Blog version: https://roycross.blog/

1. The first of two heterodox pieces of research, free-to-read from Language and Intercultural Communication, Working with/beyond ‘language’: insights from a listening walk with young men from asylum-seeking backgrounds in a rural treescape by Khawla Badwan, Caitlin Nunn & Kate Pahl from Manchester Metropolitan University https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/14708477.2024.2373156

This article takes readers on a journey that narrates research reflections from a listening walk in a forest with a group of young men who migrated to the UK as unaccompanied asylum seekers. This listening walk is framed as a generative and disruptive research encounter through which we explore how our linguistic and cultural differences ‘encounter each other, adjust to each other, oppose each other, agree with each other and produce the unpredictable’ (Glissant, 1996, p. 98).

PDF below.

2. And the second, free-to-read from the latest issue of Current Issues in Language Planning, The politics of distraction in English-medium higher education across three global settings: a collaborative autoethnography by Sarah Hopkyns from the UK, Sender Dovchin from Australia & Shaila Sultana from Bangladesh https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rclp20/5/3

English-medium instruction (EMI) is on the rise around the world, due to globalization, internationalization and neoliberal ideologies which equate English with social capital, prestige, and success in the labour market. While many EMI policies aim to equip students with English as a ‘lingua academia’, produce ‘neoliberal subjects’ and compete in university ranking systems, such policies often overlook larger sociolinguistic, sociohistorical, and sociopolitical issues at play.

While you’re there, take a look just a little further down the page at the intriguingly titled Failing interventions to harness English fever infiltrating early childhood education in South Korea: politics of distraction by Jee-Hee Kim from Hong Kong & Tae-Hee Choi from the UK – also free access. PDFs of both articles below.

3. The 2024 Teacher Tapp Guide to the 7 Types of Teachers on Social Media is an interesting read, even if you’re not running a business targeted at teachers. 29% of UK teachers do not now use social media at all for work purposes, up (a lot) from 20% last year.They don’t use social media for work at all. Sure, they might have accounts on Facebook or Instagram but they’re using them to chat to friends and escape work! https://teachertapp.co.uk/app/uploads/2024/07/7-Types-Of-Teachers-On-Social-Media-2024.pdf

PDF below.

4. Another post about the recent UK general election from Carne Ross’s blog, Out for the Count – at the tip of democracy’s spear, kind ofhttps://carneross.substack.com/p/out-for-the-count

5. And, finally, carnivorously and possibly eccentrically, another chance internet encounter generated by my ignorance, How To Make A Turducken https://youtu.be/mRT1WQXqdCw