This document discusses using the linguistic landscape (LL) as a resource for language teaching and learning. It argues that the LL shows language as situated discourses that are multiple, contingent, and ideologically charged. It suggests language learners can both read and creatively act upon the LL, such as through reading, writing, performance and translation. Examples are given of projects involving the LL, such as neighborhood visits, translations, and creating one's own LL through school or community projects. Tools for mapping, annotating and discussing the LL digitally are also listed.

1. David Malinowski
Yale University Center for Language Study
david.malinowski@yale.edu
@tildensky

2. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

3. Linguistic landscape can be a powerful resource
for spatializing L2 learning and teaching by
showing language as “discourses in place”:
situated, multiple, contingent, and ideologically
charged
In particular, the performative nature of discourse
in place begs us to consider how language
learners can not just read but creatively and
purposively act upon the linguistic landscape
…the Hebrew LL can be created in acts of reading,
writing, performance and translation

5. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

6. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

8. Postmodern globalization: “The multilateral flow of
people, things, and ideas across borders has made
more visible mixed forms of community and language
in highly diversified geographical spaces”
(Canagarajah, 2013)
Superdiversity as today’s urban condition: An
increased level and kind of diversity building upon
“increased number of new, small and scattered,
multiple-origin, transnationally connected, socio-
economically differentiated and legally stratified
immigrants” (Vertovec, 2007)

9. The 5 C’s in context of multilingual texts,
neighborhoods:
• Communication
• Cultures
• Connections
• Comparisons
• Communities - “Students use the
language both within and beyond the
school setting”

10. Communities as “The Lost C”?
“The most striking, and troublesome, feature
emerging from this comparison [of student and
educator rankings of the 5 Standards] is that for
students the Communities Standards were first; for
teachers they were last.”
- Magnan, Murphy, Sahakyan, & Kim, 2012, p. 177.

11. Linguistic
Design
Audio
Design
Visual
Design
Gestural
Design
Spatial
Design

13. “Language must be understood not as an abstract
system, but rather as a local phenomenon, arising first
from the utterances of speakers in tangible places, at
particular historical and ideological moments”
(Pennycook, 2010)
“the ongoing production of space-time is a rich process
that draws upon multiple material and discursive
resources, is imbued with relations of power, and is
malleable through individual agency and imagination”
(Leander & McKim, 2003)

15. How?

16. Signs tell us where we are, how to behave,
who we’re expected to be—or not

17. Hey, you.
Signs tell us where we are, how to behave,
who we’re expected to be—or not

18. Signs tell us where we are, how to behave,
who we’re expected to be—or not

19. Signs tell us where we are, how to behave,
who we’re expected to be—or not

21. Signs tell us where we belong, and where we don’t

22. Signs tell us where we belong, and where we don’t

26. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

27. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

28. “The language of public road signs, advertising
billboards, street names, place names,
commercial shop signs, and public signs on
government building combines to form the
linguistic landscape of a given territory, region
or urban agglomeration”
Landry & Bourhis (1997)
definitions

29. consequences
“a far more dynamic account of space, text and
interaction [is needed in linguistic landscape
studies]: readers and writers are part of the fluid,
urban semiotic space and produce meaning as they
move, write, read and travel” (Pennycook 2009,
309)
“attention needs to be paid to how constructs of
space are constrained by material conditions of
production, and informed by associated
phenomenological sensibilities of mobility and
gaze.” (Stroud & Mpendukana 2009, 364-5 )

30. consequences
 LL is an “independent variable” contributing to a group’s
“ethnolinguistic vitality” (Landry & Bourhis, 1997)
 The LL “signals what languages are prominent and
valued in public and private spaces and indexes the
social positioning of people who identify with particular
languages (Dagenais et al., 2009, p. 254)
 Linguistic landscape reveals much about the culture,
history, and politics of people in places
 Linguistic landscape is one way that people mark
territory, actively including some people while excluding
others

31. A sampling: Research in linguistic landscape

32. Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2008).The linguistic
landscape as an additional source of input
in SLA. Int’l Review of AL in Language
Teaching, 46(3).
Rowland, L. (2012).The pedagogical
benefits of a linguistic landscape project in
Japan. Int’l Journal of Bilingual Education
and Bilingualism, 16(4).
Burwell, C. & Lenters, K. (2015). Word on
the street: Investigating linguistic
landscapes with urban Canadian youth.
Pedagogies: An International Journal, 10(3).
• Chern, C. -l., & Dooley, K.
(2014). Learning English by
walking down the street.
• Chesnut, M., Lee,V. &
Schulte, J. (2013).The
language lessons around us:
Undergraduate English
pedagogy and linguistic
landscape research
• Dagenais, D. et al. (2009).
Linguistic landscape and
language awareness.
• Malinowski, D. (2015).
Opening spaces of learning in
the linguistic landscape.
• Sayer, P. (2009). Using the
Linguistic Landscape as a
Pedagogical Resource.

33. • Walking, observation, note-
taking
• Photography, street recordings
• Recorded interviews
• Neighborhood drawings
• Mapping
• Writing, blogging
• Digital stories, video projects
• Classroom and/or community-
based art projects, exhibits,
installations
• Civic events, protests
Competencies
 linguistic
 pragmatic
 intercultural
 multimodal,
multiliterate
 symbolic, critical,
participatory

34. National Foreign Language Resource Center
6Tenets of Project-based learning
1. Organized around real-world activities
2. Learner-centered
3. Collaboration as integral part of learning
4. Use of assessment with dual purpose: guiding the process
and measuring progress
5. Instructor as knowledgeable participant and facilitator
6. Creation of real-world product involving real audience

35. ● Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural communicative
competence 1st “savoir” (savoir être): “attitudes of curiosity
and openness, readiness to suspend disbelief about other
cultures and belief about one’s own” (p. 50)
● Ethnographic methods applied to language learning offer
students “...new ways of looking at the ordinary and the
everyday, drawing out patterns from careful and extended
observations of a small group.” (Centre for Languages, Linguistics, andArea Studies,
University of Southampton course documentation)

36. Korean-English telecollaboration (2005)
An extra-credit, online forum exchange between UC Berkeley
students of beginning & intermediate Korean and students of
intermediate English from Suwon University (near Seoul, Korea)
to exchange, view and discuss photos of signs, advertisements,
billboards, and other elements of their linguistic landscapes

37. Students use English and
Korean (the L1 and L2, or L2
and L1) to discuss their
experiences, interpretations &
misunderstandings of
‘normal’ uses of language in
their partners’ neighborhoods
Korean-English telecollaboration (2005)

38. Activity prompt to prep for 2-on-2 Skype conversation:
NEXT WEEK (11 March 2016):
Street Signs and Linguistic Landscapes
ByWednesday, March 9th at 5:59 pm (Paris 23h59), each student should
post a photograph of a sign from your neighborhood that you find
culturally interesting and that will provoke discussion.You should post
this on
https://padlet.com/wall/oz6gmap5dmk .
Padlet is very easy; no need to sign up. Just click on the screen and
you can drag/import a picture. Put a caption on it, as well as your
name.

42. Yale 3rdYear Heritage Spanish (S. Alexandrov, 2016)
1. Photosafari. Find and photograph something from each zone.
Caption in Spanish and share on Facebook.
Objective: exploreYale and its surroundings.

43. 2. Spanish seen and heard in New Haven vs. in student's
hometown. Students reported and/or photographed examples
and shared on FB. Captions in Spanish. Class discussion of
similarities and differences.
Objective: to raise awareness of the presence / lack of
Spanish in New Haven and in hometown.
3.Translating signs. Students discussed what information (street
signs, post office, public health and safety) they thought should
be available in Spanish. They attempted an initial translation with
Google translate and then produced their own version.
Objective: consider what messages need to be conveyed and
how to do so. Discussion of the "untranslatable”.
Yale 3rdYear Heritage Spanish (S. Alexandrov, 2016)

44. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

45. the
why
what
how
of language teaching and learning in & with the linguistic landscape

46. “Literacy is fluid and relational and, because of this spatial
property, people can [create] a complex co-presence of different
understandings that sit in relations of power” (Alex Kostogriz,
2004, p. 2).
Space is not empty;
it is a way of seeing
heterogeneous
perspectives,
multiple possibilities,
subject positions
together

47. Seeing Diane Larsen Freeman’s “Grammaring” model
spatially

48. Seeing Diane Larsen Freeman’s “Grammaring” model
spatially
“What’s up?”
N V Adj

49. Seeing Diane Larsen Freeman’s “Grammaring” model
spatially
“What’s up?”
Is there something
in the upward
direction?
How are you?
What’s
happening
with you
recently?

50. Seeing Diane Larsen Freeman’s “Grammaring” model
spatially
“What’s up?” = friendly greeting,
calls for short response

51. Seeing Diane Larsen Freeman’s “Grammaring” model
spatially
“What’s up?” = friendly greeting,
calls for short response
“What’s up?”
Is there something
in the upward
direction?
How are you?
What’s
happening
with you
recently?
“What’s up?”
N V Adj

52. Henri Lefebvre’s The production of space (1991)
pushing innovation in LL methodologies
Through juxtaposition of
conceived, perceived, and lived
spaces, “[add] a third dimension
to linguistic landscape studies”
(Trumper-Hecht, 2010, p. 236).

53. 1.2.
3.
Lefebvre 
Trumper-Hecht 
L2 teaching

55. Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• contextualizing
• historicizing
• mapping
• categorizing
…and discussing, debating,
representing, sharing these

57. Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• observation
• listening
• sensing
• recording
…and discussing, debating,
representing, sharing these

59. Think of tools and techniques to facilitate
drawing, imagining, interviewing, designing,
storytelling, creating, protesting, enacting, etc…
…and discussing, debating, representing, sharing these

60. Think of tools and techniques to facilitate
drawing, imagining, interviewing, designing,
storytelling, creating, protesting, enacting, etc…
…and discussing, debating, representing, sharing these
Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• observation
• listening
• sensing
• recording
…and discussing,
debating, representing,
sharing these
Think of tools and
techniques to facilitate…
• contextualizing
• historicizing
• mapping
• categorizing
…and discussing,
debating, representing,
sharing these

61. my projects (II)
2012-3 UC Berkeley Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Reading the Multilingual City: Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese in Bay Area Linguistic Landscapes

62. my projects (II)
Course schedule (15 weeks)
Weeks 1-3: Does visible multilingualism matter in Berkeley,
and why? (The politics of cultural representation in the LL)
Weeks 4-6:Where can you find “authentic” Chinese? (Reading
identities, histories, and voices in the Berkeley LL)
Weeks 7-9:The role of linguistic landscape in marking and
making “ethnic towns” – “Koreatown” in Oakland
Weeks 10-12: Japan everywhere and nowhere in America?
(On the mobility of cultural forms in the symbolic
marketplace)
Weeks 13-15: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean in the ecology of
Berkeley’s visible and invisible languages
2012-3 UC Berkeley Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Reading the Multilingual City: Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese in Bay Area Linguistic Landscapes

63. Basic course structure: 3-week activity cycles X 4
1st week
 Intro new topic, geographic scale/site, and focal language
 LL theoretical & methodological sampler
 Mini-language lesson from East Asian Langs & Cultures
faculty
2nd week
 Site visit with directed activity
 Blog response
3rd week
 Group reflections & analysis
 Student presentations & work toward final project
my projects (II)
2012-3 UC Berkeley Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Reading the Multilingual City: Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese in Bay Area Linguistic Landscapes

64. Student blogs: Students report
and reflect on their experiences
2012-3 UC Berkeley Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Reading the Multilingual City: Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese in Bay Area Linguistic Landscapes

65. 2012-3 UC Berkeley Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Reading the Multilingual City: Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese in Bay Area Linguistic Landscapes

66. 2012-3 UC Berkeley Freshman/Sophomore Seminar
Reading the Multilingual City: Chinese, Korean, and
Japanese in Bay Area Linguistic Landscapes

67. 1. Design lessons around the LL as it is
1. Neighborhood visits, field trips, observations,
interviews, etc.
2. Virtual tours, telecollaboration, archival
research, etc.
2. Make your own LL
1. Linguistic schoolscapes
2. Translation, performance, art projects, civic and
community service

68. 1. Design lessons around the LL as it is
1. Neighborhood visits, field trips, observations,
interviews, etc.
2. Virtual tours, telecollaboration, archival
research, etc.
2. Make your own LL
1. Linguistic schoolscapes
2. Translation, performance, art projects, civic and
community service

69. • is “…a living, moving activity, not a dead one to be pinned down
in a museum. It is this dynamism which can make it so
interesting and so stimulating, not only to linguists and
translators, but to teachers and students too.” (Cook, 2010, p.
xix)
• “A different translation produces a different original, by
emphasizing different faultlines in the original” (H. Miller, 1992,
p. 124)
• "A translated text should be the site where a different culture
emerges, where a reader gets a glimpse of a cultural other”
(Venuti, 1995, p. 306)
Translation in LanguageTeaching

70. Church Street, New Haven

71. Church Street, New Haven?

74. ‫חדש‬ ‫עדן‬ ‫גן‬?

75. What German word belongs
on the white sign?

76. What German word belongs
on the white sign?

81. Language class projects
 Middle/high school
 College/University
 Community organizations

82. Visualization
 Google StreetView
 JuxtaposeJS
(example)
 VisualEyes
Mapping
 Siftr (example)
 Cityscape
Annotation &
discussion
 Diigo
 NowComment
(example)
 Mediathread
 Annotorious
See the DiRT (Digital ResearchTools) Directory for many more!

83. Linguistic landscape can be a powerful resource
for spatializing L2 learning and teaching by
showing language as “discourses in place”:
situated, multiple, contingent, and ideologically
charged
In particular, the performative nature of discourse
in place begs us to consider how language
learners can not just read but creatively and
purposively act upon the linguistic landscape
…the Hebrew LL can be created in acts of reading,
writing, performance and translation

84. David Malinowski
Yale University Center for Language Study
david.malinowski@yale.edu
@tildensky