Translanguaging ... what is it?

Hello colleagues, One of the most important voices in the field of language education today is Ofelia Garcia, Professor in the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Garcia has been writing about bilingualism and the concept of translanguaging for many years. Instead of explaining what translanguaging means, I want to invite you to read Francois Grosjean's recent interview with Dr. Garcia where she is asked to explain the concept.

After reading the interview, tell us in your own words how you understand translanguaging.

Garcia's work has often focused on K12 education. In what ways do her ideas about translanguaging relate to adult English language learners -- or, as Garcia would say-- "emergent bilinguals"? It would be wonderful to have a robust conversation among members of our community about this fascinating concept.

Dr. Ofelia Garcia is an amazingly prolific writer. You can find a list with links to her many published articles and book chapters, which you can read online, here.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

Comments

Super interesting interview with Garcia - thanks for sharing that, Susan!  I was very taken with the positive, internal perspective on multilingualism as opposed to the common linguistic external understanding we typically take, such as a focus on code-switching.  Focusing on the internal processes of operating in multiple languages, and allowing students to use whatever language abilities they have, whatever languages those might be, makes so much sense to me.  I get that, and I love thinking of our students as emerging bilinguals (or multilinguals in many cases)...and yet, how can we ensure that students master the language(s) they need to thrive in the environment outside the classroom?  Is it a balance of encouraging use of students' languages to accomplish tasks or grasp content, with focused instruction on the target language?

I'd be very interested to hear what others think, and specifically how teachers have leveraged translanguaging in the classroom.

I'm so happy to see this topic proposed for discussion.  As Kim says, multilinguals use their languages in their learning/thinking internal processes as well as externally/verbally. I think working through difficult concepts multilingually, and using all one's languages with other multilinguals can be very advantageous and exciting.  This is the way many people live in the world.  Everyday, I see multilingual ways of being on social media, in the arts, in the news, etc.  So there's no reason to try to not be multilingual in class too.  We need to use all our resources when learning a new language! (I sure did when I studied beginning Chinese last summer.)  For people trying to recover or maintain their home languages, it's really wonderful to be able to use their languages to learn as they learn English. They can do this by talking with others in and out of class or by reading materials in their other languages.  They don't need a classmate or teacher to speak with, necessarily.  Last semester, my grad students wrote and presented their project ideas in their home languages.  For one of the students, who didn't have someone who understood her language (Chinese), I invited in a friend who could understand her.  For another person, we just listened to her speak in Ukranian.  She said it feel a little odd to talk about her topic in Ukranian, but also good, and good practice for some time in the future when she'll  need to talk about her ideas with colleagues in her home language.

How about you?  What have you tried?  Can we integrate multilingual steps into our lessons?    I'd love to hear ideas!

Here's a resource on this topic that I always share: http://www.nysieb.ws.gc.cuny.edu/files/2012/06/FINAL-Translanguaging-Guide-With-Cover-1.pdf

 

 

Martha,  Very interesting example of how translanguaging can work. Let me add a brief description of how my WhatsApp ESL groups are learning English Translinguistically.

First, there are about 30 members who are at an intermediate level, most of whom are Spanish speakers. Usually they chat by text in English and I make corrections or give lessons from time to time during the day. I focus a lot on pronunciation, and the students make recordings of themselves repeating tongue twisters, singing a song, or reading a short story. I have made videos also, which I can post to WhatsApp.

The main rule is – Do not worry about making mistakes. I tell them that the more mistakes they make, the faster they will learn.

They are all members of my Facebook groups, which is based on my bilingual website, PUMAROSA.COM.

Some students are from Brazil and speak Portuguese and Spanish, and the other day we had a cross-language study group on the differences and similarities between all three languages. It was wild, fun and very interesting.

Concerning WhatsApp – I believe that WhatsApp is the most important tool to learn English at this time. I say that for a few reasons.

First, it is necessary for a student to learn to speak a foreign language at the same time he or she is learning how to read and write in that language. And the fastest way to learn how to speak a foreign language is to chat by text, unfettered and without criticisms, guided by a teacher/coach.

English is probably one of the most difficult languages to speak because it is so hard to pronounce many sounds, which are very …foreign to people learning it as a foreign language.

There is a notion that in order to learn a foreign language, students must be immersed in that language from the first day. I do not believe that at all. I think that English Only for beginning students is not very productive compared to a bilingual or translanguage method.

In any case, this is my story ….I will keep you posted!

Paul

Hello everyone, Thanks to Paul, Martha and Kim for responding to my initial post. I want to encourage everyone to check out the materials Martha linked us to. I've been sharing these with others, too. While the materials are designed for K12, these are some amazing resources!  It would be fun to explore these materials in some depth with members of our community to consider how we might adapt them for use in our work.

Take a look and let us know your thoughts!

Warmly, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP

Susan and group members, while researching Translanguaging, I found the following very informative article:

"The ESL Teacher as Plurilingual: An Australian Perspective",  by  ELIZABETH ELLIS University of New England Armidale, New South Wales, Australia  This article reports a study on a little-researched area: the linguistic repertoires of teachers of English as a second language (ESL) to adults. It proposes that, to heed recent calls to recognise learners’ plurilingualism and to incorporate learners’ languages in the ESL classroom, teachers’ plurilingualism must be acknowledged and valued. This study investigated the language biographies of plurilingual and monolingual teachers of ESL in Australia and found them to be characterised by a wide range of circumstantial and elective language learning experiences. The effect of different experiences on teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about language learning and teaching are presented and discussed, drawing upon literature from language teacher cognition. Plurilingual teachers were found to see language learning as challenging but possible, whereas monolingual teachers associated language learning with their own unsuccessful experiences and saw it as difficult and potentially humiliating. Circumstantial plurilinguals were found to have a wide range of language experiences which contribute to their understanding of familial language use and issues arising from child and adult migration. All the plurilinguals were found to have gained useful insights about language teaching from their own experiences, and the article argues that these should be seen as a resource for systematic reflection in teacher education.

Hello everyone, Thank you, Paul, for sharing these findings about pluralingual teachers. These results are not surprising to me at all. I think those among us who have learned and use more than one language have an insider perspective that is quite valuable.

It would be good to hear from others' experiences on this point.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, AELL CoP