From “I Am Novice” to “We Are Multilingual Teachers”: Collaborative Autoethnography of Translanguaging Stance Development

• In Event: AERA Research in Progress Roundtable Session Three
  In Invited Roundtable: Research-in-Progress RT068 (Friday)

Abstract

This study investigates how novice international ESL teachers could develop translanguaging stances through collaborative autoethnography. Drawing on sociocultural mediation theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and the framework of documentation, rings, and transformation (García, Johnson & Seltzer, 2017), the study examines how reflective writing, dialogue, and classroom redesign mediate ideological and pedagogical growth. Through iterative journaling and analysis, three strategies—reflective witnessing, dialogic mediation, and pedagogical transformation—emerged as indicators of stance development. Findings demonstrate that autoethnography functions as a mediational tool connecting identity work with translanguaging pedagogy. The project concludes with plans to expand this inquiry into a collaborative teacher-researcher network supporting multilingual stance development in adult ESL education.

Author

• Yuzhou Xiong, University of Pennsylvania