Translanguaging Practices Embedded in Transnational Networks: A Multisited Ethnographic Study of Young Korean Immigrant Children

• In Event: 51.078 - MTCC Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 51.078-1 - Exploring the Intersections of Literacy, Language, and Culture

Abstract

Employing a multi-sited ethnographic stance, this year-long case study examines second-generation Korean immigrant children’s translanguaging practices in multiple locales (e.g., formal and informal spaces) across geographic boundaries (e.g., Korea and the U.S.). This paper demonstrates how young immigrant children, as active social agents, play crucial roles in building, maintaining, and extending transnational networks by flexibly drawing on multiple languages and linguistic features (e.g., honorific speech styles and gestures) as they physically, culturally, and socially move across geographic boundaries.

Author

• Jungmin Kwon, Michigan State University