Abstract Summary
In multilingual classrooms students may not only have diverse language and cultural backgrounds, but the level of their language proficiency and heritage culture identification may also significantly vary. This paper will discuss the role of translanguaging practices in creating an inclusive and “safe” space for emergent bilinguals.
Abstract :
Whereas the last decade has witnessed a rapid increase in interest in translanguaging among researchers, translanguaging practices are still under-represented in bilingual education.
In multilingual classrooms students may not only have diverse language and cultural backgrounds, but the level of their language proficiency and heritage culture identification may also significantly vary. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to identify how translanguaging practices support students’ socio-emotional development and multilingual identities (see Garcia, Johnson and Seltzer 2017).
The author sees the role of translanguaging not only in bridging existing language gaps but in scaffolding cultural identity of multilingual students. According to Li Wei, translanguaging itself has certain transformative power because it helps to generate new identities, values and practices (Li Wei 2011). Translanguaging is able to open up “a space of resistance and social justice, since language practices of minoritized youth are usually racialized and stigmatized” (Garcia & Wei 2014: 115 referring to Rosa 2010). Thus by showing acceptance and appreciation of students’ linguistic, cultural and socio-emotional diversity, teachers can build an anti-bias environment and promote intercultural dialogue.
This paper will discuss the role of translanguaging practices in creating an inclusive and “safe” space for emergent bilinguals, and also provide some examples which illustrate the application of this pedagogical approach.
References
García, O., Ibarra-Johnson, S., and Seltzer, K. (2017). The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning. Caslon.
García, O. & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging. Language, Bilingualism & Education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rosa, J. D. (2010). Looking Like a Language, Sounding Like a Race: Making Latin@ Panethnicity and Managing American Anxieties, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation (University of Chicago).
Wei, L. (2011). Moment Analysis and Translanguaging Space: Discursive Construction of Identities by Multilingual Chinese Youth in Britain‘, Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 1222–1235.
