This book represents a new publishing venture in terms of its range of concerns with regard to English in Southeast Asia. The chapters in the volume reflect the interests and themes of the annual Conferences on English in Southeast Asia held since 1996 among participating universities from nine countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand Indonesia and New Zealand. This is believed to be the first time that such diversity and coverage has been published in a single volume.

The three sections of the book cover topics which have been consistently discussed at the conferences during the last ten years. The Varieties section features chapters on phonology, dictionary making, syntax, code-switching and the communicative strategies of English speakers from ASEAN countries. The Literacies section focuses on ICT in English language teaching, Information literacy, bilingual and multilingual issues in Southeast Asia, recent developments in English language teaching and education in Thailand and questions of heritage and identity with respect to English in Malaysia. In the Literatures section the concerns are with new generation writings in English in Malaysia, the literature read by young Filipinos, the use of English in Malaysian newspapers in the context of general elections, the discourses of Asian English newspapers in relation to notions like “globalisation” and “global English” and ASEAN English on Internet websites.

As a collection of work by experienced academics engaged in the issues germane to the roles and status of English in Southeast Asia this volume is an excellent resource for university students, university teaching and research staff and university library collections.