Language, Identity, and Choice: Raising Bilingual Children in a Global Society

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Language, Identity and Choice: Raising Bilingual Children in a Global Society provides scholarly insight into how foreign language acquisition influences an individuals understanding of identity within the African American family. Rooted in sociolinguistic, communication, and bilingual theoretical perspectives, Kami J. Anderson describes how foreign language acquisition, development, and use shape how Africans and African Americans describe and proscribe their identity and, in turn, the identity of the family. Language, Identiy, and Choice looks specifically at how family language choices, in particular choosing to be bilingual, affect family communication and perception of identity from people outside of the family. Anderson combines both extensive research and her personal experience of being bilingual to challenge the existing notions of what it means to be Black when personal experiences with race and ethnicity extend beyond the boundaries of the native country or culture.

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Language, Identity, and Choice: Raising Bilingual Children in a Global Society offers, through vibrant personal reflections and scholarly research, a valuable treatise on the promotion of second language and trans-cultural studies among African Americans. Those wishing to engender in their children and in their communities the positive benefits of bilingualism and intercultural literacy will find this text informative and entertaining. -- James J. Davis, Howard University

Author Bio

Kami Anderson is associate professor in the Department of Digital Writing and Media Arts and the assistant director of the Marietta campus for the Undergraduate Honors Program for the Honors College at Kennesaw State University.