Professional Bio

Suresh Canagarajah teaches courses on Global Englishes, Language Socialization, Sociolinguistic Approaches, and Academic Writing in the Department of Applied Linguistics; and courses on Rhetoric and Composition, Decolonial Theories, and Disability Rhetorics in the Department of English. Since his first book Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching (OUP, 1999), he has critiqued the imposition of Euro-centric approaches to linguistics and pedagogy worldwide, and promoted the relevance of non-western orientations for a balanced representation in language teaching and analysis. His 2013 book, Translingual Practice (Routledge) presents research from classroom and social interactions to articulate a vision of language repertoires as creative and resistant resources against monolingual norms and monolithic ideologies. This publication won the best book award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics, British Association for Applied Linguistics, and the Modern Language Association of America. He has also addressed the place of mobility in multilingualism, bringing interdisciplinary scholars together in his edited book The Routledge Handbook of Language and Migration (2017). In his recent research, he has explored how disability studies and the practices of disabled people can shed light on the role of nonlinguistic resources in communication, as presented in Language Incompetence: Learning to Communicate through Cancer, Disability, and Anomalous Embodiment (Routledge, 2022). Suresh won the Distinguished Scholarship and Service Award from the American Association of Applied Linguistics in 2017, and was named one of the “top 50 scholars who have shaped the field of TESOL” in the 50^th anniversary of TESOL International Association in 2016.