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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on August 30, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2006 36(3):401-418; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch271
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Broadening the Conceptual Lens on Language in Social Work: Difference, Diversity and English as a Global Language

Gai Harrison

Dr Gai Harrison is a senior lecturer in social work at the University of Plymouth. Prior to moving to the UK, she taught at the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

Correspondence to Dr Gai Harrison, School of Social Work and Primary Care, University of Plymouth, Portland Square, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK. E-mail: gharrison{at}plymouth.ac.uk

Language is infused in multiple dimensions of human behaviour, and social work is essentially a language-centred activity. Yet, despite the pivotal position of language to many social work activities, its significance has rarely been explored in terms of difference. Moreover, the linguistic diversity that characterizes the local and global contexts in which many practitioners operate has been given minimal attention in the social work literature. In this paper, I contend that how language is conceptualized in social work both shapes and constrains the way that practitioners perceive issues relating to linguistic diversity. The paper maps out the limitations of some of the existing conceptual lens used for viewing language in relation to the multilingual milieu in which social work takes place. It also draws attention to the global pre-eminence of English, the significance of bilingualism and the limitations of a monolingual frame of reference for social work. A case is made for augmenting the existing knowledge base on language with a multidisciplinary approach to language that incorporates bilingual perspectives. Rather than providing a definitive model for understanding language, I suggest that such an approach expands the conceptual landscape for exploring language and difference in social work.

Keywords: Language, diversity, difference, social work


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