Jennifer Miller's book is a case study that focuses on students' spoken English, how students are “heard” or become “audible” in the mainstream context, and the relationship between this audibility and identity formation. The twist, and one of the major contributions of this work, is Miller's careful theoretical positioning. She is working in the space where theories of identity formation and SLA overlap to paint a more complex and interesting picture of language acquisition than any of the theoretical frameworks could accomplish alone.

As Miller carves out that theoretical space, however, she sometimes falls back on the assumptions that many of us have as English as a second language (ESL) teachers. One such assumption is the following: It is the responsibility of English learners to find ways to break into the community of native English speakers so that they can improve their English and become part of the dominant discourse. The native speakers, as Miller so vividly explains, have little desire to do the work necessary to “hear” nonnative speakers. Additionally, she suggests that the English learners may simply give up trying to be heard. What she overlooks, or at least does not emphasize, is the possibility that English learners might not want access to dominant discourses. One interpretation is that learners who remain isolated from the dominant culture choose isolation as a means of resistance to a culture that they see as (and that actually is) unwelcoming.

Related to this, although Miller makes the case clearly that identity is not static but shifting and constantly negotiated in different contexts, part of this shifting sometimes involves loss. For example, if a Taiwanese student in an Australian high school makes the move to join a group of Aussies at a lunch table, not only is she risking rejection by the Aussies but also by the Taiwanese community. Could she be seen as a traitor? Imagine that this student is successful and she starts to act more “Australian.” Her English might improve, but how do her parents react to her new identity? Much is at stake if the student successfully accesses the dominant discourse. Although Miller clearly does not advocate in favor of assimilation, perhaps students cannot envision access to the mainstream discourse by any other means. What do Miller's subjects say about this? What do they see themselves as “winning” and “losing” in the identity transaction?

A major contribution of this volume is a clear explanation of the spiraling relationship between language acquisition and access to dominant discourse. Miller shows that the better you speak, the more audible you are to the mainstream, the more access you have to opportunities to speak, the better you speak, and so on and so forth, on a positive spiral toward audibility and dominant-discourse membership. Miller also shows how the opposite is true: The worse you speak, the less the mainstream bothers to listen to you, the less access you have to opportunities to speak, the less you improve, and so on, in a depressing downward spiral.

Rather than presenting neat conclusions in the form of implications or suggestions for schools, Miller implicates schools for their role in the creation and maintenance of the “othering” of nonnative speakers. And although her book is very much an exploration of language prejudice and its effects on language acquisition, she relates this to larger social problems, including racism (it is not an accident that her subject with the most “audibility” is European). Miller's contribution to the field of SLA is a powerful call to action for SLA researchers. She calls for

I would add to her conclusion that to not do this—to not talk about issues of identity and power in SLA—is to perpetuate the idea that language acquisition is devoid of social context. When we accept this notion, we are well positioned to blame the victim for not acquiring the target language, for failing standardized tests, for dropping out of or struggling through school in a system that sets them up for failure. Our job is to do research that breaks through these commonly held assumptions, as this book does.