Autoethnographies of Plurilingualism

Book excerpt: This collection spotlights the authentic voices of plurilingual learners, bringing together autoethnographies of over twenty graduate students to deepen current understandings of lived experiences of plurilingualism. The volume begins with outlining foundational work on plurilingualism in language education up to this point, with the body of work on plurilingual subjectivities historically focusing on researchers’ and practitioners’ gazes, rather than students. The book moves into short autoethnographies of graduate students at the University of Toronto enrolled in a graduate education course over three years. Employing autoethnography as the primary methodology allows the space for privileging authentic voices of plurilingual learners in their own words, learners whose individual lived experiences are uniquely contextualized within the lens of plurilingual theory. The volume and diversity of perspectives showcased offer a unique window into the diversity and commonalities among plurilingual learners, offering opportunities for reflection on directions for future research. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in applied linguistics, language teaching and learning, and language education.