Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts

What is it about?

Second language (L2) learning is a notoriously complex and highly variable process, influenced by a host of factors including learning context, language distance, age, aptitude and motivation. Within a translanguaging framework, L2 learning can be viewed as a dynamic and multilingual process that relies heavily on previous language knowledge to “construct understandings, [include] others, and [mediate] understandings across language group” (Garcia, 2009). Among deaf learners, L2 learning has always been strongly associated with the development of the spoken or written language of the majority hearing community. Decades of research on deaf reading and writing have demonstrated that learning a spoken language that one cannot hear, even in a format that is visually accessible, poses extraordinary challenges. This chapter examines one of the reasons underlying the poor outcomes of deaf L2 acquisition is the exclusive focus on their performance in cross-modality acquisition, that is, acquisition of a spoken language rather than another signed language. It illustrates a more accurate picture of deaf learners’ capacity for L2 learning emerges and of abilities in an L2 that is fully accessible and optimized for the visual-gestural modality. Furthermore, this chapter demonstrate that among multi-modality, multilingual deaf signers, translanguaging occurs across modalities as well as within modalities, so that signers’ growing abilities in an L2 sign language can support development of an L2 spoken/written language.

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Why is it important?

For readers who are unfamiliar with issues related to language learning in deaf populations, this chapter will include an overview of key background information necessary to appreciate the challenges of deaf L2 learning. Reading proficiency of deaf American 18-year olds is estimated at the 3rd or 4th grade level (Traxler 2000), a gap that poses a significant barrier for social and educational advancement. A chief factor behind weak reading skills is lack of early language access for the roughly 95% of deaf people born to hearing families (Mitchell & Karchmer 2004) who do not know any sign language. Childhood language deprivation is shockingly common among deaf children worldwide, particularly in societies where a deaf child is still considered a shameful curse to be hidden from public. Going without accessible language input, even for just a year or two, e.g. while one waits to receive a cochlear implant, can have a devastating and lasting impact on first language development, as well as any subsequent language learning (Morford & Mayberry 2000). However, exposure to a natural sign language can mitigate some of the negative effects of early language deprivation (Koulidobrova & Palmer 2015). Natural sign languages are not only fully accessible for deaf learners, but their grammars have evolved to exploit space, iconicity and multichannel transmission in ways that are highly efficient, optimized for perception and transmission through the visual-gestural modality. These linguistic mechanisms thus occur in many sign languages, even those that are completely unrelated.

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