Theoretical and conceptual insights from linguistic landscape research: Implications for English language teaching

Over the past two decades, research on linguistic landscapes (LL) has slowly but steadily expanded, offering new ways of understanding how language, identity, and power take shape in the spaces where daily life unfolds. What began as simple documentation of languages on shop signs, street names, and public notices has since grown into a field that asks deeper questions. Signs are no longer seen as just texts on walls. They have come to be recognized as part of how communities express themselves, negotiate belonging, and work through questions of power, inclusion, and visibility. In a world where movement and multilingualism are part of everyday life, LLs provide a grounded way of noticing how these realities are made visible, sometimes quietly, sometimes quite forcefully, in the streets and spaces people share. This paper revisits some of the key ideas that have shaped this body of work. Through a narrative literature review and thematic analysis, it brings together a range of perspectives and approaches that have been used to make sense of LLs. Nine themes emerged through this process: foundational definitions, language policy and planning, ethnolinguistic vitality, semiotic and multimodal perspectives, political economy and power, globalization and mobility, translanguaging and multilingualism, identity and place-making, and methodological innovation. Each theme shows that public signage is never just practical. It carries traces of social histories, local struggles, shifting identities, and ongoing negotiations over who belongs, who is heard, and how people relate to the places they inhabit. The paper also reflects on how these insights might matter for English language teaching, especially in the Japanese context. It suggests that paying attention to LLs could help learners develop not only greater language awareness but also a more sensitive understanding of cultural diversity and communication in real-world settings.