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Professor David Block

Honorary Research Fellow in Applied Linguistics
BA (Houston, 1978), MA (Houston, 1985), PhD (Lancaster, 1995)

Biography

Professor David Block obtained his PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Lancaster in 1995. He is currently Professor of Languages in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, a post he will leave in September 2012 when he becomes ICREA (Catalan Institute of Research and Advanced Studies) Research Professor in Applied Linguistics at the Universidat de Lleida. Over the past 20+ years, he has published articles and chapters on a variety of applied linguistics topics, including SLA, multilingualism and identity. He co-edited with Deborah Cameron Globalization and Language Teaching (Routledge, 2002), co-authored with John Gray and Marnie Holborow Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics. (Routledge, 2012) and is the author of  Social Turn in Second Language Acquisition (Edinburgh University Press, 2003); Multilingual Identities in a Global City: London Stories (Palgrave, 2006); Second Language Identities (Continuum, 2007) and Social Class and Applied Linguistics (Routledge, 2013). His main interests are the impact of globalization on language practices of all kinds, migration, and the interface between identity and language learning and use. At present, he is especially interested in a more economics-based approach to globalization and a corresponding approach to identity that primes social class and socio-economic stratification.

Publications (selected recent)

  • Block, D. , J. Gray & M. Holborow (2012) Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics. London: Routledge.
  • Block, D. (2012) ‘Class and SLA: Making connections’.  Language Teaching Research, 16 (2): TBD.
  • Block, D. (2012) ‘Commentary: Transnational South Korea as a site for a sociolinguistics and the distinction of global elites’. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 16 (2): TBD.
  • Block, D. (2012) ‘Unpicking agency in sociolinguistic research with migrants’. In M. Martin-Jones and S. Gardner (eds) Multilingualism, Discourse and Ethnography. London: Routledge, pp. 47-60.
  • Block, D. (2011) ‘Citizenship, education and global spaces’, Language and Intercultural Communication, 11 (2): 162-170.
  • Block, D. (2010) ‘Engaging with human sociality: Thoughts on communication and embodiment’. Applied Linguistics Review 1 (1): 45-56.
  • Block, D. (2010) ‘Globalisation and language teaching’. In N. Coupland (ed.) Handbook of Language and Globalisation. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 287-304.
  • Block, D. (2010) ‘Speaking Romance-esque’. In D. Nunan and J. Choi (eds) Language and Culture: Reflective Narratives and the Emergence of Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 23-29.
  • Block, D. (2010) ‘Researching language and identity’. In B. Paltridge & A. Phakiti (eds) Continuum Companion to Second Language Research Methods. London: Continuum, pp 337-349.
  • Block, D. (2009) ‘Identity in applied linguistics: The need for conceptual exploration’. In Li Wei & V. Cook (eds.) Contemporary Applied Linguistics. Volume 1. London: Continuum, pp. 215-232.