Translanguaging
Translanguaging is a dynamic communication strategy employed by bilingual and multilingual individuals who fluidly switch between languages in their interactions. Unlike the traditional view that treats each language as a separate entity, translanguaging proposes that speakers integrate their languages into a cohesive linguistic repertoire. This concept is particularly relevant in educational contexts, where it can enhance learning by allowing students to express their understanding through both their native and second languages. The term originated in the 1980s in North Wales and was popularized by educators like Cen Williams and Colin Baker, who sought to support learners fluent in both Welsh and English.
Translanguaging acknowledges that even monolingual speakers navigate different registers or forms of their language depending on the context, which helps illustrate the fluidity of language use. While many linguists advocate for its benefits, such as improved communication and expression, there are contrasting views that raise concerns about potential drawbacks in educational settings. Critics argue that simultaneous language use may hinder mastery of either language, especially if practice is inconsistent. Ultimately, translanguaging represents an evolving understanding of bilingualism that respects and utilizes the rich linguistic resources individuals possess.
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Translanguaging
Translanguaging refers to the way people who speak more than one language communicate. The bilingual or multilingual person often moves back and forth between languages, using them so fluidly that it becomes an overall method of communication. It differs from the previous assumption usually applied that a multilingual or bilingual person is essentially monolingual in two, three, or more languages and that the knowledge of the languages is applied separately. Instead, translanguaging implies that people who speak more than one language have a large linguistic library that encompasses all the languages they speak, and they can draw from any of them at will. It is an important concept in education, where teachers work to find the best ways to allow bilingual and multilingual students to learn and express what they have learned.
Background
The idea of people communicating in more than one language is not new. As people from different cultures came together, they would often develop new languages cobbled together from a combination of both languages. Such languages were known as pidgins when they became established ways to communicate between two cultures. The people who speak the pidgin then become bilingual; they speak both their native, or original, language and the pidgin.
The concept of translanguaging as a way of discussing communication by people who speak more than one language began in North Wales in the 1980s. Welsh educator Cen Williams was working with some colleagues to develop ways to help students who spoke both Welsh and English use both languages in the classroom. They initiated a practice of having students read or listen to material in one language and then write or discuss it in the other language. Williams used the Welsh word trawsieithu to refer to this method in 1994 in an unpublished work.
Williams's fellow Bangor University educator Colin Baker anglicized the Welsh word trawsieithu to translanguaging. Over time, Baker and others expanded the meaning to go beyond a specific method of combining languages to mean the use of two or more languages in any context. Educators originally theorized that a person who knew two or more languages knew each separately. The translanguaging concept suggests that all the languages a person knows become a combined database of ways to communicate thoughts.
Ofelia García offered the most commonly accepted definition of translanguaging. In 2009, the Cuban-born educator proposed that translanguaging is the action of accessing the various aspects of two or more otherwise separate languages to improve communication. García is a proponent of translanguaging and supports allowing school students to use both their native and second languages in the classroom setting, even in instances when the teacher does not speak the same language(s) as the students.
Overview
Translanguaging usually involves two or more languages. However, a form of translanguaging occurs even among monolinguals, or people who speak only one language. Knowing this can make the translanguaging concept easier for some people to understand.
Most languages have at least two versions: a formal version and an everyday version. One speaks and writes in a more formal way when communicating with a head of state, an authority figure, or a boss, and communicates in another way when talking to friends or family. In some cases, there are even more versions, such as the way people speak to small children and animals and the familiar way people speak to loved ones, which may include pet words and unique phrases used only with these people. All these versions share some characteristics but are also different. However, people generally have no problem going from having a conversation with the vice president of their employer to speaking to their child on the phone. Linguists equate translanguaging to this type of fluid change.
Some linguists assert that it is important for students who know more than one language to be able to use both as part of their educational process. For some students who have a greater command of one language, being able to use their native language can help them communicate what they are learning, what they have mastered, and what they still need help learning in a clearer way. Those who are fluent in both languages have a larger repertoire of communication tools to use for expressing themselves. Linguists note this is more important than requiring a student to use a secondary language as a way to master it. They do acknowledge the need to use only one language or the other in some instances as a way to improve or assess the student's skills in the language itself.
While many modern linguists fully support translanguaging and cite its advantages, many in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries warned of the potential dangers to the brain, cognition, and long-term well-being, especially when used in educational settings. These critics warned that encouraging the use of two or more languages simultaneously would inhibit the student's ability to master or maintain mastery of either. These linguists pointed out that people often lose skills that are not practiced and used regularly, so allowing students to use two or more languages could lead to certain aspects of both languages slipping away from memory. However, these concerns have been debunked by modern research. Exposure to multiple languages has been shown to benefit young learners by increasing their openness to new learning experiences. Translanguaging pedagogy also helps students put new concepts and words into context, which improves long-term recall. Some research indicates that older adults who experienced exposure to multiple languages in their youth may have a lower risk of cognitive decline.
Bibliography
García, Ofelia. Remaking Multilingualism: A Translanguaging Approach. Multilingual Matters, 2022.
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Kroll, Judith F., and Paola E. Dussias. “The Benefits of Multilingualism to the Personal and Professional Development of Residents of the US.” Foreign Language Annals, vol. 50, no. 2, 2017, pp. 248–59, doi.org/10.1111/flan.12271. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
Moore, Emilee, et al. Translanguaging as Transformation: The Collaborative Construction of New Linguistic Realities. Multilingual Matters, 2020.
Najarro, Ileana. "What Is Translanguaging and How Is It Used in the Classroom?" Education Week, 13 July 2023, www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-translanguaging-and-how-is-it-used-in-the-classroom/2023/07. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
Shepard-Carey, Leah, and Zhongfeng Tian. (Re)imagining Translanguaging Pedagogies through Teacher-Researcher Collaboration. Multilingual Matters, 2023.
"Talking Story about Pidgin." University of Hawaii, sls.hawaii.edu/pidgin/whatIsPidgin.php. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
"Translanguaging and the Bilingual Brain." Heidelberg University Language and Cognition Lab, www.hulclab.eu/research/groups/bilingualism/translanguaging-and-the-bilingual-brain. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
"Translanguaging." New York Times, 1 Dec. 2010, schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/translanguaging. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
Vogel, Sara, and Ofelia Garcia. "Translanguaging." Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Dec. 2017, education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-181. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.
"What Is Translanguaging?" EAL Journal, 26 July 2016, ealjournal.org/2016/07/26/what-is-translanguaging. Accessed 20 Dec. 2024.