Translanguaging Pedagogy as an Embodiment of Authentic Cariño in Bilingual and English-Dominant Elementary Classrooms

• In Event: (Re)Centering Criticality in Language Education: Exploring Translanguaging as Consequential Praxis

Abstract

Objectives
In this paper, I draw upon examples from a case study of literacy instruction in fourth grade bilingual and English-dominant classrooms to showcase how translanguaging pedagogy (García & Wei, 2014) can be seen as an enactment of authentic cariño (Curry, 2016, 2021). I conclude by highlighting the implications for advocating for translanguaging pedagogy at the school and district level.

Theoretical Framework
I frame my work using García and Wei’s (2014) understanding of translanguaging as the rich language practices and pedagogies drawn on by multilingual individuals and their communities. I add nuance to this framework by using Curry’s (2016, 2021) model of authentic cariño to outline the ways that translanguaging pedagogy can be understood through the lenses of familial cariño, intellectual cariño, and critical cariño. Curry intentionally uses cariño instead of care “to decenter Eurocentric maternal connotations of caring in favor of culturally and politically informed forms of care” (Curry, 2021, p.16). This emphasis on criticality is aligned with the way translanguaging theorizes bi/multilingual students’ full linguistic repertoire and challenges notions of “standard” language, defined as a singular appropriate way to use language (Wiley & Lukes, 1996).
Methods and Data Sources
In this study, I deepened my pre-existing relationships with two fourth grade teachers at Molina Elementary (pseudonym), a K-5 school in an urban school district in the southwest of the United States that serves a majority of bi/multilingual learners. I drew on elements of case study methodology to explore how teachers took up translanguaging literacy pedagogy in their bilingual and English-dominant classrooms and the impact this had on their students. Over the course of 16 weeks, I observed the literacy block, attended grade team meetings, interviewed the teachers and students, and collected pictures of student work. I used Curry’s (2016, 2021) conception of authentic cariño to frame my thematic analysis (Saldaña, 2015).

Findings
The findings showcase teacher and student actions that reveal how translanguaging pedagogy embodies all three elements of authentic cariño. For example, in terms of intellectual cariño, the teachers engaged their students in a complex analysis of translingual writing. In addition, familial cariño was at the heart of classroom communities’ ethos around languaging. Finally, critical cariño was evident in how the teachers honored the students’ linguistic practices and did not require their language to fit a strict definition of “standard” language.

Significance
Translanguaging pedagogy and authentic cariño open a space for teachers to make their heteroglossic language ideologies clear by valuing students' full linguistic repertoires. As we look back to the classroom examples above, we see how enacting this type of care might require teachers and schools to restructure how they enact language instruction. This could mean advocating for translanguaging pedagogy at the school or district level and questioning traditional notions of language separation. This advocacy work embodies the commitment to social justice that is at the heart of authentic cariño.

Author

• Cori Salmerón, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author