Leveraging translanguaging practices in an elementary poetry writing workshop

Abstract

While scholars across a range of disciplines challenge the idea that bi/multilinguals have separate linguistic repertoires, monolingual expectations are common in bilingual education. Using elements of case study design and discourse analysis, I explore translanguaging as both a dynamic linguistic practice and a linguistically sustaining pedagogy to develop biliteracy in a fourth-grade bilingual poetry writing workshop. As a linguistic practice, the teacher and her students utilized receptive and productive translanguaging for a variety of purposes, such as to emphasize meaning and establish group membership. It is important to note that the term receptive translanguaging does not necessarily counter the unitary view of bi/multilingualism, rather it focuses on the social duality of language and it acknowledges how bilinguals use their full linguistic repertoire. In terms of pedagogy, I found that the teacher modeled translanguaging in whole class mini lessons and one-on-one conferences, highlighted translingual mentor texts and encouraged students to write translingually for their bi/multilingual families. This work is significant to the field of bilingual education as it highlights how bi/multilinguals language in school settings when there are no linguistic constraints and provides specific examples of translanguaging pedagogy.

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