SUPERDIVERSITY, SUPERCOMPLEXITY

AND TEFLDAVID R. COLE

WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY

WHAT IS SUPERDIVERSITY?• Superdiversity is a term intended to underline a level and kind of complexity surpassing anything previously

experienced in a particular society. Over the past twenty years globally more people have moved from more places to more places; wholly new and increasingly complex social formations have ensued, marked by dynamic interplays of variables, including: country of origin (comprising a variety of possible subset traits such as ethnicity, language[s], religious tradition, regional and local identities, cultural values and practices), migration channel (often related to highly gendered flows, specific social networks and particular labour market niches), and legal status (including myriad categories determining a hierarchy of entitlements and restrictions). These variables co-condition integration outcomes along with factors surrounding migrants’ human capital (particularly educational background), access to employment (which may or may not be in immigrants’ hands), locality (related especially to material conditions, but also to other immigrant and ethnic minority presence), and the usually chequered responses by local authorities, services providers and local residents (which often tend to function by way of assumptions based on previous experiences with migrants and ethnic minorities).

• (Vertovec, 2007, p. 1049)

WHAT IS SUPERCOMPLEXITY?

• … one is faced with a surfeit of data, knowledge or theoretical frames within one’s immediate situation … Simply keeping abreast of the field may seem to be nigh on impossible … But, in addition to these cognitive and operational challenges, [one] is also increasingly faced with challenges of his or her own self-understanding … professional life is increasingly becoming a matter not just of handling overwhelming data and theories within a given frame of reference (a situation of complexity) but also a matter of handling multiple frames of understanding, of action and of self-identity. The fundamental frameworks by which we might understand the world are multiplying and are often in conflict. Of the multiplication of frameworks there is no end.

• (Barnett, 2000, p. 6)

HOW ARE SUPERDIVERSITY AND SUPERCOMPLEXITY RELATED TO TEFL?

• What is diversity?

• What is multiculturalism?

• How are diversity and multiculturalism related to TEFL?

• How can we use notions of diversity as a resource for TEFL?

• Who are TEFL students?

• How/by what are TEFL students motivated?

• How can we understand the present day situation theoretically?

WHAT IS GLOBALISATION?

• Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world ….

• Q: Is globalisation good or bad?

• How do you fit into/with globalisation?

• How does TEFL fit into globalisation?

• Do you have choices with respect to globalisation?

WHAT ARE SUPER DIMENSIONS IN GLOBALISATION AND EDUCATION?

1) Global forces are those pressures on context that emerge from overarching, often intersecting structures such as capitalism, modernity, colonialism and imperialism. 2) Global connections refer to trans-local and trans-national links between people or groups such as migrants, tourists and social movements and relates to the superdiverse underpinning of the super dimensions. 3) Global imagination refers to the mobilisation and deployment of meanings about globalisation processes and the power and politics of such meaning making, and this aspect of research can be understood in terms of supercomplexity (Burawoy et al., 2000).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I: Super Dimensions in Globalisation and Literacy

• Students as Linguistic Ethnographers: Super-diversity in the Classroom Context.

Jacqueline D’Warte

• Growing up Bilingual and Negotiating Identity in Globalised and Multicultural Australia

Christine Jones Diaz

• Researching Literacy Development in the Globalised North: Studying Tri-lingual Children’s English Writing in Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish Sapmi

Eva Lindgren, Kirk P H Sullivan, Hanna Outakoski, and Asbjørg Westum

EXAMPLE OF SUPER DIMENSIONS

What examples of globalised English can you think of?How do you negotiate global English?What are the TEFL skills necessary for global English? How do you teach global English?

MIGRATION AND TEFL

• Why do you want to learn English?

• Where do you want to go with your English?

• What can English do for you in the world: e.g. employment prospects?

• Is there a global English?

• Is there a Taiwanese-English?

• What are the basics of English that one needs to know in order to migrate?

• How can you stabilise English-learning in a global situation?

WHAT IS TAIWAN’S PLACE IN THE SUPER DIMENSIONS?

Identity?Nationalism?Cosmopolitanism?Colonisation?Trade/industry/productivityCulture?Connection to TEFL …

WHAT IS AUSTRALIA’S PLACE IN THE SUPER DIMENSIONS?

What is your perspective?Is it easier to analyse than Taiwan or your home country?Is it possible to compare countries?Connection to TEFL?

ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL MEDIA

• How is Taiwan represented in the global media?

• How does Taiwanese media represent the world?

• How is migration regarded/presented as a viable option for Taiwanese?

• How are values/perspective presented as ‘fact’ or as part of the reporting on world affairs?

• How do you build a critical approach as a part of TEFL?

• Take 3 examples of global stories and analyse for perspective/bias/values/language

• What is geopolitics?

WHAT IS THE FUTURE?

Speculate on the future of globalisationIs the population of the world going to keep on growing?What are the environmental effects of globalisation?How will ‘the world’ respond to increased globalisation?What will Taiwan’s place in the world be in the future

GLOBAL ENGLISH AND ADVERTISING

Is language neutral?How are we affected by the language of adverting?Does all language use incorporate the language of global capitalism?How can we use this language in TEFL?Is everything marketed?What is a marketing cliché?Analyse the language of 3 adverts …

GLOBALISATION AS CBITeach the ‘facts’ of globalisation Relate these facts to the students personal situation Emphasize the language features of globalisationStructure language interventions that show how globalisation worksShow how globalisation affects our everyday lives, i.e. we live in super dimensions

FURTHER READING

• Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

• Barnett, R. (2000). Realising the University in an Age of Supercomplexity (1st ed.). Ballmoor, Bucks: The Society for Research into Higher Education and OUP

• Burawoy, G., Blum, J.A., George, S., Zsuzsa, G., & Thayer, M. (2000). Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections and Imaginations in a Postmodern World. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press

• Cole, D.R., & Woodrow, C. (2016). Super Dimensions in Globalisation and Education. Singapore: Springer

• Masny, D., & Cole, D.R. (2014). Education and the Politics of Becoming. London: Routledge .

• Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30:6, 1024-1054, DOI: 10.1080/01419870701599465