Arts-Rich Translanguaging in Community Spaces: Vietnamese Australian Parents' Journey through Collaborative Bookmaking

• In Event: Transnational Caregivers' Multimodal and Multlingual Literacies

Abstract

This study examines an arts-based translanguaging book-making project with Vietnamese Australian families. The initiative emerged from a community collaboration with workshops combining visual art, storytelling, and multilingual practices, and related events. Using translanguaging and distributed language theoretical frameworks, the findings advance understandings of how arts-based approaches uniquely support heritage language maintenance by creating spaces where fluid language practices are normalized and celebrated. Creative, collaborative initiatives transform deficit perspectives of “brokenness” into appreciation of multilingual resources.

Authors

• Julie Choi, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne

• Liz Murray, Independent researcher and teacher mentor