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Abstract

Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identity are powerfully intertwined. A monolingual solitudes understanding of bilingualism undermines children’s bilingual identities, yet in most bilingual education classrooms, academic instruction is segregated by language and children are encouraged to engage in only one language at a time. Few studies have explored how a translanguaging pedagogy supports the development of positive identities when learning through two languages. This article explores the co-construction of identities of emergent bilingual children whose teacher embraced dynamic bilingualism. We carried out a close discourse analysis, drawing on the sociocultural linguistic framework of Bucholtz and Hall of children’s interactions in a two-way bilingual education classroom. Our data revealed that translanguaging offered equitable, empowering educational and language learning opportunities to minoritized, bilingual students. A trans- languaging pedagogy resulted in greater metalinguistic awareness, while developing bilingual identities.
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Journal of Language, Identity & Education
ISSN: 1534-8458 (Print) 1532-7701 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hlie20
Translanguaging Pedagogies for Positive Identities
in Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education
Suzanne García-Mateus & Deborah Palmer
To cite this article: Suzanne García-Mateus & Deborah Palmer (2017) Translanguaging
Pedagogies for Positive Identities in Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education, Journal of
Language, Identity & Education, 16:4, 245-255, DOI: 10.1080/15348458.2017.1329016
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1329016
Published online: 02 Aug 2017.
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Translanguaging Pedagogies for Positive Identities in Two-Way
Dual Language Bilingual Education
Suzanne García-Mateus
a
and Deborah Palmer
b
a
Southwestern University;
b
University of Colorado
ABSTRACT
Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language
and identity are powerfully intertwined. A monolingual solitudes understanding
of bilingualism undermines childrens bilingual identities, yet in most bilingual
education classrooms, academic instruction is segregated by language and
childrenareencouragedtoengageinonly one language at a time. Few studies
have explored how a translanguaging pedagogy supports the development of
positive identities when learning through two languages. This article explores
the co-construction of identities of emergent bilingual children whose teacher
embraced dynamic bilingualism. We carried out a close discourse analysis,
drawing on the sociocultural linguistic framework of Bucholtz and Hall of
childrens interactions in a two-way bilingual education classroom. Our data
revealed that translanguaging offered equitable, empowering educational
and language learning opportunities to minoritized, bilingual students. A trans-
languaging pedagogy resulted in greater metalinguistic awareness, while
developing bilingual identities.
KEYWORDS
Bilingualism; identities;
identity construction;
pedagogies; teacher
education; translanguaging;
two-way bilingual education
A growing body of scholarly work demonstrates how identity is co-constructed through linguistic
interactions (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005; Reyes & Vallone, 2007). Research suggests that identity matters
for school success and that language and identity are powerfully intertwined (Lee, Hill-Bonnet, &
Raley, 2011; Norton, 2000; Palmer, 2008; Sayer, 2013). In this article, we explore one teachers
flexible approach to language learning and the importance of critical metalinguistic awareness, which
we are defining as a developing awareness of both language structures and the structural inequalities
around language use in society. Emergent bilinguals (EBs) in the context of the two-way dual
language bilingual education (hereafter TWBE) classroom are defined as students who are in the
process of becoming bilingual. That is, in this first grade TWBE classroom the term emergent
bilingual refers to students who come from English-speaking and Spanish-speaking homes and
students who are simultaneous bilinguals, because all are in the process of becoming bilingual and
biliterate while learning academic content. We argue that strictly separating the language of
instruction appears to inhibit both EBsdevelopment of positive identities and their willingness to
take linguistic risks and engage in critical discussions exploring societal issues related to equity.
During the fall of 2011, as part of a larger study (García-Mateus, 2016), The first author,
García-Mateus, collected data for 6 weeks in a 1st-grade classroom at Hillside Elementary (a pseudonym,
as are all other names), a small elementary school with a TWBE program located in the southwestern
United States. With the goal of exploring the potential of critical multicultural childrens literature to
stimulate critical and relevant discussions, García-Mateus collaborated with the classroom teacher to plan
and implement read-aloud lessons during the language arts or social studies instructional blocks. This
analysis will look closely at one lesson that took place during the social studies block. According to the
TWBE model being used, the designated language of instruction for social studies was always Spanish,
CONTACT Suzanne García-Mateus garciams@southwestern.edu P.O. Box 770, Georgetown, TX 78627-0770.
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE, IDENTITY & EDUCATION
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although the language of the day (which alternated) happened to be English during the recording of this
lesson. We will share a close discourse analysis, drawing on the sociocultural linguistic framework of
Bucholtz and Hall (2005), of an interaction between Ms. Jackson (the teacher), García-Mateus, and two
focal students, Alejandro and Ray. We will explore how the use of translanguaging in instruction
impacted studentscritical metalinguistic awareness, as well as their identities.
Literature review
Scholars examining the practice of translanguaging have become increasingly convinced that students
are more likely to experience academic success when presented with the opportunity to engage in this
form of flexible bilingualism (Bartlett & García, 2011; Cahyani, de Courcy, & Barnett, 2016; Durán &
Palmer, 2014; García & Kleyn, 2016; Gort & Sembiante, 2015; Palmer & Martínez, 2013; Palmer,
Martínez, Mateus, & Henderson, 2014; Sayer, 2013; Velasco & Fialais, 2016). Translanguaging appears
to serve as a means to open up spaces to co-construct identity and negotiate meaning. With this
analysis, we seek to contribute to the growing understanding of translanguaging strategies that develop
critical metalinguistic awareness in the TWBE classroom. EB students naturally draw on all their
language practices as they develop in their interactions with others and as they make sense of language
and content. Educators in TWBE contexts are divided in the way they support EBslanguage use in the
classroom. While some continue to insist upon language separation (Cloud, Genesee, & Hamayan,
2000; Lindholm-Leary, 2005), others are pushing the field to allow a more flexible form of bilingualism
for instruction in content areas (Palmer et al., 2014; Sayer, 2013).
Traditionally, the effective features(Lindholm-Leary, 2005)orguiding principles(Howard,
Sugarman, Christian, Lindholm-Leary, & Rogers, 2007) of TWBE programs promote the separation
of languages. This has included monolingual lesson delivery and a language policy to ensure students
are using the instructional language. Dual-language-bilingual-education instruction consistently
directs teachers to use standard registers of each program language, to shelter their instruction
through various means to ensure comprehension and to refrain from mixing languages. Cloud et al.
(2000) explain although code-switching is normal and can be used to great effect, it should be
avoided in Enrichment Education (i.e., dual language) classrooms as much as possible(p. 65).
Among the arguments the researchers make are that clear expectationsfor where and when each
program language is used will make things easier for students in the long term,and that students
entering school with only one of the program languages will gain more of their second language
when they are asked to engage in it solely without recourse to their first language during lessons
(p. 65). Many dual-language-bilingual-education practitioners and researchers see this language
separation as a necessary measure to ensure students have adequate exposure to the standard
monolingual register of each program language. While there is research supporting language
acquisition benefits of such separated language instruction (or language immersion experiences)
for children who enter TWBE programs as monolinguals (Lindholm-Leary, 2001; Watzinger-Tharp,
Swenson, & Mayne, 2016), in this study we were concerned with the growth of studentscritical
metalinguistic and social consciousness, especially related to equity among all children. In the
classroom we studied, there was tremendous variation in childrens bilingualism, and it is growing
clearer that for initial bilinguals and Spanish-dominant working class EBs in a U.S. context, language
separation during academic instruction can be counterproductive (Cervantes-Soon, 2014; Cervantes-
Soon et al., 2017; Fitts, 2006; Lee, Hill-Bonnet, & Gillespie, 2008; Martinez et al., 2014); meanwhile,
explicit centering of bilingual studentsvernacular language practices has potential to support the
development of critical metalinguistic consciousness in all students.
Languages are not the only dimension of diversity in a TWBE context; these are intentionally diverse
contexts in many ways. Researchers have explored and documented the challenges teachers face when they
try to integrate ethnically, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse students in TWBE classrooms while
promoting positive academic and bilingual identities (Cervantes-Soon et al., 2017; Fitts, 2006; Palmer, 2009;
Palmer & Martínez, 2013). Others have found that ensuring that students have equal or nearly equal footing
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in academic interactions has implications for the kinds of identities that emerge (Bartlett, 2007; Creese &
Blackledge, 2010; García & Bartlett, 2007;Gutierrez,Bien,Selland,&Pierce,2011;McKay&Wong,1996;
Palmer, 2008,2009; Potowski, 2004;Sayer,2013).
García (2009) defines translanguaging as the multiple discursive practices in which bilinguals
engage in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds(p. 45). According to García and Li Wei
(2014), translanguaging is part of a moral and political act that links the production of alternative
meanings to transformative social action(p. 37). They acknowledge that such a welcoming of
bilingual language practices in classrooms as a tool for transformative social action is controversial,
arguing that the controversy points to a general undervaluing of bilingualsfluid or vernacular
language practices in school settings. They emphasize the transformational nature of translanguaging
in the context of the United States for the co-construction of positive bilingual identities: A
translanguaging approach to teaching allows a teacher to draw on his or her full linguistic repertoire
and to engage the range of language practices of the children in the classroom. This includes
acceptance of what has been called code-switching, translating, and vernacular forms of languages,
all of which are often devalued in school. Thus, children whose everyday language practices are not
traditionally valued in school find themselves centered in a translanguaging classroom (Durán &
Palmer, 2014; Gort & Sembiante, 2015; Palmer et al., 2014). García and Li Wei (2014) point to the
need for more research exploring the transformative potential that a translanguaging approach to
learning in the classroom can have for all students. There is powerful learning potential both for
students whose everyday vernaculars become acceptable for academic work, and for those who may
enter school with language practices that more closely match standard registers (e.g., monolingual,
middle-class speakers) but learn to value their classmateslanguage practices as well as their own.
Lee et al. (2008) demonstrated ways in which asking children to behave as if they were two
monolinguals in one(p. 76) (i.e., only use one of their languages at a time) limited their use of their
full linguistic repertoire for learning. Findings indicated that children were tagged as either Spanish
or Englishspeakers in the classroom, which limited their participation in their new language. Bartlett
and García (2011) meanwhile illustrated the power of including students full linguistic repertoires to
learn, which translated into an increase in academic success and a positive bilingual identity for
immigrant youth. For example, in 2008, Luperón High School graduated 83.8% of their students, all
Latino EBs, within 4 years. However, the graduation rate of Latinos in New York City that same year
was only 53.4%. Ones language or languages serve as markers to an individuals identity; when we ask
practitioners and students to speak one language at a time we are at the very least discouraging
studentsapplication of their full linguistic repertoire to challenging academic tasks; potentially we are
also conveying the message that their ways of doing being bilingual(Auer, 1984,p.7)that is,
performing bilingualismare not acceptable in school spaces. Bakhtin (1998) argues that heteroglossia
is generativethat creative potential lurks within diversity. In line with this, we agree with García and
Li Wei (2014) that translanguaging pedagogies appear to offer tremendous potential for generative,
transformational learning. This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of the transformative
potential of translanguaging pedagogies by exploring strategies that support positive identity develop-
ment and promote critical metalinguistic awareness in the TWBE classroom.
Theoretical framework
This study explores the way co-construction of identity occurs through linguistic interaction. Bucholtz
and Hall (2005)defineidentitybroadlyasthe social positioning of self and other(p. 586). They
described how the co-construction of identity involves the use of language as a tool individuals use to
produce identity. Because these tools are put to use in interaction, the process of identity construction
does not reside within the individual but in intersubjective relations(p. 608). It is through the use of
tools, or linguistic resources, that individuals negotiate the meaning of their social positions and
emerging identities.
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Peirce (1995) explained that some students have a greater investment in becoming bilingual,
depending on various factors, such as home language use and support of Spanish; studentsattitudes
towards bilingual programs and Spanish; teacherspositioning of students; and students positioning
within their peer group. According to Peirce (1995) and Potowski (2004), learners will take risks in
their use of language and other semiotic resources to position and reposition themselves and each
other depending on how invested they are in acquiring a target language.
Peirce (1995) drew on Bourdieus(1991) notion of cultural capital as the resources, linguistic
knowledge, and variety that different classes and groups [of people use] in relation to specific sets of
social forms(Peirce, 1995, p. 17), where certain social/linguistic forms have a higher exchange value
than others depending on the context. If language, both voiced and gestural, is valued in the same
sense as cultural capital, then it too could be used as a tool, a cultural artifact, to assert ones position
in any given context. While second language acquisition theorists have traditionally posited second
language learnersmotivation, or lack thereof, as central to their process of acquiring an additional
language, Peirce (1995) argued that this conception of investment drives individuals to assert their
interest (or lack thereof) in acquiring a second language. Nortons conception of investment is
multifaceted. It is essential to the process of acquiring another language, but this belief in investment
also
presupposes that when language learners speak, they are not only exchanging information with target language
speakers, but they are constantly organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the
social world. Thus an investment in the target language is also an investment in a learners own social identity,
an identity which is constantly changing across time and space. (Peirce, 1995, p. 18)
When language learners speak, they are achieving several goals. On the surface, they are
attempting to exchange information in their second language with target language speakers. At
the same time, they are co-constructing their sense of identity and their positionality within a
certain context.
Through this framing, we examine the ways purposeful translanguaging strategies promote critical
metalinguistic awareness in all students. We will present how a translanguaging pedagogy appeared to
provide a safe space wherein students could draw from their full linguistic repertoires to make sense of
content and thereby potentially dig deeper into a challenging critical discussion regarding language and
societal issues related to equity. The following question guided our analysis: How do childrensand
teacherslinguistic interactions work to co-construct identities during a challenging critical discussion on
issues dealing with language use?
Methods and methodology
Context
Hillside Elementary is located in the southwestern United States. The TWBE model implemented
at Hillside Elementary required that science and social studies were taught in Spanish and math, in
English. Reading and language arts were taught in the studentsprimary(usually stronger)
language,whichmeantthatduringlanguagearts instruction students were separated into two
language groups. Meanwhile, the program also designated a Language of the Day, depending on
thedayofweek,foruseduringtransitions,specialareas(PE,art,music,etc.),recess,lunch,and
transitions: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday were designated Spanish days, while Tuesday and
Thursday were English days. This was intended to validate the use of both English and Spanish as
informal languages by the school community. A unique feature of this TWBE model required that
on many occasions throughout the day, students were asked to work in bilingual pairsto
complete academic tasks in which each student in the pair served as the expert in his/her native
language. The TWBE program therefore expected students to engage academically and socially in
Spanish and English.
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For 6 weeks García-Mateus and the classroom teacher, Ms. Jackson, planned and implemented
read-aloud lessons during the language arts or social studies instructional block that focused on
discussing critical and relevant topics. Among recommended practices for language/content acquisi-
tion in TWBE contexts, teachers are highly encouraged to design instruction for ongoing cooperative
group-work and interaction; in this schools program model, bilingual pairsis meant to accomplish
this (Gomez, Freeman, & Freeman, 2005).
As required by this TWBE model, the language of instruction for social studies was Spanish,
although the language of the day varied during the observations depending on the day of the week
(see description above). It should also be noted that students in this classroom, like Ms. Jackson,
the teacher, used both languages fluidly during each observation. In other words, although Ms.
Jackson was expected, according to the TWBE model, to teach in either Spanish or English during
certain content areas, like the students, she tapped into her linguistic strategies of code-switching
and translatingthat is, her translanguaging resourcesto communicate with students when
something was not clear. The children in her class varied in their level of Spanish and English
proficiency.
During the fall of 2011, all students had been engaged in implementing process drama (Roser,
Martínez, & Moore, 2015; Rothwell, 2011) during the literacy and social studies block. Together they
read texts but stopped before the resolution at a critical juncture and then played into the text,
meaning that students took on the charactersdilemmas as their own and came up with their own
solutions. The implementation of process drama in the TWBE classroom provided a safe space for
children who came from varying backgrounds to discuss sensitive issues, such as those related to race
and class. This analysis will focus on two of García-Mateusobservations: the first occurred during a
whole-class debrief following process drama group- work, and the second occurred immediately
after a whole-class read-aloud as two students were beginning to engage in the small-group process
drama work. Both observations were during the social studies instructional block.
Participants
The student population at Hillside Elementary consisted of approximately 300 students who were, as
agroup, 66% Latino, 3% African American, and 29% White or mixed race. The population was
approximately balanced in terms of home language or languages, although some of the children
designated as Spanish speakingwere actually initial bilinguals. There were approximately 60 first-
graders, and they were divided between three first-grade teachers. Here we focus on Ms. Jacksons
class.
Ms. Jackson grew up in the Rio Grande Valley in a bilingual household. She reported that her
home language practices as a child included constant switching back and forth between Spanish and
English, although she was English-dominant and schooled entirely in English. Ms. Jackson explained
that she began formal study of Spanish when she went to college and decided to become a bilingual
teacher; in fact, it was not really until then that she began to see herself as bilingual. Thus, Ms.
Jackson had a natural inclination to use Spanish and English fluidly when she spoke with other
bilinguals.
The study in this classroom actually included seven focal students. For the purposes of this article,
we will focus on two students: Alejandro and Ray. These two students were working together in a
bilingual pair during the interactions that we analyze below. Both students were dominant in their
nativelanguage, but seemed to be developing metalinguistic awareness during discussions and
interactions about multicultural books.
Alejandro was considered a 2nd-generation Latino immigrant (Rumbaut & Portes, 2001) and was
new to Hillside in 1st grade. During the observations, he would frequently respond in Spanish to
inquiries (in Spanish or English) by his classmates and teacher. Alejandro was more reserved during
whole-group interactions and seemed to speak up more during the reenactment of scenes from
multicultural childrens literature.
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Ray was one of two African-American students and the only African American male participating
in the TWBE program in 1st grade. It was his first year participating in the TWBE program and he
had only been exposed to Spanish for a month when the interactions that are described later
occurred. Ray was dominant in English and also appeared to use African American Vernacular
English (AAVE) in some contexts. Ray was not shy about sharing his thoughts and opinions in class,
although as will be evident he sometimes seemed resistant to attempting Spanish.
Data collection
Between October 6 and December 16, 2011, García-Mateus visited Ms. Jacksons1st grade classroom
a total of 12 times. She video- and audio-recorded these sessions, wrote detailed field notes, and
carried out interviews with Ms. Jackson and with the focal students. As we said, for this analysis, we
focus on two of the seven focal students, Alejandro and Ray.
To select the transcripts for this article, we drew from a thematic analysis of the entire data set,
purposely selecting transcripts that engaged children across language groups in critical conversations,
which we defined as conversations exploring larger societal issues related to equity. Many transcripts
fit these criteria; we selected two that we judged would illustrate patterns we saw across the data set.
Ericksons(2006) type one method, which involved a microanalysis of language, was used to closely
analyze selected transcripts and look explicitly at the ways the use of Spanish and English between
Ms. Jackson, García-Mateus, and the focal students transpired to promote critical metalinguistic
awareness.
Researcherspositionality
García-Mateus is a 2nd-generation Mexican immigrant in her early 40s who grew up in a bilingual
home and community in southern California. Formerly a TWBE 1st-grade teacher, she is a
university professor who teaches courses in literacy, the language arts, and reading methods with
an emphasis on students who come from bilingual backgrounds. She is actively involved in her local
and the national community to advocate for equitable dual language bilingual education programs
for minoritized language communities.
Palmer is a White woman in her mid-40s who became bilingual in Spanish as an adult to work more
effectively with the children in her elementary classrooms in California. Formerly a TWBE 4th- and
5th-grade teacher, she is a university professor who teaches courses in language and education and
conducts research in bilingual schools and strives to work in solidarity with bilingual and multilingual
communities in their efforts to achieve equity and access to educational opportunity.
Findings
We will discuss the conversations that surrounded two bilingual poems from the childrens picture
book My Name is Jorge on Both Sides of the River (Medina, 1999). The first poem, My Name is
Jorge,was one of the early poems in the book (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
ANTSWkDkGfw or https://www.vsra.org/HANDOUTS2010/ELL%201/01%20Medina%20Poem.
pdf). First, Ms. Jackson read, out loud in Spanish, the poem, which is about a young boy named
Jorge who has moved from México to the United States who laments the fact that people in school
now call him George,even though his name is really Jorge. Then, children were asked to take on
the roles of Jorge (and his classmates and teacher) and playwhat they would do in his place. The
interaction below between Ms. Jackson and Ray occurred during the whole-class debriefing, after the
children had played intothe poem. Ms. Jackson and Ray discussed why Jorges name might have
been mispronounced as George. (Note. In the following excerpt and the explanation below it, letters
between slash marks, or virgules, (e.g., /H/) indicate vocalization of the English letter sound, while
letters standing alone indicate the stating of the letters English name).
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Excerpt 1: Developing Metalinguistic Awareness: It sounds like a /H/.
(1) Ray: Like, Josués name starts with a G [states the English letter name], but its /H/ [vocalizes
the English hsound].
(2) Ms. Jackson: with a J.
(3) Ray: but it has to do with a /H/.
(4) Ms. Jackson: Im sorry?
(5) Ray: in Josués name. Its a J in his name, but it sounds like a /H/.
(6) Ms. Jackson: It does sound like an H, right. Youre right.
During the six weeks of data collection Ray was not observed speaking Spanish. It is clear from
this exchange, however, that he was nevertheless developing some metalinguistic awareness about
the differences between Spanish and English. He explained to Ms. Jackson that, like Jorge, his
classmate Josués name starts with a J, but that in Spanish the Jmakes the sound of the letter H
in English. Ray makes a mistake and refers to Josues name as starting with a G. Ms. Jackson clarifies
and says, with a J.Ray counters that it has to do with a /H/.Ms. Jackson, a little confused by
Rays explanation, asks for clarification: Im sorry?Ray clarifies: The letter Jin Spanish makes the
same sound as the letter Hin English. With this, Ray demonstrates bilingual phonemic awareness.
An important part of developing a translanguaging practice and pedagogy is helping students make
cross-linguistic connections (Palmer et al., 2014). Ray has illustrated, and Ms. Jackson has welcomed,
a developing awareness of phonetics across the languages he is learning; this is one small example of
the potential of translanguaging in a TWBE program.
Rays contribution to the conversation about the phonological difference between Spanish and
English letters in the pronunciation of Spanish names provoked the student with the name in
question, Josué, to step in and correct the class; immediately after the above exchange, Josué jumped
in to tell everyone that his name is not Jozuey(as pronounced in English), but Josué(with a
softer s, i.e., Spanish pronunciation). It could be argued that Rays participation in this conversation
may have heightened his critical metalinguistic awareness: He not only engaged with a poem
exploring the differences between Spanish and English pronunciation of names (and how this
mattered to the character in the poem), he now knew that one of his own classmates, Josué,
struggled with a similar issue.
The following transcript occurred right after the read-aloud on a different day. Another poem
later in the same collection titled, T-shirt (https://www.vsra.org/HANDOUTS2010/ELL%201/01%
20Medina%20Poem.pdf) had just been read out loud and students were beginning to play intothe
poem in pairs and small groups. Alejandro and Ray were assigned to work together, and
García-Mateus was supporting their interaction. In the poem, the teacher, Mrs. Roberts (played by
Alejandro), was asking Jorge (played by Ray) to call her Mrs. Robertsinstead of teacher.The
teacher made this request because it is a sign of respect,and added that when Jorge said teacher it
sounded like t-shirt, and she didntwant to turn into a t-shirt.The teacher was insinuating that
Jorges English was accented due to the fact that he was a recent immigrant from Mexico and just
learning English. Alejandro and Ray had been assigned their roles from the poem, but they were
invited to change its outcome/direction. In their case, this took a unique turn:
Excerpt 2: Developing Bilingual Identities: He keep on actinin Spanish!
(Note. Translations of Spanish into English are in [brackets], and body language, gestures, or
tones are in parentheses.)
(1) Researcher: Okay, lets, lets act.
(2) Ray: He keep on actinin Spanish!
(3) Researcher: Oh, okay.
(4) Alejandro: Yo no sé inglés. [I dont know English.]
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(5) Ray: Its English day.
(6) Researcher: Okay, well, do you understand a little bit of Spanish?
(7) Ray: (shakes head no)
(8) Researcher: Ray, lets try, lets just see how it goes, okay? Lets just try it. Go ahead.
(9) Ray: TeCHER.
(10) Alejandro: No, teacher.
(11) Researcher: What did you.
(12) Alejandro: No, teacher.
(13) Ray: NO, teacher.
(14) Alejandro: No llama ese teacher. [Dont call me teacher.]
(15) Ray: Okay, teaCHA
(16) Alejandro: No, I said, t-shirt!
(17) Researcher: ¿Qué quieres que diga entonces? [What would you like him to say?]
(18) Alejandro: Maestra. Yo soy maestra, yo. [I am teacher, me.]
(19) Researcher: OH, he wants you to call him maestra [teacher.] Okay?
(20) Ray: Ummm, I cant do that. I dont know how
In the 20 turns of talk above, Alejandro spoke in English, Spanish, and both (turn 14). Ray used a
standard register of English, included some features of AAVE, and shook his head. The researcher
also spoke in English, Spanish, and both. There were many kinds of linguistic resources at play. In
general, interactions between people have this level of complexity, especially in a TWBE classroom
where children are intentionally linguistically diverse and becoming bilingual is a primary focus and
goal.
While most children playing Jorge around the room finished their reenactment by asking the
teacher to call them Jorge rather than George, just the way Jorge in the poem did, Alejandro (playing
the teacher) added a twist: he asked Ray, playing Jorge, to call him maestra (instead of teacher in
English). In Mexican school contexts, the use of this title is a sign of respect; a teacher would expect
to be called maestro/a. Perhaps being placed in the powerful role of a classroom teacher who was
correcting a student gave Alejandro the agency or confidence to change the storyline to address his
concerns as a Spanish-dominant student learning English; essentially, he pushed his partner, an
English-dominant student, to speak Spanish (which was the language of instruction for social studies
lessons) and to follow the Mexican cultural norm.
Alejandro, in this example, was more than merely code-switching, or translating, or reading/
writing across languages; he was engaging academically, drawing across his linguistic and cultural
resources with intention; he was translanguaging. Ms. Jackson made this possible for him by reading
a bilingual poem with her students that pushed them to think about the power of naming someone,
specifically, and about different countriescultural norms for naming teachers and, then, by placing
children in positions of power to act out the scenes. Essentially, Ms. Jackson gave Alejandro
permission to demand that the teacherin the poem be called by the respected Mexican title:
maestra.
Ray, meanwhile, asserted his identity as an English speaker by refusing to engage with Alejandro
in Spanish on an English day,even at the request of a participating adult. To be clear, although this
was an English day,the language of instruction for this social studies lesson (and all social studies)
was expected to be Spanish; furthermore, Ms. Jackson was a flexible bilingual who tended to draw
upon her own bilingual repertoire regardless of the constraints imposed by the TWBE model. Thus,
in a sense, both children were rightSpanish or English appeared to be acceptable in this moment,
depending upon interpretation. Certainly, in his first month in the TWBE program, Rays reticence
to speak in this brand-new language was completely understandable and expected. (He may not even
have yet fully understood that Spanish was expected during social studies.) However, this did not
take away from the identity implications of his insistence on sticking to English. Quite the contrary,
Rays assertion of his monolingualism was a key part of the identity work going on in this interaction
252 GARCÍA-MATEUS AND PALMER
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(and many interactions in TWBE classrooms); there was still much work to be done to convince this
English speaker that he could or should embrace a bilingual identity. The first step in this process,
we would argue, was the very fact that Ray got to hear maestra alongside teacher in ways that he
otherwise would not have if Alejandro and Ray had only been given permission to speak in Spanish
(or in English) during the lesson; translanguaging could play a part in supporting Rays development
of a bilingual identity.
Finally, it was clear that Ray himself exhibited a complex linguistic repertoire, in that he drew on
home language practices related to AAVE (e.g. He keep on actin’”) to assert his own identity in this
interaction. Unfortunately, neither the teacher nor the researcher brought Rays multilingual com-
petencies to the fore in this moment. This would have been another example of a translanguaging
pedagogy, this time to benefit everyone by drawing on the unique linguistic strengths of the small
minority of participants in this classroom whose home language repertoires included features that
are said to be AAVE. This warrants further attention, as the presence of African American students
in TWBE classrooms is definitely under-examined (Palmer, 2010).
Conclusion
By opening a space where Ray and Alejandro could leverage their full linguistic repertoires to
construct meaning around critical bilingual literature, Ms. Jackson and the researcher were working
to promote the development of a positive bilingual identity and critical metalinguistic awareness of
the Spanish speakers experience in English-dominant spaces. Ms. Jackson opened up a space in her
classroom where young students like Alejandro could resist the historical and cultural positionings
of English monolingualism or heritage languagebilingualism in the USA(García & Leiva, 2014,
p. 199). The translanguaging practices in which Alejandro, Ray, García-Mateus, and the teacher
engaged became a part of this process. Translanguaging, therefore, appeared to support the devel-
opment of cross-linguistic awareness for both students, to potentially contribute to constructing
(over a long-term) empowering bilingual identities for both students and to potentially address
language-related social justice issues within the context of critical multicultural stories and real
classroom situations.
We are here reporting only on two very short transcripts of the kinds of discourse happening in
only one classroom involving only two children and two adults. These findings, however, are well-
aligned with others from the larger study in which this analysis was embedded (Martinez, Roser,
Zapata, & Greeter, 2015; Palmer et al., 2014; Roser et al., 2015). Of course, more exploration is
necessary regarding the potential of translanguaging in TWBE spaces, as many issues also arise in
these contexts that we have not fully addressed here. We hope that this study might inspire others to
explore the potential of translanguaging pedagogies to support the development of positive bilingual
identities and critical metalinguistic awareness for students, both Englishdominant and Spanish
dominant, who are users of minoritized languages or language varieties.
Notes
1. Both poems have Spanish translations alongside the English.
ORCID
Suzanne García-Mateus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9220-0637
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The idea that translanguaging in English classrooms can scaffold instruction to make sense of learning and language makes it a promising pedagogical strategy. This qualitative study explored how translanguaging could leverage indigenous Filipino students' linguistic diversity to construct narratives that authentically reflect their social identities. A corpus of two drafts of biographies written by a Higaonon and a Manobo was analyzed. The students' responses, written as journal entries and obtained through open-ended surveys and in-depth interviews, were also analyzed thematically. Results showed that translanguaging reinforces the detailing of the account of the subjects through the use of Binukid common nouns, adverbs and adverbial phrases, prepositions and prepositional phrases, conjunctions, determiners, and clauses. Their sense of responsibility and desired recognition of their identity in the non-IP mainstream community influenced translanguaging in their compositions. Lastly, this pedagogical writing strategy honors their linguistic diversity and cultural heritage, fostering a sense of pride and connection to their identity. The study concludes that translanguaging managed to enhance the depth and authenticity of the creative nonfiction texts; the Indigenous students' intrinsic motivation, rooted in their internal beliefs, values, and self-perception, heightened their translanguaging strategy; and translanguaging endeavored to boost the self-worth and self-confidence of Indigenous students, thereby cementing their identity in their works.
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This article reports on a study that investigated achievement in math of third and fourth grade dual language immersion (DLI) students, building on research that has demonstrated the academic achievement of students who receive content instruction predominantly in the target language. Our study expands the scope and methodology of prior research by including one-way programs in three languages (Chinese, French and Spanish) and two-way Spanish-English programs; and by relying on propensity matching to mitigate possible effects of school and student differences. In our third grade study, we compared students’ math scores in relation to their English Language Arts (ELA) achievement to control for pre-existing differences between DLI and non-DLI students. DLI students who attained the same levels in ELA, and who received math instruction in a target language, performed at the same level as their non-DLI peers in third grade math tests given in English. For the fourth grade study, we compared DLI students to a propensity-matched non-DLI group. DLI students grew more in math than their counterparts not in DLI. The results from this natural experiment indicate that students in a DLI program that has been implemented state-wide were able to succeed academically in math.
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his aim of this article is to contribute to the development of a socio- cultural model of emergent biliteracy that recognizes the dynamic interactions amongst two languages. The present field study took place in a French–German public Kindergarten class in Alsace, France, where students are in the initial process of learning to read in both languages. The teacher, fluent in both French and German, created a translanguaging space where a simultaneous biliterate practice using cognates (or words in two languages that share similar print characteristics and meaning), and identical and non-identical false cognates (words that share all or some print characteristics in both languages but not the same meaning) could be enacted. The selected words enabled these five year olds to engage in a simultaneous biliterate practice that highlighted the students’ interlinguistic abilities specific to print, phonology and meaning across languages.
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The pedagogical and sociocultural functions of teachers’ code-switching are an important factor in achieving the dual goals of content learning and language learning in bilingual programmes. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study investigating how and why teachers switched between languages in tertiary bilingual classrooms in Indonesia, where the main language of instruction was English. Data on code-switching were gathered in three classrooms over one semester, employing classroom observation with video and audio recording, semi-structured teacher interviews with some stimulated recall, and a focus group discussion. Transcripts of classroom interaction were examined using both an Interactional Sociolinguistics (IS) perspective and functional categories of code-switching. Teacher reflections were studied, and analysis indicated that teachers’ code-switching was frequently used to support students to gain understanding of unfamiliar concepts, where the pedagogical focus was on the subject matter more than on language. It also involved managing students’ behaviour and engaging in interpersonal and affective interactions with students. The teachers’ code-switching thus frequently functioned as translanguaging in that it occurred as an intentional strategy for teaching in these bilingual classrooms, integrating the two languages in order to achieve better communication and engagement in learning.
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This chapter reviews critical areas of research on issues of equity/equality in the highly proclaimed and exponentially growing model of bilingual education: two-way immersion (TWI). There is increasing evidence that TWI programs are not living up to their ideal to provide equal access to educational opportunity for transnational emergent bilingual students. Through a synthesis of research from related fields, we will offer guidelines for program design that attend to equality and a framework for future research to push the field of bilingual education toward creating more equitable and integrated multilingual learning spaces. Specifically, this review leads to a proposal for adding a fourth goal for TWI programs: to develop “critical consciousness” through using critical pedagogies and humanizing research.
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Additive Schooling in Subtractive Times documents the unusually successful efforts of one New York City high school to educate Dominican immigrant youth, at a time when Latino immigrants constitute a growing and vulnerable population in the nation's secondary schools. Based on four and a half years of qualitative research, the book examines the schooling of teens in the Dominican Republic, the social and linguistic challenges the immigrant teens face in Washington Heights, and how Gregorio Luperón High School works with the community to respond to those challenges. The staff at Luperón see their students as emergent bilinguals and adhere to a culturally and linguistically additive approach. After offering a history of the school's formation, the authors detail the ways in which federal No Child Left Behind policies, New York State accountability measures, and New York City's educational reforms under Mayor Bloomberg have complicated the school's efforts. The book then describes the dynamic bilingual pedagogical approach adopted within the school to help students develop academic Spanish and English. Focusing on the lives of twenty immigrant youth, Bartlett and García also show that, although the school achieves high completion rates, the graduating students nevertheless face difficult postsecondary educational and work environments that too often consign them to the ranks of the working poor.
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This chapter traces the development of a theory of translanguaging in education, from its Welsh beginnings, and its relationship to the important educational concepts of creativity and criticality. The chapter explicitly states why it is important to go from bilingualism in education to translanguaging in education, and the impact of this shift to transform monolingual, foreign/second language education and bilingual education structures.