Abstract:
In this presentation, I discuss how I experienced tensions between local
and mainstream models of communication, linguistics, and teaching when
I started teaching in the University of Jaffna in the mid 1980s. I introduce
South Asian scholars who have theorized the differences and helped me
resolve my tensions. I illustrate how my heritage linguistics now influences
my language teaching, motivating a literacy and multilingual education
that affirms students’ heritage languages and facilitates critical literacies and
language proficiencies.
