This document discusses using linguistic landscapes and reading signs in cities as a teaching method. It defines linguistic landscapes as the language used in public signs and describes cities as ideal environments to study how languages are presented in public spaces. The document proposes activities for language students to collect signage data, analyze patterns, and discuss how signs construct space and identity. It suggests students can develop research questions and test hypotheses about language use. Finally, it describes a proposed online platform for students to upload and organize photos of signs from different locations and languages.

1. Stéphane Charitos, Columbia University
Steve Welsh, Columbia University
GLoCALL Conference, 2015 - Pai Chai University, Daejeon, Korea
Seeing and Reading the City
Linguistic Landscape and the Language Classroom

2. Reading the City

3. Miss

4. A Few Examples

5. What are Linguistic Landscapes?
“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, R., & Bourhis, R. Y. (1997). Linguistic Landscape and Ethnolinguistic
Vitality. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16(1), 23–49.

6. What is LL?
• A methodology?
• A framework?
• A field?
• A phenomenon calling
for a theory?

7. • Who is speaking to whom in the
language all around us, and
what exactly are they saying?
• Who has the right to write in
public? Where, when, and how?
• Who is included, and who is
excluded, from representation in
public space?
• What can be done about it?
Framing Questions

8. • Growing importance of urban environments.
• Cities are a showcase for the visual display of symbols and images.
• Cities are landscapes covered in signs.
• Cities are an ideal environments to study how space is shaped into
place.
• Cities are places to examine the relative power and status of languages.
Why The City?

9. • Connects students with world outside the classroom
• Exposes students to authentic, contextualized linguistic input
• Casts students as active investigators
• Helps students think about the social role of language and
• Analyze the sociolinguistic ecology of a particular environment
Why Use Linguistic Landscapes?
The Linguistic Landscape…

10. Conceptual Model
Speculate
Observe
Reflect

11. • I expect public signs in Korean to be
addressing themselves primarily to
Koreans.
• When I see signage in English, it will likely
be targeting tourists and foreigners.
• And these signs will primarily be regarding
directions and commercial concerns.
Testing a Hypothesis

12. • Some signs in English (or including English elements)
are clearly addressing native Koreans.
• In these cases, perhaps English adds prestige or
some other symbolic value (e.g. “authority”).
Challenges to my Hypothesis

13. From Space to Place
Space
Language
Identity

14. Space
FormalLived
Informal

15. Language
Target
LocalShared

16. Identity
Them
MeUs

17. Elementary
Intermediate
Advanced
What can we DO with LL?
What kind of practical activities can we design
for our language students across levels?

18. What can we DO with LL?
Elementary
Sample Objectives
• Expand vocabulary and conjugation proficiency
• Develop multimodal literacy
• Read for context (linguistic, cultural, social)
Sample Activity
• Find new vocabulary in public space and demonstrate
how the context provides the meaning

19. What can we DO with LL?
Sample Objectives
• Identify complex grammatical mis/usage
• Expand range of familiar tenses
Sample Activity
• Document grammatical and lexical errors in public
space, and offer alternative translations
Intermediate

20. What can we DO with LL?
Sample Objectives
• Read for metonymy, metaphor, multivalence
• Understand culturally specific idioms/slang
• Use ethnographic methods to engage with issues of code
choice and authorship in the LL
Sample Activity
• Document slang in public space, and describe what it’s
doing. Who’s speaking to whom, and why in this register
Advanced

21. What can we DO with LL?
Hypothesize
Collect
Organize
Analyze
Discuss

22. What can we DO with LL?
Hypothesize
Collect
Organize
Analyze
Discuss
Students should develop
a research question and
some expected findings

23. What can we DO with LL?
Hypothesize
Collect
Organize
Analyze
Discuss
Design opportunities for
students to leave the
classroom and capture
authentic language in
public space

24. What can we DO with LL?
Hypothesize
Collect
Organize
Analyze
Discuss
By curating and
organizing a collection,
we can establish
narrative patterns with
our samples

25. What can we DO with LL?
Hypothesize
Collect
Organize
Analyze
Discuss
Spend time with your
samples and reflect on
how they contest or
support your expected
results

26. What can we DO with LL?
Hypothesize
Collect
Organize
Analyze
Discuss
Present your findings
and engage in dialogue/
argument with fellow
students - does this
change your stance?

27. • User-submitted images
• Organized by
• Location
• Language(s)
• Course
• Individualized Walking Maps
• Embeddable in secondary
environments
(wikis, blogs, CMS, etc)
Cityscape
www.cityscape.lrc.columbia.edu

29. Conclusion
• LL is a point of view and a method, not a
toolset.
• Take your students out of the classroom and
into the living language community
• Read the city!

30. Thank You! 감사합니다!
Steve Welsh
Sr. Program Manager, Distance Learning
steve.welsh@columbia.edu
Stéphane Charitos
Director, Language Resource Center
stephane.charitos@columbia.edu
www.cityscape.lrc.columbia.edu
Thanks to:
David Malinowski, Yale Center for Language Study
Eunji Kim, Teachers College Columbia University