NON-WESTERN EDUCATIONAL TRADITIONS: INDIGENOUS APPROACHES TO
EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT AND PRACTICE (3rd ed.). Timothy Reagan.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2005. Pp. xiii + 308. $36.00 paper.
Within the field of applied linguistics, globalization expresses
itself most clearly in two phenomena: (a) the increase of cultural and
linguistic diversity in urban centers around the world and (b) the rapid
spread of English as a global language fueled by the perception of many
policy-makers, educators, and parents that English proficiency is a
prerequisite for social and economic advancement. Both of these phenomena
have increased the level of cross-cultural contact within the educational
system. Teachers in Western contexts are now teaching students who come
from many different cultural and educational traditions. Similarly, as
countries around the world compete to promote English proficiency,
teachers and students in these countries are increasingly coming into
contact with the cultural traditions and educational assumptions embodied
in English language curricula and personified in teachers who come from
English-speaking countries.