Language is a means both to express and to construct identities. In this three-part collection, the editor, David Evans, and other contributors explore the interrelationships between language and identity with a particular focus on how language shapes the social discourse and pedagogy of minority ethno-linguistic communities.

Part 1 presents the theoretical underpinnings. In chapter 1, David Evans writes that many identities are ‘politically, culturally and socially marginalized’ by a dominant language or socioeconomic context (p. 4). As an introduction, chapter 1 also defines the book's themes and sketches its structure. In chapter 2, Evans surveys a wide range of works, including Noam Chomsky, M. A. K. Halliday, René Descartes, Ferdinand de Saussure, and Norman Fairclough, in discussing language and identity. In chapter 3, Philippe Chassy discusses the neuropsychological function of language and explains how the social realities embodied in language are mediated by lexis, grammar, and culture.

Part 2 presents case studies of the marginalization of linguistic identities that reveal how minority communities react to the hegemony of dominant languages and a global lingua franca by becoming bilingual or multilingual. In chapter 4, Ruth Kircher describes the shift from ethnic to civic national identity among immigrants coming from France to Quebec (the only Canadian province to have French as its sole official language) as they evaluate English more positively than French in the contexts of economic globalization. In chapter 5, Mamtimyn Sunupdula, Anwi Feng, & Bob Adamson investigate the struggle of the Uyghur ethnic minority in northwest China to retain its linguistic, cultural, and political identity. Interestingly, a parallel interest in learning English is serving to lessen the Uyghur's resistance to Mandarin-language education. In chapter 6, Marjie van Hattum writes about how the old and new identities of Irish immigrants to Australia have been able to co-exist over time, and in chapter 7, Alex Guilherme describes how educational programs designed to revive the use of native tribal languages are enabling the Amazonian Indians of Brazil to return to their former identities.

Part 3 addresses the subject of critical pedagogy as a way to create new identities. In chapter 8, Wendy Bignold considers students' leisure activities as discourse in a broad sense, observing how some youth in Britain seek out ‘unplanned’ unicycling to express their individuality in a physical education culture dominated by soccer and rugby. In chapter 9, Bernie Hughes notes how students use drama classes as a ‘third place’ in modern foreign language education, within which they can construct hybrid identities (p. 166). In chapter 10, Evans clarifies that critical pedagogy implies a moral imperative to appreciate the otherness of foreign languages and cultures. In chapter 11, Richard Kiely examines how teachers of English as a foreign language are evolving from a discourse model based on their mastery of subject matter toward a cultural performance model in which they work in partnership with students to co-construct knowledge and skills.

In summary, this book is a valuable resource for students and researchers in the areas of sociolinguistics, language acquisition, and communication.