Rahman.S.
Plurilingualism and Translanguaging
Plurilingualism, translanguaging, pluriculturalism were all new terms that I was introduced to in the first year of my MA in Second Language Education program.
Plurilingualism is a theory that aims to recognize an individual’s entire repertoire, but also takes into consideration their pluricultural background (Li, 2018 & Piccardo, 2019). Code switching generally refers to a linguistic strategy by speakers using two languages where the properties of those languages mainly remain separate from the other language (Herk, 2018 & Li, 2019). On the other hand, translanguaging is a strategy used by language learners to make use of their plurilingual background and is different from code switching. The boundaries of language structure in translanguaging between languages are often blurred and therefore more transfer happens between other languages (Li, 2018). Both code-switching and translanguaging occurs daily in a multilingual city like Montreal where multiple languages are spoken.
Some examples that I have observed are the following:
Code-switching:
“C’est pas comme ca. Tu dois faire ca en premier and then after press down here.” (It’s not like this. You need to first do this and then after press down here.”) [French and English]
“Eomma, ulli meonjeo mowhanenengeoya? Are we going to eat breakfast?” (Mom, what are we going to do first? Are we going to eat breakfast?) [Korean romanized and English]
Translanguaging:
“No, I am bahs-ing the kapoor right now. Ami poray jabo.” (No, I am folding the clothes right now. I’ll go later.) [English and Bangla]
As an individual with different languages in my repertoire and as a teacher who has worked with plurilingual students, I always find it interesting the way we all employ language. In many language learning institutions and educational settings, there is a push to achieve a ‘native’ like proficiency in the language being learned. However this standard, as I have observed and from my own personal experience, puts a strain on learning a new language and can often cause frustration. I have noticed this particularly with my older English language learner students in elementary school. Parents’ expectations along with peer pressure often places an added stress factor in the language learning process.
Implications for Teaching
In order to offer an alternative I think we should look at language teaching from a plurilingual approach. By doing so, we are validating all the languages a student has as an important resource for learning a new language. Students use code switching and translanguaging on an everyday basis and by allowing students to use these strategies in the classroom, it can be a useful tool to help students communicate while they are developing their proficiency in the new language.
Below is an example of how students are using their knowledge of language in English and Spanish to further and deepen their understanding of how language works.
-Can you think and describe of an example of code-switching and/or translanguaging that you used?
-Why did you use that (code-switching/translanguaging) in that particular instance?
References
Herk, G. V. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.
Li, W. (2018) Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied
Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30.
Piccardo, E. (2019). “We’re all (potential) plurilinguals”: Plurilingualism as an
overarching holistic concept. Cahiers de L’ILOB, 10, 183–204.
