Alice Chik is Senior Lecturer in Educational Studies and co-ordinator of the Macquarie University Multilingualism Research Group. Her research examines languages learning in digital environments. She is especially interested in exploring how language learners construct and direct their autonomous learning in informal contexts. Phil Benson is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University. His main research interests in multilingualism are in language learning environments, language experiences of migrants and international students, and linguistic landscapes. Robyn Moloney is Senior Lecturer in Educational Studies at Macquarie University. Her teaching and research interests include language teacher education and pedagogy, the language issues within multiculturalism, teachers’ narratives, intercultural competences in teacher education and Chinese language education.
'This volume dedicated to Sydney as a multilingual city is long overdue and very welcome. It brings together local experts and a range of thoughtfully organized contributions that cover wide but always relevant territory. This highly accessible book is a valuable contribution to our understanding not only of language diversity in Sydney but also of the diversity of multilingualism itself.' - Professor John Hajek, Research Unit for Multilingualism and Cross-cultural Communication (RUMACCC), University of Melbourne, Australia 'Today there is growing attention to the role of global cities in chains and networks of multilingual communication. Relative to their hinterlands urban conglomerations have always been characterized by dense professional and commercial differentiation but today the ethnic and linguistic complexity of great cities has expanded dramatically under the conditions of contemporary globalization. Global cities are much more than their links to immediate hinterland and surrounding nation; instead they are veritable containers of the social futures of humanity. Increasingly cities are tied together beyond their geography, by instantaneous communication technologies, into bonds of emotion, family diasporas, commercial networks and financial chains. Sydney is one such great metropolis. It is present everywhere through its people's dense links of talk and writing all across the globe. This excellent volume puts Sydney on the map of the networked, multilingual cosmopolitan space, a unique container of the languages, cultures and identities of humanity.' - Joseph Lo Bianco, Professor of Language and Literacy Education, University of Melbourne 'Chik, Benson and Moloney have put together a fascinating account of the linguistic diversity in the cosmopolitan centre of Sydney. Topics covered in the volume include linguistic landscape, popular music and media, language learning, language ideologies, and models of bilingual practices in speech and language pathology. The theoretical and methodological implications of the studies in this volume are far reaching and go well beyond the shores of Australia.' - Li Wei, Chair of Applied Linguistics, University College London