This day seminar and parallel online seminar (Sept 20 - Oct 20) seeks to address what a sociolinguistics of writing looks like in the early 21C from the perspective of global centres and peripheries.

It will pick up on some of the themes raised in  the day seminar in 2010,
particularly in relation to the politics of resources, repertoires and style.

Key questions will be:

1. What do we mean currently by the 'sociolinguistics of writing'? (theory, epistemology, ideology, methodology..)
2. Where/how do issues of  power, access and diversity figure in sociolinguistic approaches to writing? (including globalisation, inequality of resources and ideologies of -semiotic- resources..)
3. To what extent does current work on diversity in writing practices echo and or challenge a sociolinguistics which has predominantly focused on spoken language?
4. What are the implications and consequences (policy, pedagogic, curriculum design) of current critical approaches to writing, e.g. emphasis on diversity in New Literacy Studies, Jan Blommaert's  discussion of 'grassroots' writing and 'peripheral normativity'.

Underlying themes to be explored are: participation and access, locality and globalization, the status of English, the affordances/limitations of resources - including digital technologies. The relevance of the discussion to teachers and language professionals will be discussed.