Translanguaging and Literacies

TLDR

The authors trace the development of translanguaging, its relation to literacies, and its connection to literacy studies, focusing on bi/multilingual reading and writing. The study aims to develop translanguaging as a sociolinguistic theory, outlining its unique grounding in educational practice and its focus on multilingual performances. They describe the theoretical formulations of translanguaging and its educational grounding, detailing how it captures multilingual practices. The authors argue that multilingualism and bi/multiliteracies cannot be reduced to separate languages or modes, demonstrate how multilinguals enact language and literacy in school, review case studies showing that a translanguaging literacies framework deepens students’ text understanding, expands their text production, builds confidence, and fosters critical metalinguistic awareness, and discuss implications for literacy pedagogy and research centered on multilingual students.

Abstract

Abstract The authors trace the development of the concept of translanguaging, focusing on its relation to literacies. The authors describe its connection to literacy studies, with particular attention to bi/multilingual reading and writing. Then, the authors present the development of translanguaging as a sociolinguistic theory, discuss its formulations, and describe what is unique about translanguaging: its beginnings and grounding in educational practice and attention to the performances of multilinguals. The authors argue that multilingualism and bi/multiliteracies cannot be fully understood as simply the use of separate conventionally named languages or separate modes. Instead, translanguaging in literacies focuses on the actions of multilingual readers and writers, which go beyond traditional understandings of language, literacy, and other concepts, such as bi/multilingualism and bi/multilingual literacy. The authors show how multilinguals do language and literacy and how they do so in school. The authors review case studies that demonstrate how a translanguaging literacies framework is used to deepen multilingual students’ understandings of texts, generate students’ more diverse texts, develop students’ sense of confianza (confidence) in performing literacies, and foster critical metalinguistic awareness. The authors end by discussing implications for literacy pedagogy, as well as literacy research, that centers multilingual students.