Multimodal approach to translanguaging practices: From translanguaging to trans-semiotising in an EMI business course

Abstract

The emergence of English Medium Instruction in Higher Education has increased the interest in translanguaging, which involves using individuals' linguistic repertoire as a pedagogical tool to scaffold content comprehension. Nevertheless, meaning-making is not solely a product of language; rather, it emerges from the interaction between language and other semiotic resources. In EMI lectures, students need to understand disciplinary content in a language other than their L1. Consequently, lecturers must look for different strategies to make such specific content more accessible and comprehensible. In order to understand how disciplinary content is conveyed by an EMI lecturer, this paper explores the role of translanguaging and other semiotic modes to revisit the functions of translanguaging so that we can redefine them as trans-semiotising practices. The data collected included two video-recorded lectures from a Business course. Following Sahan and Rose's taxonomy (2021) and from a mixed-based approach, we aim at analysing quantitatively and qualitatively the episodes where translanguaging was employed by the lecturer. We then examine the multimodal nature of those episodes using the Multimodal Discourse Analysis perspective and the GRAPE-MARS software. Results show that translanguaging has a clear pedagogical function since the lecturer employs the L1 to check students' comprehension, explain or clarify presented content, translate technical vocabulary, provide feedback, and build rapport. Moreover, depending on the aforementioned functions, the lecturer employs specific multimodal ensembles, which reinforce translanguaging practices. Hence, this practice should be redefined as trans-semiotising because it offers a more comprehensive approach to communication within the EMI classroom.

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