Research Seminar on the Superdiverse Translingualism and the Structuralist Dynamics of English as a Global Language

Professor John O’Regan presented a compelling argument about English as a Global Language in a Graduate School seminar on November 26, 2024. The seminar showcased the findings from Professor O’Regan's book published in 2021. The findings focus on the evolution of perspectives over the last 30 years regarding superdiversity, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), translanguaging, world Englishes, and translingualism.

The professor explained that the accumulation of numerous documentary pieces of evidence demonstrates how English users worldwide, both within and outside traditional English language centres, consistently innovate and deviate from so-called “native-speaker norms.” This illustrated that any claim to exclusive ownership of English by self-styled native speakers departs from the empirical lingua-cultural reality of global English language usage. During this seminar, Prof O’Regan contextualized these discussions within a critical realist framework of understanding English in the world to explore why existing linguistic diversity is consistently undervalued.

This seminar was particularly beneficial for current and prospective graduate students with research interests in language, especially in superdiverse translingualism and the structuralist dynamics of English.

John O’Regan is Professor of Critical Applied Linguistics at the Institute of Education, Faculty of Education and Society, University College London.