Divergent Translanguaging Practices and Perceptions

What is it about?

This study investigated emergent Mandarin-English bilinguals’ practices and perceptions of translanguaging in the process and product of digital multimodal composing (DMC) in a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) context. Fifty-one first-year undergraduates taking a CLIL course took a questionnaire survey and submitted ten group videos. To account for potential individual differences, linear mixed-effects models were built for the questionnaire responses. The results showed that the participants’ translanguaging practices differed in the process and product of DMC. Regarding their translanguaging practices, in the process of DMC, they mainly translanguaged from Mandarin to English and occasionally to Chinese dialects, which was most evident during group discussion; in the product of DMC, they mainly translanguaged from English to Mandarin, with little use of Chinese dialects. The analysis of the videos supported the questionnaire results, revealing translanguaging mostly in subtitles and visuals. Concerning perceptions of translanguaging, the participants generally had positive attitudes and viewed translanguaging primarily as a way of learning rather than a tool of building interpersonal relationships or expressing identity. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications for fostering a more functionally diverse approach to translanguaging in DMC are discussed.

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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study investigated emergent Mandarin-English bilinguals’ practices and perceptions of translanguaging in the process and product of digital multimodal composing (DMC) in a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) context. Fifty-one first-year undergraduates taking a CLIL course took a questionnaire survey and submitted ten group videos. To account for potential individual differences, linear mixed-effects models were built for the questionnaire responses. The results showed that the participants’ translanguaging practices differed in the process and product of DMC. Regarding their translanguaging practices, in the process of DMC, they mainly translanguaged from Mandarin to English and occasionally to Chinese dialects, which was most evident during group discussion; in the product of DMC, they mainly translanguaged from English to Mandarin, with little use of Chinese dialects. The analysis of the videos supported the questionnaire results, revealing translanguaging mostly in subtitles and visuals. Concerning perceptions of translanguaging, the participants generally had positive attitudes and viewed translanguaging primarily as a way of learning rather than a tool of building interpersonal relationships or expressing identity. Based on these findings, pedagogical implications for fostering a more functionally diverse approach to translanguaging in DMC are discussed.

Perspectives