Beyond the traditional scope of translanguaging: Comparing translanguaging practices in Belgian multilingual and monolingual classroom contexts

Publication date: July 2018Source: Language & Communication, Volume 61Author(s): Kirsten Rosiers, Inge Van Lancker, Steven DelarueAbstractThis paper investigates the interactional behavior and the socio-pedagogical valorization of translanguaging practices of teachers and pupils in a multilingual and a monolingual classroom. By including the latter, we aim at expanding the scope of translanguaging research. Based on linguistic-ethnographic fieldwork, our analyses demonstrate differences in the nature of translanguaging practices: norm-breaking in the multilingual classroom versus turning back to the norm in the monolingual classroom. Translanguaging practices occur in the margin as well as in the centre of the classroom activity, with socio-emotional purposes in both classroom settings. Pedagogical goals, however, are only observed in the multilingual classroom.
Source: Language and Communication - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research