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LANGUAGE DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM . John Edwards. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2010. Pp. 338.

In the social context of the classroom, children who speak nonstandard dialects or foreign languages face issues rooted in prejudice and stereotypes that are played out in teachers’ perceptions and attitudes. This book frames the persistence of negative perceptions of so-called disadvantaged children among educators and draws a picture of how more than four decades of research in social psychology and sociolinguistics have demonstrated that linguistic difference is not an indication of cognitive defi ciency. Edwards notes that the learning situation in classrooms for disadvantaged children demonstrates that either this extensive body of research has not informed teacher training programs or that its message and fi ndings are not presented so that new teachers have a theoretical basis for resisting the prevailing culture of schools and their negative views of linguistically different students. This book presents an old message in a new way, with the expectation that teachers will embrace it. To this end, the volume provides a comprehensive background on research on sociolinguistic and cultural variation in the classroom and the linguistic behavior of speakers of nonstandard dialects and foreign languages. Edward’s voice is distinct and his conviction is clear throughout the book. This volume is appropriate for in-service or preservice teachers; it is particularly relevant for training programs in language arts, second or foreign language teaching, and bilingual or multicultural education.