Making Visible the Translanguaging Corriente in Elementary Writing Instruction: Bilingual Teachers Enacting Bilingualism in Situ

• In Event: Translanguaging Perspectives on Writing: Learning From Findings Across Contexts

Abstract

Objectives
In this presentation, we explore language as a functional resource for meaning-making in bilingual writing instruction, highlighting the ways that two teachers in an elementary bilingual education program engaged in translanguaging practices as they implemented SFL genre pedagogy.

Perspectives
SFL genre pedagogy is an approach to writing instruction that is rooted in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL; Halliday, 1978) and organized through the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC; Rose & Martin, 2012). Contrary to theories that define language as a set of rules, SFL centers language as a functional resource for making-meaning through context-informed choices situated in culturally-shaped interactions. The TLC is an instructional process that helps students build content and genre knowledge in preparation for writing through scaffolded engagement with a variety of texts, extended interactions about language and meaning in texts, and opportunities for collaborative and independent composing. Defining genres according to a shared purpose, organizational structure, and linguistic features, SFL genre pedagogy makes visible the intended purpose and audience of writing (Martin & Rothery, 1986). SFL genre pedagogy has the potential to cultivate culturally sustaining linguistic practices that embrace and expand emergent bilinguals’ broad and dynamic language repertoires (Author 3, 2015; Martínez et al., 2017) and to resist ideologies that position bilingual students’ languaging as inadequate or deviant from culturally established norms (Author 3, 2022; Sembiante & Tian, 2021; García & Solorza, 2021). While research has investigated this potential in English-medium classrooms (e.g., Brisk et al., 2016; Brisk & Ossa Parra, 2018; Gebhard et al., 2014), we explore the extent to which translanguaging practices can be elevated when functional language approaches are leveraged in bilingual writing instruction.

Methods
As part of an ongoing (2019-present) research-practice partnership between university-based teacher educators and elementary bilingual education teachers, we explored how teachers’ translanguaging practices supported the implementation of a functional language approach to teaching writing that centers bilingualism and biliteracy. We focused on the practices of two 4th grade teachers in a one-way bilingual education program, each assigned a different language of instruction, analyzing video recordings and fieldnotes from classroom observations as well as video-elicitation interview transcripts to understand teachers’ languaging choices and sensemaking as they engaged in SFL genre pedagogy. We identified and transcribed translanguaging moments, paying particular attention to where they occurred across the TLC. We then analyzed how these moments related to the functional purpose of language-focused writing instruction guided by SFL genre pedagogy.

Results
Findings illustrate that, despite district-wide language separation policies that articulate clear language allocations for Spanish and English instruction, teachers strategically engaged the translanguaging corriente (Author 5, 2017) as they implemented instruction that was purposeful, meaningful, and functional. Specifically, teachers intentionally selected multilingual texts, explicitly made cross-linguistic connections, and translingually reframed children’s contributions in classroom interactions. However, teachers’ choices reflected varying degrees of functional purposes in context, reflecting their emerging understandings of SFL genre pedagogy and shifting language ideologies.

Significance and Implications
These findings have implications for embracing dynamic bilingualism and functional approaches to writing instruction as critical components of pedagogies that nurture emergent bilinguals’ literacy potential.

Authors

• Mileidis Gort, University of Colorado - Boulder
  Presenting Author

• Molly Hamm-Rodríguez, University of South Florida
  Presenting Author

• Mary Beth Snow Balderas, University of Colorado - Boulder
  Presenting Author

• Devon Hedrick-Shaw, University of Colorado - Boulder
  Presenting Author