Sociolinguistics Symposium 25

24-27 June, 2024

Colloquium Application

Stream: #1 Translingual, immersion, heritage and minority education #2 Language, culture, and socialisation

Theme: “Translanguaging as a decolonising tool”

Structure: 2hrs 20 minutes presentations plus a discussant session

Content short summary:

Translanguaging theory has invited much animated debate about conceptual and pedagogical aims. Informed by these debates, our colloquium seeks to foreground the precarity that can underscore translingual practices and promote the decolonisation of multilingual educative spaces. Our presentations promote translanguaging as an expression of linguistic identity and a means of retaining visibility of traditional and heritage languages/varieties. We also endorse translanguaging as an empowering mechanism for marginalised individuals in precarious migrant and international education spaces in which dominant discourses are privileged. We reject deficit raciolinguistic notions that plurilingual students have incomplete linguistic systems and embrace their translingual repertoires through a translanguaging lens that goes beyond named languages. We advocate a decolonising strategy both in language learning and English as a medium of instruction settings and show, collectively, how translanguaging approaches can encourage and facilitate the coexistence of diverse knowledge amongst learners of an additional language and play a role in upholding plurilingualism even in settings which are content focused. Our presentations have grown from linguistic experiences in many different contexts and settings, but they all have in common that they send a message of decoloniality and the endorsement of linguistically inclusive and sustainable pedagogies which respect all knowledges and languages.

Chair: Toni Dobinson Curtin University

Presenters:

• Danping Wang, University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Toni Dobinson, Curtin University, Western Australia
• Qian Gong, Curtin University. Western Australia
• Paul Mercieca, Curtin University, Western Australia
• Sarah Hopkyns, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
• Rhonda Oliver, Curtin University, Western Australia
• Jill Wigglesworth, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Fan Gabriel Fang, Shantou University China
• Zhu Hua, University College London, United Kingdom

Presentation 1

Translanguaging as a decolonising approach: Students’ Digital Multimodal Compositions in a Beginning Chinese Course

Danping Wang University of Auckland

In this presentation, I will explore the intricate relationship between translanguaging, multimodality, and Indigenous epistemology in a university-wide curriculum transformation project in New Zealand. Specifically, I will focus on a case study conducted in a beginner-level Chinese language course that I coordinated, which is part of the larger project aimed at transforming the curriculum into a more equitable and inclusive one that reflects and respects the equal status of Mātauranga Māori, traditional Māori knowledge. After the first six weeks, students' learning is assessed through whānau vlogs they produce using content from the textbook, guided by the Māori concepts of whanaungatanga, and enhanced by relational technology. Students are informed that they can use all semiotic resources, including their home languages, alongside Mandarin, the target language. In total, 147 student video projects were analysed to understand how student respond to the initiative to integrate Indigenous epistemology into foreign language teaching through innovative assessment designs empowered and enabled by translanguaging theory. The case study reveals how students' translingual practices in their digital multimodal compositions enable the coexistence of diverse knowledge while learning a foreign language. Moreover, I will discuss the potential intersection of translanguaging, multimodality, and decoloniality, highlighting future research possibilities.

Presentation 2

“Are we allowed”? Investigating translingual practices on an Australian university campus in Mauritius.

Toni Dobinson Curtin University

Qian Gong Curtin University

Paul Mercieca Curtin University

The use of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is common in universities around the world. In line with this, Australian universities, despite being translingual spaces for international students, Australians of diverse linguistic backgrounds and Australia’s First peoples often reflect language planning/ policies which advocate an almost exclusive use of English in spaces of formal learning. In this presentation we explore the micro-ecology of language found on the Mauritian campus of an Australian university. While courses were offered in English it was not uncommon to observe both lecturers and students translanguaging between home languages and the dominant English language as well as other resources in their translingual repertoires. Close observation of classroom practices, and in-depth interviews with students and academics, shed light on the extent to which students and academics of diverse linguistic backgrounds enjoy representation of linguistic ‘self’ on campus. At the same time, we uncover the views of students and academics about the maintenance of the dominant discourse of English on campus and emancipatory practices such as translingual inclusion. We conclude by suggesting a mismatch between the English-only dominant ethos of the campus and the de-colonising diversity of language and translanguaging to be found both on campus and in classrooms.

Presentation 3

Decolonising educationscapes: Translanguaging and spaces of belonging in English-medium education settings.

Sarah Hopkyns University of St Andrews

While many language policies aim to equip students with English as a ‘lingua academia’, and compete in university ranking systems, such policies often overlook larger more critical issues such as the need to foster students’ translingual identities, culture, and belonging in English-medium educational spaces. Pedagogy expands beyond the classroom, and knowledge concerns affective, social, and cultural learning which is intertwined sociocultural and geopolitical spaces. In this sense, whole university ecosystems are important to consider in relation to identity, culture and belonging.

This presentation explores the concepts of monolingual ideologies in English medium education and the postcolonial legacy of unequal Englishes (de Sousa Santos, 2021) in relation to educationscapes (Krompák et al., 2022) or the linguistic landscape of educational spaces. Findings from an ethnographic study exploring Emirati university students’ perspectives on, and interactions with, their English-medium educationscape will be shared. This included students’ interpretations of semiotic and linguistic landscapes as ‘intertextual products’ connected to identities and levels of belonging. A corpus of signage (n = 482) together with students’ (n = 28) interpretations of their educationscape via walking tours of the campus and posts on a virtual bulletin board were analyzed through nexus analysis and thematic analysis. Four key themes revealed included the dominance of English, side-by-side bilingualism, bottom-up translanguaging as empowerment, as well as ‘third spaces’ (Bhabha, 1994) and ‘sticky places’ (Ahmed, 2004; Badwan & Hall, 2020). Based on the findings, it is argued that along with the ‘critical trans era’ in classrooms, translanguaging and third spaces can be more actively promoted in English-medium universities for increased belonging and to counter monolingual ideologies. Practical suggestions are provided on ways to decolonize educationscapes.

Presentation 4

“You mob! Give them a chance!”:  Aboriginal students translanguaging at school.

Rhonda Oliver Curtin University

Jill Wigglesworth University of Melbourne

In this presentation we describe the language use of Australian Aboriginal students attending schools in Western Australia. We outline how their linguistic repertoire includes traditional languages (e.g., Kija, Martu), lexified creoles (e.g., Kriol), non-standard language (Australian Aboriginal English [AAE]) as well as Standard Australian English. We outline how by incorporating of home language and embracing translanguaging can serve to support student understanding and learning as well as making positive contributions to their cultural- and self-identity.

Naturalistic language data were collected in seven schools located in different settings within Western Australian. 230 children and their teachers were recorded both in their classrooms and playgrounds. Children moved fluidly across their linguistic resources to engage interactively in both contexts. The data show these Aboriginal children living in rural, regional and remote locations draw on their full linguistic repertoire and utilise translanguaging as part of their school interactions.  They also adjust their language choices according to audience and the content of their discussions. They use their home languages when sharing cultural knowledge, but also for developing their own understanding and sharing this with others. Translanguaging, therefore, offers considerable opportunities for education and for Aboriginal students in particular.

Presentation 5

Exploring the complexity of linguistic minority students’ use of and attitudes toward everyday translanguaging practices from a decolonising perspective

Fan Gabriel Fang University of South Hampton

Given the increasing complexity of language use in today’s world, it is important to incorporate decolonizing approaches to teaching language-minority students by translanguaging. This approach aims to incorporate indigenous epistemologies through languaging, thereby enabling learners to engage with more respect and dignity. This presentation examines Teochew-speaking learners of English as an example of linguistic minority students’ use of and attitudes toward everyday translanguaging practices. Through conducting a series of semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study specifically examines students’ translanguaging process with their mother tongue, Teochew (L1), as well as Putonghua (L2), and other languages/dialects in various contexts, such as family, school, and the wider community. The findings indicate the various translanguaging practices, but also reveal a decline and marginalisation in Teochew across different generations. This paper argues for the need to preserve Teochew and other heritage languages and home dialects for inclusiveness of language practice. Translanguaging manifests multilingual speakers’ rich linguistic repertoire and can serve as a means of addressing issues of power and identity in daily language use for language-minority students. The findings suggest a need for the implementation of translanguaging practices to address power and identity issues in the daily language use of language-minority students.

Discussant

Zhu Hua University College London