Translanguaging for Meaning Making in ESL Contexts

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Analyzing Translanguaging in Different Contexts

Abstract

This presentation reports a case study highlighting translanguaging pedagogy in an ESL context. Five upper elementary bilingual students with varied language proficiencies in English and Spanish participated in 16 language and literacy lessons in which translanguaging pedagogy was enacted. To characterize how participants engaged in translanguaging during these lessons, and how they used their two languages to engage in meaning making about texts, and their salient linguistic features in the areas of semantics, morphology, and syntax, lessons were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed drawing on different discourse and conversation analysis techniques. Findings indicate that participants flexibly used their two languages to engage in meaning making, display their bilingual skills, and enhance their understanding of how their languages work.

Author

• Marcela Ossa Parra, Boston College