareness
of lsquothe irrational of violence within social structurersquo McNamara (2011 431)
critiqued the multilingual turn in a special issue of The Modern Language Journal
entitled lsquoToward a multilingual approach in the study of multilingualism in
school contextsrsquo McNamara cautions against assuming that lsquomultilingualism
in itself is simply a cause for celebrationrsquo (p 432) and calls for a more critical
and complex understanding by examining monolingual ideologies These
ideologies are seen in Africa where learning English rather than local lan-
guages is promoted for economic and political causes and in Europe where
multilingualism is promoted for speakers of majority languages but not for
immigrants The denial of multilingualism for marginalized populations indi-
cates how power produces and justifies social violence a problem to be scru-
tinized (McNamara 2011) Also from Marxist globalization and
poststructuralist perspectives OrsquoRegan (2014) critiqued the ELF movement
as idealist hypostatization that obscures ideology discourse and power that
underlie racial gender and socioeconomic inequalities of English learners
users around the world
Although McNamara (2011) and OrsquoRegan (2014) draw on poststructuralism
to challenge the celebratory trend of multilingualism or ELF the multiplural
turn can also be theoretically scrutinized by the criticisms of postcolonial
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theory that were published in the 1990s in cultural studies Paradoxically such
criticisms challenge poststructuralist and postmodernist thought underlying
the influential works by postcolonial scholars such as Edward Said Homi
Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Below I present some criticisms of hybridity a
major concept underlying both postcolonial theory and the multiplural trend
and related issues These criticisms offer alternative conceptual lenses to chal-
lenge the multiplural turn as shown briefly in the next section and in more
detail in the subsequent one
CRITICISM OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
Hybridity has been theorized by Bhabha (1994) and discussed widely as a key
concept of postcolonial theory Whereas Edward Said focused on binary rep-
resentations of the colonizer and the colonized and critiqued how colonial
power was exercised in their discursive construction Bhabha proposed hybrid-
ity as a space for enunciating and translating cultural difference in which
culture is never understood as primordially fixed or universal and cultural
purity is untenable As the Third Space of enunciation hybridity is a space
in which cultural meanings and signs lsquocan be appropriated translated rehis-
toricized and read anewrsquo (Bhabha 1994 55) Resistance can be articulated in
the Third Space where lsquoit is possible to return the colonial gaze and subvert
the ambivalent construction of cultural supremacy itself where colonial rule
and the relational construction of colonizer and colonized can be destabilized
from withinrsquo (Andreotti 2011 31) Hybridity is performed via translation
mimicry and appropriation colonized peoplersquos use of the colonizerrsquos cultural
and linguistic codes destabilizes power hierarchy and has subversive effects of
resistance
Although hybridity aims to provide the colonized with a new identity and
possibility for liberation the notion has been critiqued First it has been
argued that the notion of hybridity is predicated on the existence of non-
hybrid cultures Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that the Center and to a lesser
extent the Periphery tends to be described with such non-hybridity leading to
cultural homogenization This problem appears to be solved by the argument
that lsquoall forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridityrsquo forming the
lsquothird spacersquo rather than a mixture of lsquotwo original moments from which the
third emergesrsquo (Rutherford 1990 211) However if all cultures are hybrid
and in-between a postcolonial critique conflicts with its original impetus to
recreate a distinct agency and identity of the colonized (Moore-Gilbert 1997)
Here hybridity can become a fixed categorization (cf Otsuji and Pennycook
2010) either existing in a binary of hybrid or non-hybrid or referring to the
all-encompassing In applied linguistics this problem is exemplified by the
recent contradictory advocacy for rhetorical hybridity to be achieved by
mixing culturally essentialized rhetorical styles in academic writing for
unique self-expression (Li 2014)
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Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
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in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
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Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
power relations social injustices and resistance to neoliberalism in our aca-
demic community
In critically examining the multiplural turn my focus is not specific argu-
ments made in applied linguistics literature but rather a macro discourse on
plurality and hybridity that has attracted so much attention Neither is it my
intention to deny the significance and utility of the multiplural turn in under-
standing linguistic forms and practices In fact these conceptualizations are
valuable as they challenge a broader political and educational discourse that
privileges a dominant language and culture My aim is instead to encourage us
to critically reflect on ideological complicities that undermine the philosophical
impetus of the multiplural turn
Below I provide an overview of the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
followed by a review of relevant criticisms of postcolonial theory neoliberal-
ism and neoliberal multiculturalism and their implications for applied linguis-
tics Finally I suggest narrowing a gap between theory and practice by focusing
more on power and inequalities in research and on resistance to neoliberal
scholarly practices in our academic communities and institutions
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Some of the aforementioned inquiry areas constituting the multiplural turn
describe linguistic forms and practices while others inform language pedagogy
In these discussions two closely related orientations are observed pluralism
and hybridity The pluralist orientation focuses on using and learning multiple
languages or varieties of a language in social and educational contexts
Frameworks such as WE traditional foreign language pedagogies and immer-
sion or maintenance bilingual education are pluralist in the sense that they
challenge previous linguistic normsmdashAnglocentric native speakerness or
monolingualismmdashand embrace linguistic pluralism and multilingual compe-
tence However they tend to support an atomistic view (Cenoz 2013) or segre-
gationist view of language (Harris 1998) which regards languages language
varieties and language use as autonomous entities with clear linguistic bound-
aries (Garcıa and Flores 2012) and constitutes monoglossic instruction or what
Cummins (2007) called two-solitude pedagogies of bilingual education in
which language mixing is discouraged
In contrast the hybrid orientation support the holistic view (Cenoz 2013) or
integrational view of language (Harris 1998) which regards multilingual lin-
guistic practices as products of language usersrsquo multiple repertoires that are
employed in a contingent and flexible manner rather than an aggregate use of
languages that are separated along structural boundaries In this sense the
hybridity orientation is distinct from the pluralist one even though they
both attempt to pluralize the traditional norms In contrast to WE for instance
recent research on ELF focuses on the investigations of fluidity and hybridity as
observed in English usersrsquo negotiation of meaning expressions of their
476 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
identities and multilingual interactions in fluid contingent and heteroge-
neous ways (Jenkins et al 2011 Cogo 2012)
The hybrid orientation has also influenced pedagogy Garcıa and her col-
leagues proposed translanguaging as a communicative and pedagogical prin-
ciple of multilingual communities in which multiple discursive practices
across languages such as code-switching and translation are performed by
language users to express their meanings in multilayered and multidirectional
processes (Garcıa and Sylvan 2011) This is a heteroglossic dynamic multilin-
gual pedagogical approach as opposed to the traditional monoglossic view of
bilingualism or multilingualism as a manifestation of two (or more) separate
competencies in one individual From a similar perspective Canagarajah
(2013) advocated the translingual practice of code-meshing (as opposed to
code-switching) in English writing While code-switching presupposes switch-
ing between two or more separate semiotic systems code-meshing views lan-
guages symbols and communicative modes as a single unified hybrid system
(Canagarajah 2006 2013) Translanguaging and translingual practices under-
score plural and hybrid language use and identity as legitimate forms of
expression
The rejection of the monoglossic and fixed view of bimultilingualism is also
seen in the notion of metrolingualism According to Otsuji and Pennycook
(2010 264)
Metrolingualism describes the ways in which people of differentand mixed backgrounds use play with and negotiate identitiesthrough language it does not assume connections between lan-guage culture ethnicity nationality or geography but ratherseeks to explore how such relations are produced resisted defiedor rearranged its focus is not on language systems but on languagesas emergent from contexts of interaction
Although Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) draw attention to metrolingualism as
hybrid expressions of language and identity they problematize the notion of
hybridity as a fixed category of pluralization a notion that reflects a modernist
view of language as a bounded and countable object (Makoni and Pennycook
2005 2012) rather than complexification Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) also
reveal contradictions as manifested in the cultural and linguistic fixity
observed in metrolingual users who simultaneously demonstrated hybridity
in language and identity Although metrolingualism problematizes hybridity as
superficial celebration it is still grounded in the postmodern affirmation of
multiplicity and fluidity which keeps it from critiquing how inequality is
often solidified or intensified within multiplicity and fluidity
As implied thus far there are some significant differences and disagreements
among scholars supporting multiplural frameworks One intriguing tension is
seen in the discussion of ELF and WE in the context of Singapore (Pakir 2009)
Although both frameworks support a pluricentric view of the form and use of
English they differ in that ELF implies borderless hybrid uses of English by
R KUBOTA 477
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nonnative speakers whereas English in Singapore though similarly used as a
lingua franca is forming nativized uniqueness as seen in the emerging creative
literature and new canons that denote national linguistic identity This exem-
plifies a tension between hybridity and rootedness as discussed later
In sum the inquiry foci and concepts of pluralism and hybridity problem-
atize the previous view of language as a bounded system with one-to-one
relationships between the signified and the signifier between language and
the nation state culture or ethnicity and between language and language
user They underscore the fluid dynamic multiple flexible and hybrid na-
tures of language language learning and language use and call for transform-
ing fixed monoglossic thinking which supports the native speaker norm the
monolingual norm and the superiority of standard language Other areas of
inquiry such as nonnative English speakers (Moussu and Llurda 2008) and
usage-based linguistics of second language acquisition including complexity
theory (Larsen-Freeman 2012 Ortega 2014) share this skepticism of trad-
itional monoglossic approaches
These multiplural perspectives parallel aspects of poststructuralism and
postcolonial theory which have been applied to various inquiry areas in
applied linguistics As a critique of modernist ideas of objectivity and essen-
tialism poststructuralism which postcolonial theory significantly draws on
pays attention to the dynamics fluidity and contingency of social cultural
and linguistic categories as well as power that circulates and constructs know-
ledge and subjectivities (Morgan 2007)
However scholarly discussion on multilingualism has been critiqued from a
poststructuralist perspective as well Drawing on poststructuralist tenets of
critiquing social political and cultural systems and raising critical awareness
of lsquothe irrational of violence within social structurersquo McNamara (2011 431)
critiqued the multilingual turn in a special issue of The Modern Language Journal
entitled lsquoToward a multilingual approach in the study of multilingualism in
school contextsrsquo McNamara cautions against assuming that lsquomultilingualism
in itself is simply a cause for celebrationrsquo (p 432) and calls for a more critical
and complex understanding by examining monolingual ideologies These
ideologies are seen in Africa where learning English rather than local lan-
guages is promoted for economic and political causes and in Europe where
multilingualism is promoted for speakers of majority languages but not for
immigrants The denial of multilingualism for marginalized populations indi-
cates how power produces and justifies social violence a problem to be scru-
tinized (McNamara 2011) Also from Marxist globalization and
poststructuralist perspectives OrsquoRegan (2014) critiqued the ELF movement
as idealist hypostatization that obscures ideology discourse and power that
underlie racial gender and socioeconomic inequalities of English learners
users around the world
Although McNamara (2011) and OrsquoRegan (2014) draw on poststructuralism
to challenge the celebratory trend of multilingualism or ELF the multiplural
turn can also be theoretically scrutinized by the criticisms of postcolonial
478 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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theory that were published in the 1990s in cultural studies Paradoxically such
criticisms challenge poststructuralist and postmodernist thought underlying
the influential works by postcolonial scholars such as Edward Said Homi
Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Below I present some criticisms of hybridity a
major concept underlying both postcolonial theory and the multiplural trend
and related issues These criticisms offer alternative conceptual lenses to chal-
lenge the multiplural turn as shown briefly in the next section and in more
detail in the subsequent one
CRITICISM OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
Hybridity has been theorized by Bhabha (1994) and discussed widely as a key
concept of postcolonial theory Whereas Edward Said focused on binary rep-
resentations of the colonizer and the colonized and critiqued how colonial
power was exercised in their discursive construction Bhabha proposed hybrid-
ity as a space for enunciating and translating cultural difference in which
culture is never understood as primordially fixed or universal and cultural
purity is untenable As the Third Space of enunciation hybridity is a space
in which cultural meanings and signs lsquocan be appropriated translated rehis-
toricized and read anewrsquo (Bhabha 1994 55) Resistance can be articulated in
the Third Space where lsquoit is possible to return the colonial gaze and subvert
the ambivalent construction of cultural supremacy itself where colonial rule
and the relational construction of colonizer and colonized can be destabilized
from withinrsquo (Andreotti 2011 31) Hybridity is performed via translation
mimicry and appropriation colonized peoplersquos use of the colonizerrsquos cultural
and linguistic codes destabilizes power hierarchy and has subversive effects of
resistance
Although hybridity aims to provide the colonized with a new identity and
possibility for liberation the notion has been critiqued First it has been
argued that the notion of hybridity is predicated on the existence of non-
hybrid cultures Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that the Center and to a lesser
extent the Periphery tends to be described with such non-hybridity leading to
cultural homogenization This problem appears to be solved by the argument
that lsquoall forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridityrsquo forming the
lsquothird spacersquo rather than a mixture of lsquotwo original moments from which the
third emergesrsquo (Rutherford 1990 211) However if all cultures are hybrid
and in-between a postcolonial critique conflicts with its original impetus to
recreate a distinct agency and identity of the colonized (Moore-Gilbert 1997)
Here hybridity can become a fixed categorization (cf Otsuji and Pennycook
2010) either existing in a binary of hybrid or non-hybrid or referring to the
all-encompassing In applied linguistics this problem is exemplified by the
recent contradictory advocacy for rhetorical hybridity to be achieved by
mixing culturally essentialized rhetorical styles in academic writing for
unique self-expression (Li 2014)
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Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
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in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
R KUBOTA 483
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
identities and multilingual interactions in fluid contingent and heteroge-
neous ways (Jenkins et al 2011 Cogo 2012)
The hybrid orientation has also influenced pedagogy Garcıa and her col-
leagues proposed translanguaging as a communicative and pedagogical prin-
ciple of multilingual communities in which multiple discursive practices
across languages such as code-switching and translation are performed by
language users to express their meanings in multilayered and multidirectional
processes (Garcıa and Sylvan 2011) This is a heteroglossic dynamic multilin-
gual pedagogical approach as opposed to the traditional monoglossic view of
bilingualism or multilingualism as a manifestation of two (or more) separate
competencies in one individual From a similar perspective Canagarajah
(2013) advocated the translingual practice of code-meshing (as opposed to
code-switching) in English writing While code-switching presupposes switch-
ing between two or more separate semiotic systems code-meshing views lan-
guages symbols and communicative modes as a single unified hybrid system
(Canagarajah 2006 2013) Translanguaging and translingual practices under-
score plural and hybrid language use and identity as legitimate forms of
expression
The rejection of the monoglossic and fixed view of bimultilingualism is also
seen in the notion of metrolingualism According to Otsuji and Pennycook
(2010 264)
Metrolingualism describes the ways in which people of differentand mixed backgrounds use play with and negotiate identitiesthrough language it does not assume connections between lan-guage culture ethnicity nationality or geography but ratherseeks to explore how such relations are produced resisted defiedor rearranged its focus is not on language systems but on languagesas emergent from contexts of interaction
Although Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) draw attention to metrolingualism as
hybrid expressions of language and identity they problematize the notion of
hybridity as a fixed category of pluralization a notion that reflects a modernist
view of language as a bounded and countable object (Makoni and Pennycook
2005 2012) rather than complexification Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) also
reveal contradictions as manifested in the cultural and linguistic fixity
observed in metrolingual users who simultaneously demonstrated hybridity
in language and identity Although metrolingualism problematizes hybridity as
superficial celebration it is still grounded in the postmodern affirmation of
multiplicity and fluidity which keeps it from critiquing how inequality is
often solidified or intensified within multiplicity and fluidity
As implied thus far there are some significant differences and disagreements
among scholars supporting multiplural frameworks One intriguing tension is
seen in the discussion of ELF and WE in the context of Singapore (Pakir 2009)
Although both frameworks support a pluricentric view of the form and use of
English they differ in that ELF implies borderless hybrid uses of English by
R KUBOTA 477
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
nonnative speakers whereas English in Singapore though similarly used as a
lingua franca is forming nativized uniqueness as seen in the emerging creative
literature and new canons that denote national linguistic identity This exem-
plifies a tension between hybridity and rootedness as discussed later
In sum the inquiry foci and concepts of pluralism and hybridity problem-
atize the previous view of language as a bounded system with one-to-one
relationships between the signified and the signifier between language and
the nation state culture or ethnicity and between language and language
user They underscore the fluid dynamic multiple flexible and hybrid na-
tures of language language learning and language use and call for transform-
ing fixed monoglossic thinking which supports the native speaker norm the
monolingual norm and the superiority of standard language Other areas of
inquiry such as nonnative English speakers (Moussu and Llurda 2008) and
usage-based linguistics of second language acquisition including complexity
theory (Larsen-Freeman 2012 Ortega 2014) share this skepticism of trad-
itional monoglossic approaches
These multiplural perspectives parallel aspects of poststructuralism and
postcolonial theory which have been applied to various inquiry areas in
applied linguistics As a critique of modernist ideas of objectivity and essen-
tialism poststructuralism which postcolonial theory significantly draws on
pays attention to the dynamics fluidity and contingency of social cultural
and linguistic categories as well as power that circulates and constructs know-
ledge and subjectivities (Morgan 2007)
However scholarly discussion on multilingualism has been critiqued from a
poststructuralist perspective as well Drawing on poststructuralist tenets of
critiquing social political and cultural systems and raising critical awareness
of lsquothe irrational of violence within social structurersquo McNamara (2011 431)
critiqued the multilingual turn in a special issue of The Modern Language Journal
entitled lsquoToward a multilingual approach in the study of multilingualism in
school contextsrsquo McNamara cautions against assuming that lsquomultilingualism
in itself is simply a cause for celebrationrsquo (p 432) and calls for a more critical
and complex understanding by examining monolingual ideologies These
ideologies are seen in Africa where learning English rather than local lan-
guages is promoted for economic and political causes and in Europe where
multilingualism is promoted for speakers of majority languages but not for
immigrants The denial of multilingualism for marginalized populations indi-
cates how power produces and justifies social violence a problem to be scru-
tinized (McNamara 2011) Also from Marxist globalization and
poststructuralist perspectives OrsquoRegan (2014) critiqued the ELF movement
as idealist hypostatization that obscures ideology discourse and power that
underlie racial gender and socioeconomic inequalities of English learners
users around the world
Although McNamara (2011) and OrsquoRegan (2014) draw on poststructuralism
to challenge the celebratory trend of multilingualism or ELF the multiplural
turn can also be theoretically scrutinized by the criticisms of postcolonial
478 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
theory that were published in the 1990s in cultural studies Paradoxically such
criticisms challenge poststructuralist and postmodernist thought underlying
the influential works by postcolonial scholars such as Edward Said Homi
Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Below I present some criticisms of hybridity a
major concept underlying both postcolonial theory and the multiplural trend
and related issues These criticisms offer alternative conceptual lenses to chal-
lenge the multiplural turn as shown briefly in the next section and in more
detail in the subsequent one
CRITICISM OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
Hybridity has been theorized by Bhabha (1994) and discussed widely as a key
concept of postcolonial theory Whereas Edward Said focused on binary rep-
resentations of the colonizer and the colonized and critiqued how colonial
power was exercised in their discursive construction Bhabha proposed hybrid-
ity as a space for enunciating and translating cultural difference in which
culture is never understood as primordially fixed or universal and cultural
purity is untenable As the Third Space of enunciation hybridity is a space
in which cultural meanings and signs lsquocan be appropriated translated rehis-
toricized and read anewrsquo (Bhabha 1994 55) Resistance can be articulated in
the Third Space where lsquoit is possible to return the colonial gaze and subvert
the ambivalent construction of cultural supremacy itself where colonial rule
and the relational construction of colonizer and colonized can be destabilized
from withinrsquo (Andreotti 2011 31) Hybridity is performed via translation
mimicry and appropriation colonized peoplersquos use of the colonizerrsquos cultural
and linguistic codes destabilizes power hierarchy and has subversive effects of
resistance
Although hybridity aims to provide the colonized with a new identity and
possibility for liberation the notion has been critiqued First it has been
argued that the notion of hybridity is predicated on the existence of non-
hybrid cultures Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that the Center and to a lesser
extent the Periphery tends to be described with such non-hybridity leading to
cultural homogenization This problem appears to be solved by the argument
that lsquoall forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridityrsquo forming the
lsquothird spacersquo rather than a mixture of lsquotwo original moments from which the
third emergesrsquo (Rutherford 1990 211) However if all cultures are hybrid
and in-between a postcolonial critique conflicts with its original impetus to
recreate a distinct agency and identity of the colonized (Moore-Gilbert 1997)
Here hybridity can become a fixed categorization (cf Otsuji and Pennycook
2010) either existing in a binary of hybrid or non-hybrid or referring to the
all-encompassing In applied linguistics this problem is exemplified by the
recent contradictory advocacy for rhetorical hybridity to be achieved by
mixing culturally essentialized rhetorical styles in academic writing for
unique self-expression (Li 2014)
R KUBOTA 479
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
480 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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nonnative speakers whereas English in Singapore though similarly used as a
lingua franca is forming nativized uniqueness as seen in the emerging creative
literature and new canons that denote national linguistic identity This exem-
plifies a tension between hybridity and rootedness as discussed later
In sum the inquiry foci and concepts of pluralism and hybridity problem-
atize the previous view of language as a bounded system with one-to-one
relationships between the signified and the signifier between language and
the nation state culture or ethnicity and between language and language
user They underscore the fluid dynamic multiple flexible and hybrid na-
tures of language language learning and language use and call for transform-
ing fixed monoglossic thinking which supports the native speaker norm the
monolingual norm and the superiority of standard language Other areas of
inquiry such as nonnative English speakers (Moussu and Llurda 2008) and
usage-based linguistics of second language acquisition including complexity
theory (Larsen-Freeman 2012 Ortega 2014) share this skepticism of trad-
itional monoglossic approaches
These multiplural perspectives parallel aspects of poststructuralism and
postcolonial theory which have been applied to various inquiry areas in
applied linguistics As a critique of modernist ideas of objectivity and essen-
tialism poststructuralism which postcolonial theory significantly draws on
pays attention to the dynamics fluidity and contingency of social cultural
and linguistic categories as well as power that circulates and constructs know-
ledge and subjectivities (Morgan 2007)
However scholarly discussion on multilingualism has been critiqued from a
poststructuralist perspective as well Drawing on poststructuralist tenets of
critiquing social political and cultural systems and raising critical awareness
of lsquothe irrational of violence within social structurersquo McNamara (2011 431)
critiqued the multilingual turn in a special issue of The Modern Language Journal
entitled lsquoToward a multilingual approach in the study of multilingualism in
school contextsrsquo McNamara cautions against assuming that lsquomultilingualism
in itself is simply a cause for celebrationrsquo (p 432) and calls for a more critical
and complex understanding by examining monolingual ideologies These
ideologies are seen in Africa where learning English rather than local lan-
guages is promoted for economic and political causes and in Europe where
multilingualism is promoted for speakers of majority languages but not for
immigrants The denial of multilingualism for marginalized populations indi-
cates how power produces and justifies social violence a problem to be scru-
tinized (McNamara 2011) Also from Marxist globalization and
poststructuralist perspectives OrsquoRegan (2014) critiqued the ELF movement
as idealist hypostatization that obscures ideology discourse and power that
underlie racial gender and socioeconomic inequalities of English learners
users around the world
Although McNamara (2011) and OrsquoRegan (2014) draw on poststructuralism
to challenge the celebratory trend of multilingualism or ELF the multiplural
turn can also be theoretically scrutinized by the criticisms of postcolonial
478 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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theory that were published in the 1990s in cultural studies Paradoxically such
criticisms challenge poststructuralist and postmodernist thought underlying
the influential works by postcolonial scholars such as Edward Said Homi
Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Below I present some criticisms of hybridity a
major concept underlying both postcolonial theory and the multiplural trend
and related issues These criticisms offer alternative conceptual lenses to chal-
lenge the multiplural turn as shown briefly in the next section and in more
detail in the subsequent one
CRITICISM OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
Hybridity has been theorized by Bhabha (1994) and discussed widely as a key
concept of postcolonial theory Whereas Edward Said focused on binary rep-
resentations of the colonizer and the colonized and critiqued how colonial
power was exercised in their discursive construction Bhabha proposed hybrid-
ity as a space for enunciating and translating cultural difference in which
culture is never understood as primordially fixed or universal and cultural
purity is untenable As the Third Space of enunciation hybridity is a space
in which cultural meanings and signs lsquocan be appropriated translated rehis-
toricized and read anewrsquo (Bhabha 1994 55) Resistance can be articulated in
the Third Space where lsquoit is possible to return the colonial gaze and subvert
the ambivalent construction of cultural supremacy itself where colonial rule
and the relational construction of colonizer and colonized can be destabilized
from withinrsquo (Andreotti 2011 31) Hybridity is performed via translation
mimicry and appropriation colonized peoplersquos use of the colonizerrsquos cultural
and linguistic codes destabilizes power hierarchy and has subversive effects of
resistance
Although hybridity aims to provide the colonized with a new identity and
possibility for liberation the notion has been critiqued First it has been
argued that the notion of hybridity is predicated on the existence of non-
hybrid cultures Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that the Center and to a lesser
extent the Periphery tends to be described with such non-hybridity leading to
cultural homogenization This problem appears to be solved by the argument
that lsquoall forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridityrsquo forming the
lsquothird spacersquo rather than a mixture of lsquotwo original moments from which the
third emergesrsquo (Rutherford 1990 211) However if all cultures are hybrid
and in-between a postcolonial critique conflicts with its original impetus to
recreate a distinct agency and identity of the colonized (Moore-Gilbert 1997)
Here hybridity can become a fixed categorization (cf Otsuji and Pennycook
2010) either existing in a binary of hybrid or non-hybrid or referring to the
all-encompassing In applied linguistics this problem is exemplified by the
recent contradictory advocacy for rhetorical hybridity to be achieved by
mixing culturally essentialized rhetorical styles in academic writing for
unique self-expression (Li 2014)
R KUBOTA 479
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Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
480 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
R KUBOTA 483
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
theory that were published in the 1990s in cultural studies Paradoxically such
criticisms challenge poststructuralist and postmodernist thought underlying
the influential works by postcolonial scholars such as Edward Said Homi
Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak Below I present some criticisms of hybridity a
major concept underlying both postcolonial theory and the multiplural trend
and related issues These criticisms offer alternative conceptual lenses to chal-
lenge the multiplural turn as shown briefly in the next section and in more
detail in the subsequent one
CRITICISM OF POSTCOLONIAL THEORY
Hybridity has been theorized by Bhabha (1994) and discussed widely as a key
concept of postcolonial theory Whereas Edward Said focused on binary rep-
resentations of the colonizer and the colonized and critiqued how colonial
power was exercised in their discursive construction Bhabha proposed hybrid-
ity as a space for enunciating and translating cultural difference in which
culture is never understood as primordially fixed or universal and cultural
purity is untenable As the Third Space of enunciation hybridity is a space
in which cultural meanings and signs lsquocan be appropriated translated rehis-
toricized and read anewrsquo (Bhabha 1994 55) Resistance can be articulated in
the Third Space where lsquoit is possible to return the colonial gaze and subvert
the ambivalent construction of cultural supremacy itself where colonial rule
and the relational construction of colonizer and colonized can be destabilized
from withinrsquo (Andreotti 2011 31) Hybridity is performed via translation
mimicry and appropriation colonized peoplersquos use of the colonizerrsquos cultural
and linguistic codes destabilizes power hierarchy and has subversive effects of
resistance
Although hybridity aims to provide the colonized with a new identity and
possibility for liberation the notion has been critiqued First it has been
argued that the notion of hybridity is predicated on the existence of non-
hybrid cultures Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that the Center and to a lesser
extent the Periphery tends to be described with such non-hybridity leading to
cultural homogenization This problem appears to be solved by the argument
that lsquoall forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridityrsquo forming the
lsquothird spacersquo rather than a mixture of lsquotwo original moments from which the
third emergesrsquo (Rutherford 1990 211) However if all cultures are hybrid
and in-between a postcolonial critique conflicts with its original impetus to
recreate a distinct agency and identity of the colonized (Moore-Gilbert 1997)
Here hybridity can become a fixed categorization (cf Otsuji and Pennycook
2010) either existing in a binary of hybrid or non-hybrid or referring to the
all-encompassing In applied linguistics this problem is exemplified by the
recent contradictory advocacy for rhetorical hybridity to be achieved by
mixing culturally essentialized rhetorical styles in academic writing for
unique self-expression (Li 2014)
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Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
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in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
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given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Secondly critics argue that hybridity can be exploited for the benefit of the
dominant in various ways to create and legitimate hierarchies In the case of
India Moore-Gilbert (1997) argues that hybridity of the colonized was histor-
ically used to legitimate the imposition of the power of the colonizer as a
unifying force Furthermore lsquocultural hybridity became a means of securing
colonial control through the production of complicit lsquolsquomimic menrsquorsquo rsquomdashlsquothe na-
tional bourgeoisie to which control was relinquished at the beginning of the
(neo)-colonial periodrsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 195) Another example is Imperial
Japan from the late 19th century to the end of World War II in which a
dominant discourse about national identity was hybrid ethnicity rather than
monoethnic purity as it conveniently legitimated Japanrsquos colonial control over
East and Southeast Asian nations which consisted of diverse ethnic groups
(Oguma 1995) Far from being liberatory or celebratory hybridity when as-
signed a superior status can become oppressive The promotion of hybridity by
dominant groups corresponds to the neoliberal ideology of plurilingualism
(Flores 2013) and neoliberal multiculturalism as discussed later
Thirdly hybridity disregards the significance of cultural nationalism or col-
lective politics It is necessary to remember that it was cultural nationalism the
separatist politics of identity and resistance rather than hybridity that first
prompted decolonization Cohesive forces continue to exist As May (2009)
notes many governments confront demands from ethnic and religious groups
who present themselves in collective terms rather than from hybrid positions
The postcolonial or poststructuralist stance of anti-essentialism and a denial of
rootedness demonstrates a shift in attention lsquofrom national origin to subject-
positionrsquo (Dirlik 1994 335) or from group identity to individual subjectivity
However by doing so it endorses the colonial civilizing mission in which
individualism (but not freedom) was introduced to the colonized along with
the ideas of modernity and enlightenment (Chakrabarty 2000) In the context
of capitalist globalization of the Empire (Hardt and Negri 2000) the nation-
state no longer appears to exert its political and economic power In this sense
the perceived decline of cultural nationalism and the rise of hybridity consti-
tute an idea aligned with capitalist globalization Despite or because of the
lsquodecline in sovereignty of nation-statesrsquo (Hardt and Negri 2000 xi) the nation-
state lsquomight be the only political formation able to mitigate the unprecedented
poverty and discrimination violence and civil strife that are results of global-
ization and of the geo-political interventions of the westrsquo (Sethi 2011 123)
Likewise group solidarity can challenge hegemonic forces of racism sexism
and homophobia although solidarity can also obscure various differences and
inequalities within each group A tension between collective politics and
hybridity or individual difference can be observed in indigenous language
revitalization and maintenance as discussed in the next section
Fourthly hybridity typically refers to relations between the postcolonial and
the First World rather than between two postcolonial subjects indicating that
it overlooks the politics of location as ideological and institutional structures
(Dirlik 1994) This leads to a contentious point the notion of hybridity and
480 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
R KUBOTA 483
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
in-betweenness when applied to postcolonial scholarsrsquo professional status and
theoretical stances demonstrates a privileged elitist position of power located
in the First World which is not shared by subalterns who are forced to take a
marginalized status or location Referring to postcolonial scholars of Third
World origin Dirlik (1994) states
However much postcolonial intellectuals may insist on hybridityand the transposability of locations not all positions are equal inpower To insist on hybridity against onersquos own language itseems to me is to disguise not only ideological location but alsothe differences of power that go with different locationsPostcolonial intellectuals in their First World institutional locationsare ensconced in positions of power not only vis-a-vis the lsquonativersquointellectuals back at home but also vis-a-vis their First World neigh-bors here My neighbors in Farmville Virginia are no match inpower for the highly paid highly prestigious postcolonial intellec-tuals at Columbia Princeton or Duke (p 343)
Postcolonial theory which favors Eurocentric textual analysis and European
theorists but overlooks social economic and political struggles experienced by
the underprivileged creates a privileged location in which lsquothe identity of the
postcolonial is no longer structural but discursiversquo (Dirlik 1994 332) As a
caveat it is important not to totalize European knowledge as antithesis to
the (post)colonial but to view it as a complex and contradictory construct
that was adopted and resisted by the colonized in the establishment of bour-
geois individualism and modernism even in decolonization (Chakrabarty
2000) In applied linguistics our academic status as scholars corresponds to
the privileged position of postcolonial academics that Dirlik (1994) critiques
Finally the power and privilege attached to postcolonial scholars and the
location of theorization further indicate a gap between theory and practice
(Sethi 2011) Comparing Bhabharsquos texts imbued with words from Foucault
Lacan and Levi-Strauss with the people in the Third World Ahmad (1992)
states lsquoThose who live in places where a majority of the population has
been denied access to such benefits of lsquolsquomodernityrsquorsquo as hospitals or better
health insurance or even basic literacy can hardly afford the terms of such
thoughtrsquo (pp 68ndash9) Similarly referring to poverty and violence in many de-
veloping countries Miyoshi (1995) notes lsquoAs we talk about postcoloniality
and postindustrialism in the metropolitan academia we ignore those billions
outside our ongoing discourse for whom life has nothing lsquolsquopostrsquorsquo about itrsquo
(p 71) Relying on Western intellectual canons such as poststructuralism as
well as such notions as hybridity syncretism and multiplicity postcolonial
theory champions Eurocentric rational thought though appropriated and re-
sisted in ambivalent ways endorsing rather than reversing the colonial rela-
tions of power A similar theoryndashpractice divide of the multiplural turn is seen
in the examples discussed by McNamara (2011) The criticisms reviewed so far
raise the following implications for the multiplural turn in applied linguistics
R KUBOTA 481
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
R KUBOTA 483
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
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Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
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Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
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uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
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Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Hybridity and related notions are neither neutral nor apolitical they involve
contextual and relational arrangements of power Without addressing power
and ideology advocacy of multiplural approaches and hybridity in language
use can become complicit with domination and will fail to solve real problems
Furthermore when our intellectual engagement becomes entrenched in the
popularity of the multiplural turn we may lose sight of the persistent demand
for monolingualism and linguistic purism in various locations as well as
Anglocentrism and English-only ideologies in many non-Englishndashdominant
neoliberal societies It is important to keep in mind that as Shohat (1992)
mentions lsquoA celebration of syncretism and hybridity per se if not articulated
in conjunction with questions of hegemony and neo-colonial power relations
runs the risk of appearing to sanctify the fait accompli of colonial violencersquo
(p 109)
An awareness of the hegemony and ideology behind postcolonial concepts
requires contextual understandings Hybridity carries many political meanings
and consequences in different locations It is necessary to examine hybridity
not in universal but contextual terms within the current neocolonial hegemo-
nies To cite Shohat (1992)
As a descriptive catch-all term lsquohybridityrsquo per se fails to discriminatebetween the diverse modalities of hybridity for example forcedassimilation internalized self-rejection political cooptation socialconformism cultural mimicry and creative transcendence (p 110)
This implies that hybridity or the Third Space between a dominant group and a
subordinate group may either support or hinder cultural and linguistic revi-
talization of indigenous groups
Tension between hybridity and rootedness
Studies on indigenous language maintenance and revitalization reveal a com-
plex web of power While postcolonial theory challenges culturallinguistic
essentialism and purism as violence of colonial discourse authentication of
linguistic and cultural resources and identities often constitutes a key strategy
for revitalization Contrary to the postmodern sociolinguistic idea that lan-
guage is no longer fixed at a certain location (Blommaert 2010) claiming to
belong to ancestral land constitutes important means for language preservation
or revitalization and for resistance in indigenous communities Although the
mobility of people including indigenous populations shifts linguistic practices
(Patrick 2007) there is a conflict between the idea of deterritorialized language
use built upon individualism and an indigenous epistemology of land The
claim for linguistic belonging in the context of Singapore expressed by Pakir
(2009) similarly indicates how rootedness constitutes linguistic identity
Concepts such as hybridity and cosmopolitanism can undermine the positive
482 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
R KUBOTA 483
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
effects of rootedness to form local solidarity among minoritized groups and
instead promote neoliberal capitalism as discussed later in more detail
Conversely such fixed authentication creates a feeling of shame and reluc-
tance to learn or use a heritage language among indigenous youths who lack
the ability to use a correct form of the language (Lee 2009 McCarty et al 2009)
This shows a dilemma between authentication and postcolonial plurality
Although authentication of premodern indigeneity is paradoxically founded
upon the modernist definitions of language and language rights (Patrick 2007)
postcolonial hybridity that challenges such modernist definitions will under-
mine traditional indigeneity Indeed it is difficult to negotiate two opposing
poles political efforts to seek collective rights to identity and attempts to sup-
port indigenous youths who negotiate their hybrid identity This raises several
questions lsquoWho defines what counts as language Who defines what language
should be revitalized How does one avoid alienating speakers of other lan-
guage varieties (eg younger mixed-language speakers)rsquo (Donna Patrick per-
sonal communication) Additionally who proposes either hybridity or
authentication as a goal to be sought on what grounds Significantly both
cultural hybridity and authenticity may work to undermine cultural and pol-
itical identities and rights of indigenous peoples (Franklin and Lyons 2004)
As Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) point out hybridity coexists with fixity in
plurilingual individualsrsquo linguistic expressions and cultural identity Blackledge
and Creese (2010) also reveal how national belonging to a heritage culture was
insisted on in heritage language classrooms in the United Kingdom which was
shaped within a more powerful discourse of national belonging to the domin-
ant language and culture Here the authors stress duality rather than hybrid-
ity of identity
Hybridity as a privileged position
The complexity of power relations also implies that hybridity can become a
privileged position as seen in the politics of location that privileges postcolonial
theory and its scholars Although some individuals who are socially politic-
ally and economically disadvantaged or displaced become linguistically
hybrid as in the case of an African asylum seeker described in Blommaert
(2010) hybridity can also signify cultural capital In global capitalism and
neoliberalism linguistically hybrid plurilingual English-speaking subjects are
transnational elites who are considered to be superior to monolingual users of
a single national language (Flores 2013) Given that assimilationist monolin-
gual ideology continues to predominate in many countries economically pri-
vileged and ethnically dominant students who employ translanguaging
codemeshing and plurilingualism become more privileged than those who
are trained to become monoglossic It is important to ask whether all language
users regardless of their racial gender socioeconomic and other background
equally transgress linguistic boundaries and engage in hybrid and fluid linguis-
tic practices As mentioned earlier hybridity tends to be more focused on
R KUBOTA 483
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individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
individual subject positions than on group identity However access to certain
linguistic competencies or performativities is unequally distributed among not
only individuals but also groups So the question to ask is among different
groups lsquowho is included and excluded in the celebration of hybridityrsquo
(Lorente and Tupas 2013 70)
The availability of hybrid positioning is also relevant to scholars Just as
postcolonial scholars of the Third World or any other origin who work in
the First World can enjoy privilege without actually transforming the lives of
the people in the Third World it is owing to our privilege that we applied
linguists including myself can discuss and even model hybridity and multi-
plicity of linguistic practices Of course oppressive policies and ideologies that
marginalize certain populations should indeed be challenged and hybrid and
multiple identities of marginalized people who are excluded by monolingual
monoethnic ideology need to be protected However our scholarly promotion
of the multiplural turn may primarily function as a way to legitimate and
reaffirm our own hybrid and plural subjectivities rather than as an aid to
transforming the lives of the people we refer to These people include those
who are linguistically racially and economically marginalized for whom hy-
bridity may be a site of struggle rather than celebration or students and scho-
lars who are expected to conform to the conventions of academic writing and
standard language ideology Applied linguistics will perhaps more meaning-
fully mobilize its academic knowledge for social transformation not simply by
promoting multiplural concepts but also by examining their political eco-
nomic and ideological underpinnings
A gap between theory and real-world needs
The gap between theory and practice or the fallacy of pedagogical practice
deemed progressive was discussed extensively in the 1990s in relation to the
process-oriented teaching of literacy It was argued that the liberal construct-
ivist approach of student-centeredness with a focus on meaning and free ex-
pression rather than form and accuracy worked for middle-class students who
were already equipped with cultural capital but not for working-class racially
minority students An alternative approach proposed was to appropriate the
language of powermdashthe teaching of the dominant code via form-focused in-
struction without devaluing the cultural and linguistic identity of minority
students (Reyes 1992 Delpit 1995) Successful implementation of this peda-
gogical idea is to provide these students with an opportunity to gain cultural
capital and eventually economic and symbolic capital for socioeconomic
success
Will hybridity-oriented ideas also have the same effect While appropriation
of the dominant code alone is unlikely to destabilize its power neither are
hybridity-oriented ideas since they address individual studentsrsquo expressions
but not broader sociopolitical constraints that limit more fluid multiple and
hybrid expressions In this sense scholarly discussion on hybridity and
484 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
multiplicity more likely becomes self-serving academic activity than social
impact The relationship between applied linguistics scholars and practi-
tionersstudents seems to parallel that between the First World scholars and
the Third world populations which constructs lsquoa division of labour in which
the Third World acts while the First thinks (or even worse in which the First
World speaks while the Third dumbly acts)rsquo (Moore-Gilbert 1997 164)
Academicsrsquo privileged status and the politics of multiplural turn are impli-
cated in multiculturalism in a neoliberal era Many published critiques of
postcolonial theory in the 1990s pointed out its complicity with neoliberal
world order I now examine how notions of plurality flexibility hybridity
and so on used in applied linguistics today are located in neoliberal ideology
THE MULTIPLURAL TURN AND NEOLIBERALISM
Neoliberalism and plurilingualism
Critics have pointed out the complicity of postcolonial theoryscholars in neo-
liberal global capitalism Neoliberalism a topic of growing interest in applied
linguistics (eg Kubota 2011 Park 2011 Block et al 2012 Park and Lo 2012
Flores 2013 Holborow 2013) is an ideological and structural apparatus that
promotes a free-market economy by privatizing public services creating a
flexible workforce and increasing individual and institutional accountability
for economic success while reducing social services and producing disparities
between the rich and the poor With global capitalism neoliberalism supports
economic activities across national borders Theorizing the realignment of
global power in late capitalism Hardt and Negri (2000) argue
Many of the concepts dear to postmodernists and postcolonialistsfind a perfect correspondence in the current ideology of corporatecapital and the world market The ideology of the world market hasalways been the anti-foundational and anti-essentialist discoursepar excellence Circulation mobility diversity and mixture are itsvery conditions of possibility Trade brings differences together andthe more the merrier Differences (of commodities populationscultures and so forth) seem to multiply infinitely in the worldmarket which attacks nothing more violently than fixed bound-aries it overwhelms any binary division with its infinite multipli-cities (p 150)
As increased numbers of multinational corporations and smaller businesses
cross-national borders successful management of diversitymdashrecognition of
multiplicity and negotiation with cultural and linguistic difference among di-
verse employees and clientsmdashhas become a key to economic success
A link between neoliberalism and the multiplural trend of language studies
especially the pluralist orientation is found in the discourse of plurilingualism
promoted by transnational organizations such as the Council of Europe and
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Flores 2013)
R KUBOTA 485
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Based on the key neoliberal concept of human capital plurilingualism has
been promoted essential for working in global capitalism Critically reviewing
a document published by the Council of Europe Flores (2013) pointed out that
the notion of plurilingualism was promoted to support learning to communi-
cate across borders (via various linguistic repertoires) and respect for linguistic
diversity language rights freedom of expression and democratic citizenship
This aligns with the neoliberal emphases on the development of individual
competencies in service of economic growth lifelong learning of communica-
tion skills to be developed as individual responsibility flexible pragmatic and
truncated language repertoires as essential competence for transcultural work-
ers and cultural competence that facilitates individual and national economic
development
These skills are indeed deemed important among transcultural workers
creating a predicament for contesting the dominance of English which is
also entrenched in neoliberal ideology (Phillipson 2008) More precisely the
neoliberal preoccupation with learning English as an international language
can be challenged by promoting plurilingualism beyond English which iron-
ically overlaps with neoliberal human capital (Flores 2013 Kubota 2013)
Here it is important to recognize a duality between neoliberal pluralism
and neoliberal desire for English for economic purposes which resonates
with a legacy of colonial discourse of the superiority of whiteness modernity
and liberation (Motha 2014) As in my opening episode the multiplural
position that ignores the other side of the duality misses the bigger
picture of hegemony becoming complicit with the neoliberal celebration of
difference
A similar complicity is seen in the discussion of multiliteracies (Cope and
Kalantzis 2009) In the era of neoliberal human capital in the new economy
increased multimodality in everyday literacy is sharply contrasted by a persist-
ent emphasis on back-to-basics literacy instruction To counter this conserva-
tive pedagogy Cope and Kalantzis (2009) support new literacy instruction that
highlights flexibility creativity multimodality and innovation in meaning-
making processesmdashskills promoted since the progressive education movement
in the early 20th century but discursively realigned with neoliberal human
capitalmdashwith a critical awareness of power relations The authors argue that
this transformative pedagogy can support either realistic demands or emanci-
patory purposes and that it is up to the learner to decide which view to take
this is essentially a neoliberal solution of individual choice
These cases demonstrate a paradox conservative educational policies
(eg the teaching of English only as an international language or back-
to-basics instruction) appear to support neoliberal practical skills When
applied linguists critique such policies and propose alternatives they often
endorse equally neoliberal ideology of multiplicity thus becoming complicit
with neoliberal discourse A possible solution will be discussed in the
conclusion
486 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
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Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
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icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Neoliberal multiculturalism
As discussed above a neoliberal and global capitalism that expands beyond
national borders requires workers citizens and institutions to successfully
navigate and negotiate cultural differences Multicultural competence is part
of human capital Neoliberal multiculturalism is built upon lsquoan ethos of self-
reliance individualism and competition while simultaneously (and conveni-
ently) undermining discourses and social practices that call for collective social
action and fundamental structural changersquo (Darder 2012 417) The multi
plural turn thus parallels the underlying ideology of neoliberal multicultural-
ismmdashthat is individualism difference-blindness and elitist cosmopolitanism
rather than critical acknowledgement of power
Neoliberal multiculturalism in the context of the United States inherited
previous racial liberalism which sutured the anti-racism of the civil rights
movement to Cold War nationalism for establishing the legitimacy of the
United States as a global power of democracy human rights and transnational
capitalism (Melamed 2006) Replacing socialist ideology neoliberal multicul-
turalism also underscores individual accountability to legitimate the distinction
between the privileged and the stigmatized In post-racial discourse racism is
given a label of pastness in light of the success of Barack Obama and other
minorities In this color-blindness individuals are to enjoy their freedom and
opportunities but are ultimately responsible for their own socioeconomic
standings regardless of their background which leads to lsquoprivatizing racismrsquo
(Lentin and Titley 2011 168) This meritocratic justification legitimates racial
and other inequalities
Not only does neoliberal multiculturalism legitimate the difference between
the privileged and the stigmatized it also distinguishes the forms of lsquogoodrsquo and
lsquobadrsquo diversity as in the case of banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women
(Lentin and Titley 2011 176) This indicates that lsquomonoculturalism becomes a
category of stigmarsquo recreating lsquo lsquolsquomulticulturalrsquorsquo and lsquolsquomonoculturalrsquorsquo as new
privileged and stigmatized racial formationsrsquo (Melamed 2006 16)
Furthermore lsquogoodrsquo and lsquobadrsquo diversity among immigrants is distinguished
along the class line under neoliberalism In the case of Australia desirable
immigrants are those from middle-class backgrounds who will make economic
contributions whereas undesirable immigrants are from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds in need of social services causing a burden for the neoliberal state
(Shiobara 2010) We can see that although neoliberal multiculturalism pro-
motes respect for diversity sensitivity to difference official antiracism open
societies and individual (economic) freedom it reproduces the existing racial
gender and class hierarchies of power
An ideal neoliberal subject is cosmopolitan However critics argue that
cosmopolitanism reflects individualism and an elite worldview of people
with wealth mobility and hybridity in global capitalism while undermining
the potentially positive role of the nation which could provide opportunities
for workers and other groups to form solidarity Critiquing cosmopolitanism
R KUBOTA 487
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Calhoun (2002) states lsquoCosmopolitanism is not responsible for empire or
capitalism or fascism or communism but neither is it an adequate defensersquo
(p 887)
It is clear that the multiplural approaches are complicit in neoliberal multi-
culturalism in that both focus on the individual rather than group solidarity
assume color-blindness and support diversitymdashbut only the kind of diversity
that privileges the multiculturalhybridcosmopolitan (rising) middle class over
the monoculturalnon-hybridparochial working class Although creating a
binary between middle class and working class may seem inappropriate it is
also problematic to claim the universality of hybriditycosmopolitanism across
the class line since it justifies difference-blindness and undermines situated
politics It is important to note that the multiplural focus does not necessarily
take into account how racial and other relations of power might affect the
ways people use learn and teach language As Motha (2014 79) notes
lsquoOptimism about new hybrid language practices therefore needs to be tem-
pered by a consciousness of the role being played by race in our constructionsrsquo
Scholars need to pay greater attention to the role that power dynamics play in
linguistic hybridity fluidity and plurality
Earlier I discussed a theorypractice divide in the critiques of postcolonial
theory and scholars The free-market economy and neoliberal policies also
regulate the academic activities of intellectuals further proliferating the
multiplural turn as a favored intellectual trend Below I focus on the
impact of neoliberalism on our scholarly activities
Scholars in neoliberal academic institutions and theircomplicity with neoliberalism
Neoliberalism in higher education can be characterized by privatization
marketization corporatization increased student fees emphasis on obtaining
grants a two-tiered employment and institutional system curriculum for de-
veloping human capital English-medium education and documentation for
accountability (Mok 2007 Holborow 2013) These measures aim to increase
institutionsrsquo global competitiveness for financial gains Competition is pro-
moted by university rankings which are based largely on research productivity
as measured by citation analysis and research funding (Altbach 2013)
However not all research counts as legitimate lsquothe topics and the methodol-
ogies of the research must be appealing to editors and reviewers in the central
academic powersrsquo (Altbach 2013 79) Pressure to publish and obtain funding
compels academics and graduate students to try to lsquoposition themselves com-
petitively within the knowledge of marketplacersquo and lsquoas a good fit within the
institutionrsquos neoliberal purposersquo (Darder 2012 414) Academic writing prac-
tices are also situated in the economic interest of the publishing industry as
well as a competitive model for individual and institutional accountability
Academic journals are ranked according to impact factors based on citation
frequencies and other measures Researchers are often rewarded by how many
488 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
times their works were cited The basic principle is indeed the more the mer-
rier This implies that popular theories and concepts proposed by prominent
scholars tend to get cited recycled and propagated incessantly while opposing
or deviant ideas are likely to be relegated to a form of inadequate diversity
In this way the multiplural trend becomes a fashionable commodity to be
consumed but not necessarily to fix real-life problems
One of the real-life issues is the global dominance of English In neoliberal
academic institutions in the world English dominates and regulates many
scholarsrsquo academic careers (Mok 2007 Altbach 2013) Referring to the
increased pressure for scholars in Asia to publish in English-medium high-
impact journals Mok (2007) comments
Ironically publications in local languages or national venues whichmight be read by a wider audience and might have significanteffects or impacts on local policy formation or socioeconomic devel-opments would not be counted as internationally importantIf such a situation proves to be a valid one we certainly need toaddress the fundamental problems resulting from the quest forinternationalization of universities (p 446)
Altbach (2013) also reports lsquoNorwegian academics who publish in English and
in recognized journals are paid fees for their accomplishments while their
colleagues who publish in Norwegian are paid less or not at allrsquo (p 3)
International and domestic graduate students in English-speaking countries
are taught to write in acceptable academic discourse in English but are
rarely encouraged to learn to write and publish in their native or other lan-
guages Far from the perception that multilingualism is now the norm English
indeed dominates as a global academic language reinforcing the hegemony of
English monolingualism
Furthermore not all contexts allow hybrid and creative language use Take
high-stakes academic writing including writing for tests publishing and pro-
posals for funding for example While advocacy for multiplural approaches is
essential in these contexts jumping on a multiplural bandwagon in teaching
will likely repeat the same problem with the process writing approach in the
past (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
The dominance of English and standard varieties of English is intact both
globally and within English-speaking countries marginalizing and disadvanta-
ging nonndashEnglish-speaking or nonnativendashEnglish-speaking populations as
McNamara (2011) pointed out This inequality is not just about language
but also about race (Motha 2014) and class (Block 2013 OrsquoRegan 2014) In
many parts of the world the dominant language is imposed on minority popu-
lations while race and class index positive or negative meanings attached to
being plurilingual (Lo and Kim 2012) Although one impulse of the multi
plural turn is to challenge this monolingual and standardization-based
approach to research and language teaching the discourse that underscores
plurality and hybridity sidesteps the hegemonic ideologies and social practices
R KUBOTA 489
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
This is demonstrated in the opening episode in which the rhetoric of multilin-
gualism was favored
It is also significant to note that applied linguists including myself who
publish on multiplural topics benefit from this activity in advancing our
own careers just as postcolonial scholars do from publishing their work
Many of us applied linguists native or nonnative speakers of English are
privileged plurilingual scholars who can afford to use hybrid modes of expres-
sion or advocate what we wish to see while people for whom we ostensibly
advocate often do not have the power to do so As postcolonial scholars were
criticized as complicit with colonial hegemony Eurocentrism and elitism
applied linguists who embrace the multiplural turn perhaps cannot escape a
similar charge
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The progressive ideas of the multiplural turn which has an intellectual affili-
ation with postcolonialpoststructuralist thought provide an important shift in
our understanding of language use and language teaching They originally
aimed to transform hegemonic monolingual and English-only ideology
However critical reflections on postcolonialpoststructuralist theory in the
1990s as well as recent criticisms of neoliberalism and neoliberal multicultur-
alism indicate that the multiplural turn should not be embraced with unquali-
fied optimism
While notions such as hybridity fluidity and multiplicity are potentially
liberating they can obscure actual struggles and inequalities just as postcolo-
nial theory tends to ignore lsquothe contemporary actuality of global politics within
a capitalist world-systemrsquo (Parry 1994 7) Using the multiplural frame of
reference with insufficient critical reflection makes us complicit with a neo-
liberalism that exacerbates economic and educational gaps and with a neo-
liberal multiculturalism that evades racism and other injustices Thus in
considering linguistic plurality and hybridity in our research more explicit
attention should be paid to issues of asymmetrical relations of power and
inequalities that privilege or stigmatize individuals and groups due to their
plurilingualism cosmopolitanism and hybridity on the one hand or their
monolingualism and monoculturalism on the other
It is also important to critically reflect on our own hybrid plurilingual status
of privilege within neoliberal academic institutions in which we further
accrue cultural economic and symbolic capital from presenting and publish-
ing while moving further away from real-world problems Concrete measures
to resist academic neoliberalism will require the applied linguistics community
to raise our concerns and begin to seek alternatives Professional associations
may recommend guidelines for tenure and promotion focusing more on qual-
ity of research (eg originality social relevance and critical reflexivity) prac-
tical impact (eg community-based inquiry and improvement of practice) and
diverse venues and methods for knowledge mobilization (eg equal weight
490 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
given to research output in languages other than English or alternative formats
that have a greater social impact) than on quantity of output prestige of jour-
nals or publishers or uncritical alignment with popular approaches Such
guidelines will influence the ways in which we advise graduate students and
review various academic work such as manuscripts for publications external
tenure reviews and grant applications With regard to academic writing pro-
moting multiplural approaches (eg translanguaging) should coincide with
advocacy for broadening the current textual conventions by communicating
to publishers editors and other gatekeepers (Heng Hartse and Kubota 2014)
In addition bimultilingual students and scholars should be given more en-
couragement and opportunities to engage in academic writing in languages
other than English Language testing is another area where advocacy for
allowing greater linguistic diversity can make real impact for change
One difficulty for change is the close conceptual alignment between con-
structs of neoliberal multiculturalism (eg flexibility diversity mobility) and
critical approaches to applied linguistics (Pennycook 2010) As I mentioned
earlier this creates a challenge for us to critique neoliberal-like conservative
policies (eg English-only instruction) without becoming complicit with neo-
liberalism One strategy might be to appropriate the discourse of neoliberalism
to promote critical awareness of diversity without endorsing capitalist domin-
ation (Kubota 2013) In fact this strategy might more easily convince practi-
tioners and policymakers about alternative views than asking them to
drastically change their ideological position would
It is time for us to critically reflect on the multiplural turn and pay more
attention to the systems of power that produce racial economic and other
inequalities related to plural and hybrid linguistic practices It is equally ne-
cessary to resist the neoliberal academic culture that compels us to ignore
social problems and instead celebrate plurality and hybridity for our own
cause Increased attention to places where real problems exist can make our
professional activities more socially meaningful and transformative
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Alastair Pennycook for his insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier
draft I also thank Joel Heng Hartse for providing suggestions for increasing readability My ap-
preciation also goes to the editor for his support and guidance
REFERENCES
Ahmad A 1992 In Theory Classes Nations
Literatures Verso
Altbach P G 2013 The International Imperative
in Higher Education Sense Publishers
Andreotti V 2011 Actionable Postcolonial Theory
in Education Palgrave Macmillian
Bhabha H K 1994 The Location of Culture
Routledge
Blackledge A and A Creese 2010
Multilingualism Continuum
Block D 2013 Social Class and Applied Linguistics
Routledge
R KUBOTA 491
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Block D J Gray and M Holborow 2012
Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics Routledge
Blommaert Y 2010 The Sociolinguistics of
Globalization Cambridge University Press
Calhoun C 2002 lsquoThe class consciousness of
frequent travelers Toward a critique of actu-
ally existing cosmopolitanismrsquo The South
Atlantic Quarterly 101 869ndash97
Canagarajah A S 2006 lsquoThe place of world
Englishes in composition Pluralization contin-
uedrsquo College Composition and Communication 57
586ndash619
Canagarajah S 2013 Translingual Practice Global
Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations Routledge
Cenoz J 2013 lsquoDefining multilingualismrsquo
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33 3ndash18
Chakrabarty D 2000 Provincializing Europe
Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference
Princeton University Press
Cogo A 2012 lsquoELF and super-diversity A case
study of ELF multilingual practices from a
business contextrsquo Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca 1ndash2 287ndash313
Cope B and M Kalantzis 2009
lsquo lsquolsquoMultiliteraciesrsquorsquo New literacies new learn-
ingrsquo Pedagogies An International Journal 4
164ndash95
Cummins J 2007 lsquoRethinking monolingual in-
structional strategies in multilingual class-
roomsrsquo Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics
10 221ndash40
Darder A 2012 lsquoNeoliberalism in the academic
borderlands An on-going struggle for equality
and human rightsrsquo Educational Studies 48
412ndash26
Delpit L 1995 Other Peoplersquos Children Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom The New Press
Dirlik A 1994 lsquoThe postcolonial aura Third
world criticism in the age of global capitalismrsquo
Critical Inquiry 20 328ndash56
Flores N 2013 lsquoThe unexamined relationship
between neoliberalism and plurilingualism
A cautionary talersquo TESOL Quarterly 47 500ndash20
Franklin C and L Lyons 2004 lsquoRemixing hy-
bridity Globalization native resistance and
cultural production in Hawailsquoirsquo American
Studies 45 49ndash80
Garcıa O and N Flores 2012 lsquoMultilingual ped-
agogiesrsquo in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 232ndash46
Garcıa O and C E Sylvan 2011 lsquoPedagogies
and practices in multilingual classrooms
Singularities in pluralitiesrsquo The Modern
Language Journal 95 385ndash400
Hardt M and A Negri 2000 Empire Harvard
University Press
Harris R 1998 Introduction to Integrational
Linguistics Pergamon Press
Heng Hartse J and R Kubota 2014
lsquoPluralizing english Variation in high-
stakes academic texts and challenges of copy-
editingrsquo Journal of Second Language Writing 24
71ndash82
Holborow M 2013 lsquoApplied linguistics in the
neoliberal university Ideological keywords and
social agencyrsquo Applied Linguistic Review 4
229ndash57
Horner B M Lu J Royster and J Trimbur
2011 lsquoLanguage difference in writing Toward
a translingual approachrsquo College English 73
303ndash21
Jenkins J A Cogo and M Dewey 2011
lsquoReview of developments in research in to
English as a lingua francarsquo Language Teaching
44 281ndash315
Kachru B B Y Kachru and C L Nelson
(eds) 2006 The Handbook of World Englishes
Blackwell
Kubota R 2011 lsquoQuestioning linguistic instru-
mentalism English neoliberalism and lan-
guage tests in Japanrsquo Linguistics and Education
22 248ndash60
Kubota R 2013 lsquolsquoLanguage is only a toolrsquo
Japanese expatriates working in China and im-
plications for language teachingrsquo available at
httpwwwmultilingual-educationcomcon-
tent314
Kumaravadivelu B 2008 Cultural Globalization
and Language Education Yale University Press
Larsen-Freeman D 2012 lsquoComplex dynamic
systems A new transdisciplinary theme for
applied linguisticsrsquo Language Teaching 45
202ndash14
Lee T 2009 lsquoLanguage identity and power
Navajo and Pueblo young adultsrsquo perspectives
and experiences with competing language
ideologiesrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 307ndash20
Lentin A and G Titley 2011 The Crises of
Multiculturalism Racism in a Neoliberal Age Zed
Books
Li X 2014 lsquoAre lsquolsquoCultural differences a Mere
fictionrsquorsquo Reflections and arguments on con-
trastive rhetoricrsquo Journal of Second Language
Writing 25 1ndash122
492 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Lo A and J C Kim 2012 lsquoLinguistic compe-
tency and citizenship Contrasting portraits
of multilingualism in the South Korean
popular mediarsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16
255ndash76
Lorente B P and T R F Tupas 2013
lsquo(Un)emancipatory hybridity Selling English
in an unequal worldrsquo in R Rubdy and
L Alsagoff (eds) The Global-local Interface and
Hybridity Exploring Language and Identity
Multilingual Matters pp 66ndash82
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2005
lsquoDisinventing and (re)constituting languagesrsquo
Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2 137ndash56
Makoni S and A Pennycook 2012
lsquoDisinventing multilingualism from mono-
logical multilingualism to multilingua francasrsquo
in M Martin-Jones A Blackledge and
A Creese (eds) The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge pp 439ndash53
Martin-Jones M A Blackledge and A Crees
(eds) 2012 The Routledge Handbook of
Multilingualism Routledge
May S 2009 lsquoCritical multiculturalism and edu-
cationrsquo in J Banks (ed) Routledge International
Companion to Multicultural Education Routledge
pp 33ndash48
May S (ed) 2014 The Multilingual Turn
Implications for SLA TESOL and Bilingual
Education Routledge
McCarty T L M F Romero-Little
L Warhol and O Zepeda 2009
lsquoIndigenous youth as language policy
makersrsquo Journal of Language Identity and
Education 8 291ndash306
McNamara T 2011 lsquoMultilingualism in
Education A poststructuralist critiquersquo The
Modern Language Journal 95 430ndash41
Melamed J 2006 lsquoThe spirit of neoliberalism
From racial liberalism to neoliberal multicul-
turalismrsquo Social Text 894 2ndash24
Miyoshi M 1995 lsquoSites of resistance in the
global economyrsquo Boundary 2 61ndash84
Mok K H 2007 lsquoQuesting for internationaliza-
tion of universities in Asia Critical reflectionsrsquo
Journal of Studies in International Education 11
433ndash54
Moore-Gilbert B 1997 Postcolonial Theory
Contexts Practices and Politics Verso
Morgan B 2007 lsquoPoststructuralism and applied
linguisticsrsquo in J Cummins and C Davison
(eds) International Handbook of English
Language Teaching Springer pp 949ndash68
Motha S 2014 Race Empire and English
Language Teaching Teachers College Press
Moussu L and E Llurda 2008 lsquoNon-native
English-speaking English language teachers
History and researchrsquo Language Teaching 41
315ndash48
Oguma E 1995 Tanrsquoitsu minzoklu shinwa no
kigen lsquolsquoNihonjinrsquorsquo no jigazo no keifu [The myth
of the homogeneous nation A genealogy of
the lsquolsquoJapanesersquorsquo self-portrait] Shinrsquoyosha
OrsquoRegan J P 2014 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca
An immanent critiquersquo Applied Linguistics 35
533ndash52
Ortega L 2014 lsquoWays forward for a bimulti-
lingual turn in SLArsquo in S May (ed) The
Multilingual Turn Implications for SLA TESOL
and Bilingual Education Routledge pp 32ndash53
Otsuji E and A Pennycook 2010
lsquoMetrolingualism fixity fluidity and language
in fluxrsquo International Journal of Multilingualism
7 240ndash54
Pakir A 2009 lsquoEnglish as a lingua franca ana-
lyzing research frameworks in international
English world Englishes and ELFrsquo World
Englishes 28 224ndash35
Park J S Y 2011 lsquoThe promise of English
Linguistic capital and the neoliberal worker
in the South Korean job marketrsquo International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
14 443ndash55
Park J S Y and A Lo 2012 lsquolsquolsquo Transnational
South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics of
globalization Markets timescales neoliberal-
ismrsquorsquorsquo Journal of Sociolinguistics 16 147ndash64
Parry B 1994 lsquoSigns of our times Discussion of
Homi Bhabharsquos The location of culturersquorsquo Third
Text 828ndash9 5ndash24
Patrick D 2007 lsquoLanguage endangerment
language rights and indigeneityrsquo in M Heller
(ed) Bilingualism A Social Approach Palgrave
Macmillan pp 111ndash34
Pennycook A 2010 lsquoCritical and alternative
directions in applied linguisticsrsquo Australian
Review of Applied Linguistics 332 1ndash16
Phillipson R 2008 lsquoThe linguistic imperialism
of neoliberal empirersquo Critical Inquiry in
Language Studies 5 1ndash43
Reyes M de la L 1992 lsquoChallenging venerable
assumptions Literacy instruction for linguistic-
ally different studentsrsquo Harvard Educational
Review 62 427ndash46
Rubdy R and L Alsagoff (eds) 2013
The Global-local Interface and Hybridity
R KUBOTA 493
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019
Exploring Language and Identity Multilingual
Matters
Rutherford J 1990 lsquoThe third space Interview
with Homi Bhabharsquo in J Rutherford (ed)
Identity Community Culture Difference
Lawrence and Wishart pp 207ndash21
Seidlhofer B 2011 Understanding English as
a Lingua Franca Oxford University Press
Sethi R 2011 The Politics of Postcolonialism
Empire Nation and Resistance Pluto Press
Shohat E 1992 lsquoNotes on the lsquolsquopost-colonialrsquorsquorsquo
Social Text 3032 99ndash113
Shiobara Y 2010 lsquoNeoriberaru tabunka shugi to
gurobaru ka suru lsquolsquosentakuhaijorsquorsquono ronnri
[Neoliberal multiculturalism and the logic of se-
lectionandexclusioninglobalmigration]rsquoShakai
Kagaku [The Social Science] 86 63ndash89
Taylor S K and K Snoddon (eds) 2013
lsquoPlurilingualism in TESOL (special topic
issue)rsquo TESOL Quarterly 47 439ndash45
494 THE MULTIPLURAL TURN IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Dow
nloaded from httpsacadem
icoupcomapplijarticle-abstract3744741741757 by guest on 28 January 2019