Peter Martin's passing

Tue Apr 28 14:07:46 UTC 2009

Dear colleagues,

We regret to inform all of you of the passing of a great sociolinguist and language education policy expert. Peter Martin passed away on April 23, 2009. He was Professor of Education and Linguistics at the University of East London. He taught at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in the UK and in Brunei, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. He previously worked at the University of Brunei Darussalam (1985-1998), and at the University of Leicester (1998-2005).

Peter Martin’s research interests and publications centered around the issue of multilingualism, and the relation between language, culture and identity. His early work, which emerged from a period of employment in Southeast Asia looked at linguistic and sociolinguistic issues in multilingual contexts, particularly on multilingualism within educational contexts. This included classroom interaction, especially bilingual classroom interaction, language policy, planning and practice, and new Englishes. His later work focuses on multilingual classroom ecologies and on complementary schools in England. He completed an ESRC-sponsored study on multilingualism in complementary schools in four communities’. This study (which involved the University of Birmingham, Birkbeck College London, Kings College University and the University of East London) (i) explored the social, cultural and linguistic significance of complementary schools both within their communities and in the wider society; (ii) developed the innovative ethnographic team methodologies used in a previous project on complementary schools in Leicester, and (iii) contributed to policy and practice in the inclusion of complementary schools in the wider educational agenda. Peter Martin also worked on the interface between language policy and practice in classrooms in post-colonial contexts. A further strand of his research was on the sociolinguistics of Austronesian language communities in Borneo, and the compilation of a dictionary of Kelabit (a minority, unwritten language, spoken by around 5000 people in the uplands of Borneo).

Sample publications:

Li Wei and Martin, P.W. (2009 Conflicts and Tensions in Classroom Code-Switching. A special issue of The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Vol. 12 No. 2

Martin, P.W. (2008) Educational discourses and literacy in Brunei Darussalam. International Journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education 11, 2, 206-225. 

Creese, A., Bhatt, A., Bhojani, N. and Martin, P.W. (2008) Fieldnotes in team ethnography: researching complementary schools. Qualitative Research. Vol 8 (2) 223 - 242.

Creese, A., Martin, P.W. and Hornberger, N. (eds) (2007) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Volume 9. Ecology of Language. Springer Reference. http://www.springer.com/west/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=4-40109-22-173482917-0

Creese, A. and Martin, P.W. (2007) Classroom Ecologies: A case study from a Gujarati complementary school in England. pp 263-275 in Creese, A., Martin, P.W. and Hornberger, N.

Martin, P.W., Bhatt, A., Bhojani, N. and Creese, A. (2007) Multilingual learning stories in two Gujarati complementary schools in Leicester. pp 103-118. In Conteh, J., Martin, P.W. and Robertson, L.H. (eds)

Conteh, J., Martin, P.W. and Robertson, L.H. (2007) Multilingual Learning Stories in Schools and Communities in Britain. Trentham Books. ISBN-13 978 1 85856 398 5

Conteh, J., Martin, P.W. and Robertson, L.H. (2007) Multilingual Learning Stories in Schools and Communities in Britain: Issues and debates. pp. 1-22. In Conteh et al

Martin, P.W. (2007) Multilingualism of new minorities (in migratory contexts). In P. Auer and Li Wei (eds) Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication. (pp. 493-508) Berlin: Mouton de Gryuter.

Creese, A. and P.W. Martin (2006) Linguistic diversity in the classroom: an ecological perspective. NALDIC Quarterly 3, 3: 27-32.

Arthur, J. and P.W. Martin (2006) Accomplishing lessons in postcolonial classrooms: comparative perspectives from Botswana and Brunei Darussalam. Comparative Education 42, 2: 177-202.

Creese, A. and Martin, P.W. (eds) (2006) Introduction. Special Issues of Language and Education on 'Interaction in Complementary School Contexts. Developing Identities of Choice'. Language and Education 20, 1: 1-4. 

Martin, P.W., Bhatt, A., Bhojani, N. and Creese, A. (2006) Managing bilingual interaction in a Gujarati complementary school in Leicester. Language and Education 20, 1: 5-22. 

Creese, A., Bhatt, A., Bhojani, N. and Martin, P.W. (2006) Multicultural, heritage and learner identities in complementary schools. Language and Education 20, 1: 23- 43

Lin, A.M.Y. and P.W. Martin (eds) (2005) Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education Policy and Practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Martin, P.W. (2005) ‘Safe’ language practices in two rural schools in Malaysia: tensions between policy and practice. In A.M.Y. Lin and P.W. Martin (eds). (pp. 73-97)

Lin, A.M.Y. and Martin, P.W.(2005) From a critical deconstruction paradigm to a critical construction paradigm: An introduction to Decolonisation, Globalisation and Language-in- Education Policy and Practice. In Lin, A.M.Y. and P.W. Martin (eds). (pp. 1-19)

Martin, P.W. (2005) Language shift and code mixing: a case study from northern Borneo. Australian Journal of Linguistics 25, 1: 109-125.

Martin, P.W. (2005) Talking knowledge into being in an upriver primary school in Brunei. In S. Canagarajah (ed) Local Knowledge, Globalization and Language Teaching. Lawrence Erlbaum. (pp. 225-246).

Professor Ofelia García
Ph.D. Program in Urban Education
The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York  10016-4309
ogarcia at gc.cuny.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu on behalf of Harold Schiffman
Sent: Tue 4/28/2009 9:00 AM
To: lp
Subject: Re: Peter Martin's passing

Dear Ofelia,

I forwarded this, but then when I tried to open it, I couldn't. So I
don't think others
could,  either.  I for one don't know who Peter Martin was...

Hal

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 9:03 PM, Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com> wrote:
>  Forwarded From: Garcia, Ofelia <OGarcia at gc.cuny.edu>
>
>
>
>
> Professor Ofelia García
> Ph.D. Program in Urban Education
> The Graduate Center of the City University of New York
> 365 Fifth Avenue
> New York, New York  10016-4309
> ogarcia at gc.cuny.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> **************************************
> N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
> its members
> and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
> or sponsor of
> the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
> disagree with a
> message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
> *******************************************
>

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************