New Perspectives on Translanguaging and Education

BethAnne Paulsrud, Jenny Rosén, Boglárka Straszer, Åsa Wedin

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781783097807
• eBook ISBN: 9781783097838
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Education General
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This edited collection explores the immense potential of translanguaging in educational settings and highlights teachers and students negotiating language ideologies in their everyday communicative practices. It makes a significant contribution to scholarship on translanguaging and considers the need for pedagogy to reflect and embrace diversity. The chapters provide rich empirical research and document translanguaging in varied educational contexts, with studies from pre-school to adult education in different, mainly European, countries, where English is not the dominant language. Together they expand our understanding of translanguaging and how it can be applied to a variety of settings. This book will be of interest to students and researchers, especially in education, language education and applied linguistics, as well as to professionals and policymakers.

1Translanguaging as an Everyday Practice

Angela Creese

Introduction

The immense potential of the concept ‘translanguaging’ becomes strikingly apparent in reading the chapters of this book. Twelve individual studies provide rich empirical detail documenting translanguaging in various educational contexts, across national boundaries. Chapters bring to life teachers and students negotiating the difficult terrain of language ideologies and everyday communicative practices in teaching and learning contexts. The collection makes a significant contribution to scholarship on translanguaging and seeks epistemological overlaps to juxtapose indigeneity and homogeneity with superdiversity and heterogeneity. The authors persuasively argue that categories such as migrants, multilingual youth, national minority language speakers, Deaf children and foreign language learners are varied and complex, and with such diversity comes the need for a responsive pedagogy. Chapters consider the potential for translanguaging to deliver on this key objective. Below I summarize the richness of the individual chapters and highlight features that resonate in terms of their originality and significance. In the final section of this chapter I make some summary comments.

Translanguaging as Pedagogy

The first chapter, by Paulsrud, Rosén, Straszer and Wedin, makes the argument that we need to move beyond the context of English-dominant educational environments to better understand the potentials and pitfalls of translanguaging in terms of both theory and practice. They suggest we expand our interest in language ecologies beyond North America and Great Britain. In their introduction we are introduced to key definitions and objectives which point forward to the rich variety of contexts, interpretations and understandings presented in the upcoming individual chapters.

Jonsson, in her chapter, presents a clear argument for translanguaging in the everyday lives of multilingual people, across contexts and between classmates, friends and family. Drawing on García (2009), she describes translanguaging as a mode of choice for bilinguals. In her chapter, which explores the ideological implications of a translanguaging framework, a connection is made to the sociolinguistics of mobility with its orientation to languages-in-motion rather than language-in-place. Jonsson asks us to consider the relevance of translanguaging as a concept beyond the confines of education and consider its relevance in wider society. Drawing on recent sociolinguistic research, she describes language as an activity rather than a structure and explores the concepts of languaging and repertoire as means of countering ideologies of homogeneity. She discusses the importance of retaining the multiple voices of social diversity.

In Rosén’s chapter, the focus is on the school as a social system which through its curriculum sets out to deliver on core functions such as qualification, socialization and subjectification (Biesta, 2006). Through a translanguaging lens, Rosén documents the hierarchizing of languages in the curriculum by taking us through how language-focused subjects (Swedish, Swedish as an additional language, English, ‘modern languages’, ‘mother-tongue’ and sign language) are constructed differently in the system in relation to the others and what the consequences are for the young people learning them. Whereas Swedish, English and other modern languages are presented as countable units with political and economic value, mother tongue instruction tends to be focused on the individual and identity, feelings and communication across generations. Translanguaging is presented as means to challenge some of these hierarchizing demarcations.

The chapter by Dewilde documents the literacy practices of a successful multilingual student in a Norwegian upper secondary school. Bahar, originally from Afghanistan and born into a Dari-speaking family, moved to Norway at the beginning of her teens. Using the concepts of transnational and translanguaging space, Bahar is presented as a creative and highly successful writer who achieves this through drawing on a biography shaped by migration, mobility and the movement of people. From this trajectory Bahar produces a creative literary effect which, Dewilde argues, illustrates a ‘disposition to difference’. This is exemplified in the analysis of a poem written by Bahar with peers. The poem’s central character is cast as multilingual and dialogic, and made to recite multilingual verse in the telling of the narrative. In a later interview Bahar describes how she grew up with poetry, which she describes as ‘fairly common in Afghan and Persian novels’. She also recalls her grandfather telling her stories and helping her with her homework. These histories created Bahar’s writer identity and added to her success in school. Overall Dewilde shows how pupils use translanguaging strategically as a rhetorical choice for literary effect.

Hopewell’s chapter provides a historical context to the educational policy debates of the United States and argues convincingly that discussions about the language of instruction should be moved to more fruitful and pragmatic discussions of pedagogies of bilingual instruction. She presents a case study in which a teacher and her students intentionally and explicitly challenged the ‘typical’ bilingual education mandate to keep languages strictly separated. This was achieved through a translanguaging approach which Hopewell shows had the potential to accelerate academic achievement. Her data consist of video-recordings which were analyzed in relation to two specific educational projects: thematic literacy boards and a home–school literary project. Hopewell argues that translanguaging is a strategy which is ‘humanizing’, sustaining and cultivates dignity and humanity’ and constitutes ‘a pocket of hope’.

The next chapter by Allard and Wedin considers the possibilities of translanguaging for a different group of school children – those who are migrants and deaf or hard of hearing. The complexity of learning subject content and languages for Deaf children who have migrated to Sweden and are learning Swedish sign language and Swedish is described through the detail of a one particular case study – that of Emir, originally from Kosovo. The authors argue that Deaf multilingualism is more complex and varied than spoken bilingualism because of the simultaneity of media and modalities. For example, language and content learning for the Deaf child must move beyond oracy and literacy to signacy as well as across different languages. Translanguaging is presented as particularly appropriate because it challenges the traditional perceptions of language as discrete entities which in the case of deaf communication cannot be maintained when the complexity of different media and modalities are in play. Through in-depth listening to and analysis of Emir’s narratives, an argument is made that translanguaging broadens educational opportunity. Emir experienced schooling in Sweden positively because of his teacher’s ability to acknowledge his existing competence as a sign user. Her interest in his already extensive semiotic repertoire allowed him to adapt and learn.

Mary and Young’s chapter takes us to Eastern France where translanguaging is used as both as a theoretical and an analytical tool in the study of young learners from a diversity of backgrounds. The authors focus on translanguaging as a pedagogic tool to make meaning, as well as the power of teachers as initiators of multilingual policies and practice. Preferring the emphasis on meaning-making in Baker’s (2011) definition of translanguaging over García’s (2009) orientation to the bilingualism of ‘multiple discursive practices’, the chapter focuses on Sylvie’s readiness to challenge orthodoxies of language separation to meet her students’ needs. Through the power of six Turkish words, Sylvie serves as a ‘translanguaging lynchpin’ to make connections between and transfer across languages to make meaning. Despite the teachers’ limited knowledge of Turkish, her willingness to learn from the children themselves showed she valued them and their linguistic and cultural resources.

In Straszer’s chapter, consideration is given to how translanguaging contributes to producing safe spaces for the education of national minority language students. In a Finnish pre-school in Sweden we are presented with a careful analysis of the pre-school’s physical environment with its pictures, photographs and signs. These visual images are analyzed for their rich and diverse meanings in relation to translanguaging and what they might say about the visibility and salience of languages. Straszer uses the concept of translanguaging space (Li Wei, 2011) to understand how rules of interaction and interpretation are created. The concept of space is crucial in this chapter because the Finnish pre-school is in a building which also houses a Swedish pre-school. How different languages are documented in different spaces around the school is described. While Finnish is used almost exclusively in the Finnish section of the pre-school building, translanguaging serves an important symbolic function in the shared pre-school environment as a whole. The chapter is interesting in the way space is demarcated and opened up by different orientations to different languages.

Rosiers describes how in the superdiverse setting of Belgium schools multilingualism and heterogeneity are daily practices which must coexist with monolingual policies and ideologies of homogeneity. Belgium’s education policy, like that of many countries in Europe, views linguistic diversity as ‘hindering’ the learning of the majority language rather than supporting it. Rosiers cites previous research which shows that teachers who translanguage, but who have not mastered all the languages present in the classroom, can create learner-centred environments that benefit the child. She argues for an understanding of how the micro context of interaction in the learning environments can be worked into pedagogies. This can be achieved through adopting a sociolinguistic view of translanguaging which is fundamentally interactional and, accordingly, can empower the teachers to engage in pedagogic scaffolding. Rosiers data come from two Belgium classrooms, one in Ghent and the other in Brussels. Both research sites focus on studying fourth grade 9–10 year olds in primary education. The author’s focus is pedagogic scaffolding and she shows how translanguaging is patterned along a continuum or graduation. She shows that this happens most effectively in peer frames when the interactional dynamics produce a change in footing which create supportive movement in the repertoire.

Slotte and Ahlholm describe how translanguaging can be used in negotiating concepts which the students are learning. They understand concept formation not as static Saussurean dictionary definitions but as a process that develops information into a lexical unit. They view the conceptual ­lexical unit as a ‘small narrative’. The authors suggest that understanding the narrative structure of a concept reveals the way we learn, and they argue that translanguaging plays a crucial role in developing conceptual thinking. This chapter investigates a bilingual summer camp in Finland, predominantly set up for Swedish speaking young people. The summer camp teachers had attended a course on multilingual pedagogy. Overall they found that translanguaging extended and deepened the concepts about ‘Nature’ which they were studying. It also facilitated metalinguistic awareness. Of particular interest was the use of repetition and overlaps which the authors suggest fulfils two purposes: it ensures understanding and emphasizes important concepts. Translanguaging produced ‘a gliding pattern’ of two steps forward and one backward which gave space to the children to participate. They found that translanguaging allowed everyone to engage in and understand at least some part of the discussion.

Toth and Paulsrud write about translanguaging in English-medium instruction (EMI) in primary and upper secondary schools in Sweden. They highlight two features of translanguaging – comprehension and communication. The authors focus on language choice in EMI content lessons and their interest is in how such choices facilitate content learning in an environment where teachers and learners have varying access to English and Swedish. Overall, they argue that students do not benefit from a strictly implemented English-only policy. The chapter compares Peter’s classroom with Sam’s classroom and finds two different language ecologies. While Peter does not speak Swedish, Sam does. In Peter’s class translanguaging functions as a mediating tool between the non-Swedish speaking teacher and the emergent bilingual students. It happens in an ad hoc way as the students speak with one another using ‘collective scaffolding’ to check their understanding of Peter’s input in English. In Sam’s classroom the teacher exercises agency over language choice, drawing on his bilingualism in a wider range of teaching and learning activities. The importance of Swedish in these EMI contexts for learning subject content and keeping future educational pathways open is persuasively argued.

Ganuza and Hedman’s chapter challenges us to consider what is and what is not translanguaging in educational contexts. They present a persuasive argument that if translanguaging is to be useful for teachers and school systems, we must also determine what translanguaging is not. The authors argue that translanguaging should be used to describe deliberate planning where teachers aim to make the most of students’ repertoires rather than simply as a ‘fall-back’ position. Their study focused on mother tongue (MT) teachers in compulsory education and found that MT teachers upheld ideologies that the MT classroom should be a ‘MT only space’. The teachers believed the use of Swedish within their classrooms was ‘sloppy’ practice and should only be used as ‘a necessity’. This view was replicated by other teachers in the school who reprimanded young people for using languages other than Swedish in the hallways and lunch rooms. Ganuza and Hedman showed that language monitoring was a common feature across various school contexts, with teachers encouraging students to keep their languages separate and demarcated.

Conclusions

Pedagogy is of course an ideologically informed social practice. In our work on complementary schools (Blackledge & Creese, 2010) we have described how separate bilingualism and flexible bilingual...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• 1. Translanguaging as an Everyday Practice
• 2. Perspectives on Translanguaging in Education
• 3. Translanguaging and Ideology: Moving Away from a Monolingual Norm
• 4. Spaces for Translanguaging in Swedish Education Policy
• 5. Multilingual Young People as Writers in a Global Age
• 6. Pedagogies to Challenge Monolingual Orientations to Bilingual Education in the United States
• 7. Translanguaging and Social Justice: The Case of Education for Immigrants who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
• 8. From Silencing to Translanguaging: Turning the Tide to Support Emergent Bilinguals in Transition from Home to Pre-school
• 9. Translanguaging Space and Spaces for Translanguaging: A Case Study of a Finnish-language Pre-school in Sweden
• 10. Unravelling Translanguaging: The Potential of Translanguaging as a Scaffold among Teachers and Pupils in Superdiverse Classrooms in Flemish Education
• 11. Negotiating Concepts and the Role of Translanguaging
• 12. Agency and Affordance in Translanguaging for Learning: Case Studies from English-medium Instruction in Swedish Schools
• 13. Ideology Versus Practice: Is There a Space for Pedagogical Translanguaging in Mother Tongue Instruction?
• 14. Epilogue
• Index