Getting Access and Voicing Oneself: Integrating Translanguaging and Critical Pragmatic English for Academic Purposes

• In Event: 66.044 - Student Voice and Action: Cultivating (Re)Constructive Powers of Student Agency

Abstract

The global spread of English has brought the popularity of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in tertiary education. This paper addresses the dichotomy confronting EAP practitioners and researchers: how to enable second language (L2) learners to both get access to and challenge the dominant English academic discourse? Grounded on the notion of a critical pragmatic approach and translanguaging, this paper presents a theoretical and pedagogical framework that integrates translanguaging into a critical pragmatic EAP approach and illustrates how L2 learners could draw on translanguaging to learn, question and voice themselves in academic literacy. The researcher seeks to provide pedagogical implications for EAP practice and calls for a new thinking that values L2 learners’ home language/culture in EAP.

Author

• Jiajia Liu, The University of Hong Kong