“If you know all the languages of the world and you do not know your mother tongue or the language of your culture, that is self-enslavement. Knowing your mother tongue and all languages is empowerment.” (1986)
These words were taken from a well-known book called “Decolonizing the mind” by Kenyan writer and academic Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. According to Van Herk (2018), most immigrant families shift to the languages of their new country over two or four generations. This phenomenon is called Language Shift. It is a topic I am interested in because of my fear of losing my heritage language.
As I reflect on my language autobiography, I recall the comments I hear whenever I speak in Cantonese.
“Did your Cantonese get worse?”
“Your language structure seems reversed”
“That is not how we say this….”
As a result, I’ve come to realize that I might be slowly losing my first language. It is a very odd feeling because Cantonese is the language I grew up with. My parents emigrated from Hong Kong and my mom was adamant about me speaking this language at home. She firmly believed that it would help maintain my relationship with my family. Since I don’t have many opportunities to practise, it has been difficult to learn literacy and communication skills.
In fact, most children from newcomer families in Canada generally speak either French or English. Jaffer Sheyholislami, a linguistic teacher at Carleton University, says that “One of the important causes of language shift and loss in Canada is the absence of robust language policies that would advocate and actively promote and support multilingualism and multiculturalism.” Losing the first language is not only losing a way to communicate with closed ones, but it also means losing one’s identity and culture. Sheyholislami also believes that any government has an obligation to cherish language diversity, support children’s learning and promote other languages.
In my opinion, heritage languages should be approached with understanding and empathy. No one should feel ashamed for their lack of language proficiency. For many second-generation immigrants, not being completely fluent can mean letting their family down. Thus, it is necessary to promote multilingualism and encourage acceptance that no language is “wrong” or “bad”.
As language teachers, how can we help our students preserve their heritage language?
Traditionally, educational systems have been monolingual, and in the language of the elite (Lewis 1976). According to Van Herk (2018), it is easier to “introduce multilingual education in societies where multilingualism is the norm” (p. 180). In this case, translanguaging can be considered as a way into ESL/EFL teaching and learning to support students in making metalinguistic connections and in leveraging all of their content and linguistic knowledge.
What is a translingual classroom?
Let’s have a look at what translingualism is. Translingualism means users gain meaning through their relations to other modes, particularly those drawn from popular culture (Pennycook 2007; Sultana, Dovchin &Pennycook 2015). Translingual pedagogy is by nature a hybrid practice, recontextualizing students’ translanguaging experiences to accomplish new goals using a hybrid set of routines and resources (David, Pacheco, & Jiménez, 2019).
Why do we create a translingualclassroom?
As an ESL learner and teacher, I am wondering if it is more important to teach a standard accent or help students express themselves clearly and explicitly when learning a new language. From my perspective, comprehensibility plays a more crucial role than accent. Especially in some Asian countries, under the exam-oriented education system, teachers and students pay more attention to getting higher scores than using the language in their daily life. In this sense, students may suffer from awkward silences when they communicate with others. Therefore, it is necessary to change the mindset and welcome the translingual approach in a language classroom.
To begin with, it can support students as they engage with and comprehend complex content and texts. Next, it provides more opportunities for students to develop linguistic practices for academic contexts. Moreover, it can make space for students’ bilingualism and bilingual ways of knowing and support their socio-emotional development and bilingual identities.
How do we create a translingual classroom?
First, based on my experience, free talk at the beginning of the class is a great way to integrate the translingual approach and help students learn some new words, phrases, and expressions. Especially during the pandemic, online classes make it harder to build relationships with each other. Through this communication, students could have a chance to talk and learn the practical English they really need in daily life.
Second, we could encourage students to use their linguistic repertoire to communicate in class and emphasize both languages in a positive light. Creating a safe and comfortable language learning environment fosters all students, regardless of their native language. The video below shows how the ESL teachers use the translanguaging pedagogy in his multilingual learning class.
Moreover, we could also try to integrate multimedia in the ESL and EFL classrooms and find more appropriate songs with multiple languages to help students use their linguistic repertoire and enjoy the learning process. In my summer teaching, I tried song activities, which worked quite well, and students were highly motivated. Moreover, we could also have music and digital resources in multiple languages in the classroom, it will give all students the opportunity to build upon their native language and learn a second language. If possible, you could also use bilingual digital content that shows two languages side-by-side to help students make the connection between their native language and the second language.
However, some people argue that using their first language in an English class may affect students’ communicative competence in the target language and they may rely on their first language too much unconsciously. In this sense, language teachers may take more responsibility and give clear instructions in order to better practice the target language.
Questions:
1Do you think it is feasible to use translanguaging in ESL/EFL classrooms？
2 Have you experienced or used translanguaging pedagogy in the classroom?
References：
David, S. S., Pacheco, M. B., & Jiménez, R. T. (2019). Designing translingual pedagogies: Exploring pedagogical translation through a classroom teaching experiment. Cognition and Instruction, 37(2), 252-275.
Dovchin, S., Sultana, S., & Pennycook, A. (2015). Relocalizing the translingual practices of young adults in Mongolia and Bangladesh. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 1(1), 4-26.
Lewis, G. (1976). “Bilingualism and bilingual education: The ancient world to the Renaissance.” In Bilingual Education: An International Sociological Perspective, ed., J. A. Fishman, 150–200. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows. London: Routledge.
Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
In a daily chatting with two of my best friends in college, I found both of them are now learning the British accent. When asked about the reason, one girl working in a private English education institute in China explained, “English teachers with the British accent are relatively rare, and consequently seem to be more advanced and fancy, therefore they are more welcomed by students, parents, and the school”, while another girl who is attending graduate school in London told me that “I try to learn British English because the teachers here pay more attention and give more compliment to international students speaking British English”.
Based on that, I did a simple follow-up research on the Internet trying to see different people’s perspectives on different English varieties. It looks like US websites enjoy publishing articles such as “30 Awesome British Slang Terms You Should Start Using Immediately”, while the British media has a fondness for articles such as “40 Things That Americans Say Wrong”. And in Chinese websites, there are tons of posts discussing about whether to learn British English or American English. Agree or not agree: a hierarchy of English varieties does exist. First British English, then American English, finally comes with some other non-standard English varieties.
“Your accent carries the story of who you are.” Mari Matsuda
1996
On a recent trip to the city with my family, we headed into Footlocker. The store was jam packed with tourists, awesome, because English was the language of majority in the store.
My son goes off by himself and my daughter and I continue
shopping and talking.
Then I noticed this guy staring at my daughter and I. He maneuvers his stroller to get closer to
us. I try not to make eye contact. He is obviously heading right towards us and
listening to our conversation.
When you talk to someone who speaks a different version of English than you do, do you keep talking the way you do otherwise or do you find yourself slightly edging towards the way they speak? What about if you travel and you’re surrounded by people with another accent or dialect?
This topic came to my mind because I’ve noticed that my Irish roommate, an exchange student from Dublin, Ireland, who used to have a very strong and distinctive Irish accent is now accommodating to American or Canadian accent and diction. I still clearly remember eight months ago on the first day when we met, greeted and introduced to each other. I couldn’t catch all of what she said because of her strong Irish accent and some of her word use. Basically I was listening to her while guessing, and nodding, pretending I got what she said, which made me feel embarrassed and awkward. Soon after, I told her I went to Ganadara, one of the best Korean restaurants in Montreal. She asked me, “was there a queue?” I was silent for a few seconds while searching the word of queue in my mind since I haven’t heard and used this word for a long time. Then I replied, “yes, there was a very long line” which is typically used in American English. I was impressed again by her Irish English choice of words.
According to Google, French is considered to be the language of love because it is the language in which people are more likely to use a romantic expression. However, as a native French speaker, I do not consider French to be the language of love. For myself there is no musicality in French, unless I am reading a poem. Do I consider French as a love language? For me this question has many levels. First, If I am listening to someone speaking French, I am certainly not able to detect the musicality that makes it the language of love. It may be because I speak Haitian Creole, which is a language that has the majority of its roots in French. Therefore, I tend to associate both language with each other, my creole accent makes it difficult for me to see the romantic aspect of French. There is definitely no musicality in the Haitian creole language, I sometimes recall people telling me that when they hear people speaking creole it sounds like they are constantly fighting.
I have no use for my anglophone accent. Late into the night I watch French television shows, whispering the lines over and over to myself. Piece by piece I am replacing my anglo turns of phrase with their French equivalents. The changes are usually small, for example:
J’aimerais un café, svp becomes je prends un café, svp
Ta sœur est belle changes to elle est belle, ta sœur
And je suis ici becomes je suis là
My French is an old car that I’ve been fixing up bit by bit – I’ve reached a point now where it looks pretty good if I drive by quickly. In short conversations I can pass as a francophone. Of course, the illusion decays as I continue to speak, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Shop keepers and waiters no longer switch to English when they hear me speak, even if I make a mistake. People don’t slow down when they talk to me or stop mid-sentence to define words for me. I feel like they’ve let me in.
It might be a bit late to mention about language biography now, but today’s class really inspired me on the concept of ideologies and how they are related to my own language learning/use in real life experience.
As a Chinese, Mandarin as my native language have made up most of my life so far, and as I’ve been exploring more parts in China, the change of locations really contributes to my understandings of ideologies (which I was not even aware of at that time). Here I will share some of my experience and my thoughts.
I grew up in on the north-shore of Quebec, speaking French in an area where it is spoken by over 90% of the population. As I grew up, I picked up some English in school, in video games, on the internet, but only really learned it later when I started working in the navy in Halifax, N-S and Victoria, B-C. After a year of software engineering, I stopped my studies to go to Japan, where I became somewhat fluent in Japanese over the course of nine months; travelling, working in a restaurant and helping an elderly woman with her farm work. When I came back to university, I changed program for one in which I could study two modern languages. I decided to keep studying Japanese and chose Russian as a second language. On my second year, I did a nine-month exchange program in Russia where I had the occasion to improve my reading and listening abilities. Upon my return I was not perfectly fluent orally, but I could read novels and translate literature from French or English. Upon completion of my B.A and certificate in Russian Studies, I was chosen to participate in the JET program. I left for Japan and taught in an elementary school for two years. In Japan, I worked in Japanese, every week explaining to my coworkers lesson plans, and engaged with friends and the local community, sometimes in the local dialect (Kansai-ben), sometimes in standard “Tokyo” Japanese, a more polite variety of the language. When I returned to Canada, I moved to Montreal and started the M.A. in second language education I’m actually in. Being at McGill is an interesting experience, because it is my first long-term experience in an “English community” in Canada.
Over the course of my life, I have devoted a lot of time to learn languages. I come from a small town in Québec, so my first language is French, but since about 2009 I have been living my life mainly in English (as a result of frequent traveling and studying at McGill). I have also spent some time learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Even though by linguistic definition I am a L2 speaker of English, I am now at a point where I consider myself even more than near-native: I have a slight accent, but I possess the same language intuition as native speakers.
