Shifts in environmental literacy in multilingual contexts : the Lebanese case

Abstract

This paper draws attention to the print environment in streets and shops in multilingual contexts. It applies a cultural framework to examine multilingual signs in Lebanon to show that they reflect a number of global and local changes in environmental literacy. It argues that these are important to educators because they are part of wider notions of literacy from which students may learn, even peripherally. The paper gives examples of slips and slides between Arabic, French and English to show that potentially environmental literacy can be a double-edged visible model of languages in relatively permanent public forms; it suggests the validity of multilingualism but presents erroneous or inappropriate examples -to learners. However. teachers can encourage learners to observe such language processes in scripts and signs in the local street environment as part of raising critical language awareness.