Professor David Block

  • Qualifications and position:
    • PhD, MA, RSA Cert, BA
    • Professor of Languages in Education
    • Departmental Research Tutor
  • Faculty:
    • Faculty of Culture and Pedagogy
  • Department:
    • Department of Learning, Curriculum and Communication
  • Summary:
    • My interests include: globalisation and its social, sociolinguistic and educational consequences; neoliberalism and applied linguistics; the transnational cultural and language practices of migrants in London and beyond; the interrelationship between language learning, language use and identity; and the interrelationships between multimodal resources and identity.
  • Teaching:
    • MA BLUES & MA TESOL:
      Sociolinguistics and Language in Society
      Multilingual & Multicultural London
      Culture, Language & Identity
      Issues & Options in Language Teacher Development
      Language Learning & Teaching
  • Research Projects:
    • Two proposals in preparation.
  • Postgraduate Research:
    • Taghreed Al-Saraj (PhD)
      Affective factors related to achievement among female EFL students in Saudi Arabia
      • Patricia Andrew (PhD)
      The social construction of age in adult Mexican English language learners: An exploratory study
      • Chris Guest (MPhil/PhD)
      Linguistic minorities constructing identities. An ethnographic study of Anglophone children in rural France
      • Yuko Ikuta (MPhil/PhD)
      Core identity and Social Function of English as a Lingua Franca
      • Victoria Kalogerou (MPhil/PhD)
      European Language Policies: Their influence on Higher Education in Cyprus
      • Margaret Mentzer (MPhil/PhD)
      Accent and identity among migrants in London
      • Nick Melliss (MPhil/PhD)
      How do people who know a little English, use English in English speaking workplaces?
      • Masuko Miyahara (MPhil/PhD)
      The Social Construction of Identity at Higher Education in Japan: A Framework for Identity Construction in an EFL Context
      • Andy Otaqui (MPhil/PhD)
      IInvestigating the English accents acquired by Japanese migrants to London.
      • Pan Lin (PhD)
      Ideologies of English in China
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  • Professional Activities:
    • Membership in professional organisations: TESOL (1987-present); BAAL (AILA, AAAL) (1995-present); Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (2007-present)

      Journal editorial board membership: Language Teaching Research (2000-present); Applied Linguistics (2005-present); International Multilingual Research Journal (2007-present); Language Learning Journal (2007-present); Journal of Identity, Language and Education (2007-present); Compass: Language and Linguistics (2009-present)

      Associate Editor, Bloomsbury Review of Applied Linguistics and Communication.
  • Conferences/presentations:
    • • Globalization and English language teaching. Invited talk given at Osaka Kyoiku University (6/10/09); Hiroshima University (7/10/09); Waseda University, Tokyo (9/10/09); and Kyoto University (12/10/09)
      • Economizing globalization and resuscitating social class in times of crisis. (3/9/09) Paper given as part of the panel: Language and Neoliberalism. BAAL 42nd annual conference, Newcastle.
      • About Multilingual Identities in English-medium Universities. (10/7/09) Discussant piece for the panel: Multilingual Identities in English-medium Universities. International Symposium of Bilingualism 7, Utrecht, Netherlands.
      • How to research bilingualism: questions about the social construction of 'bilingualism' and the role of bilingualism research in understanding the social world. (10/7/09) Paper given as part of panel: Bilingualism' in the new linguistic economy, International Symposium of Bilingualism 7,Utrecht, Netherlands.
      • Communicative Competence reoriented: Multimodality and embodiment. (11/6/09) Plenary address, Nordic Second Language conference, Helsingør, Denmark.
      • Engaging with human sociality. (4/6/09) Keynote address, Bloomsbury Roundtable I, Birkbeck College, London UK.
      • Citizenship outside educational settings in Britain (Citizenship education as on-the ground experience) (16/5/09) Keynote address, Educazione Interculturale alla Cittadinanza conference, Verona, Italy.
      • On the metaphor of loss, identity and language maintenance. (31/3/09) Invited talk, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
  • Personal Country Knowledge:
    • Spain (language issues, sociology, history)
      UK (language issues, sociology, history)
      EU in general (language issues, sociology, history)
      US & Canada (language issues, sociology, history)
      Japan (language issues)
      South Korea (language issues)
      China (language issues)
  • Languages Spoken:
    • English (advanced)
      Catalan (advanced)
      Spanish (advanced)
      French (basic/intermediate)
  • Languages Written:
    • English (advanced)
      Catalan (advanced)
      Spanish (advanced)
 

Contact details

Contact details

  • Email:

  • Address:
  • Department of Learning, Curriculum and Communication
    Institute of Education
    University of London
    20 Bedford Way
    London WC1H 0AL

  • Office Location:
  • Room 623a
    20 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AL

Publications

  • Block, D. (2009) 'Researching language and identity' In B. Paltridge & A. Phakiti (eds), Continuum Companion to Second Language Research Methods. London: Continuum.
  • Block, D. (2006) 'Identity in applied linguistics: where are we?' In T. Omoniyi and G. White (eds), The Sociolinguistics of Identity. London: Continuum.
  • Block, D. (2008) 'Spanish-speaking Latinos in London: Community and language practices', Journal of Language, Identity and Education 7 (1), 5-21.
  • Block, D. (2008) 'On the appropriateness of the Metaphor of LOSS' Language as Commodity: Global Structures, Local Marketplaces, In R. Rubdy and P. Tan (eds). London: Continuum.
  • Block, D. (2007) 'The rise of identity in SLA research, post Firth and Wagner (1997)', Modern Language Journal 91 (5), 861-874.
  • Block, D. (2007) Second Language Identities. London: Continuum.
  • Block, D. (2007) 'Bilingualism: Four assumptions and four responses', Innovation in Language Teaching 1 (1), 66-82.
  • Block, D. (2006) Multilingual Identities in a Global City: London Stories. London: Palgrave.
  • Block, D. (2005) 'Convergence and Resistance in the Construction of Personal and Professional Identities: Four French Modern Language Teachers in London' In S.A. Canagarajah (ed.), Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice Mahwah. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Block, D. (2003) The Social Turn in Second Language Acquisition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.