Language Learning and Literary Devices: Translanguaging as a Lens for Understanding Irony

• In Event: Translanguaging and Disciplinary Literacies

Abstract

Objectives. In an effort to counter monolingual language ideologies, researchers have called for the implementation of multilingual or translingual approaches to address language differences in college composition courses (Horner, Lu, Royster, & Trimbur, 2011; Horner & Trimbur, 2002; Matsuda, 2006). While these studies represent an important step forward in identifying the types of approaches needed to fill this research gap, we argue that greater emphasis must be placed on developing practical strategies for integrating linguistic minority (LM) learners’ language profiles into post-secondary writing classrooms. To that end, this study seeks to investigate the effects of translanguaging on LM students’ use and perceptions of their own language resources, while fulfilling the content objectives of required remediation coursework.

Theoretical framework. In its most basic form, translanguaging is a languaging practice in which bi/multilinguals flexibly draw from all of their linguistic resources to process information, make meaning, and convey it to others (Baker, 2006; García, 2009; Creese & Blackledge, 2010). This study is specifically guided by García and Wei’s (2014) interpretations, where translanguaging is characterized by its “transdisciplinarity,” empowering bi/multilinguals “to go beyond traditional academic disciplines and conventional structures” (p. 42). In an effort to explore these transdisciplinary dimensions, LM students enrolled in community college writing courses were asked to consider how an author’s use of irony impacted their translations of an English language text into their home languages. Borrowing inspiration from Authors et al. (2015), our approaches to understanding student-generated translations are grounded in Hall, Smith, and Wickasono’s (2017) notion of translation theory and Fairclough’s (2015) interpretation of critical discourse analysis.
Consequently, this study asks: 1) How does translanguaging impact students’ understanding of irony as a literary device 2) How does translanguaging impact students’ perceptions of their own language resources?

Methods and data. The integration of translanguaging pedagogy into a postsecondary writing class represents an innovative approach to teaching and learning; accordingly, this study is informed by design-based research methodology, to provide space for analysis and theoretical refinement with each iteration of the instructional procedures (Design-Based Research Collective, 2003). Using a constant comparative method (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), data analysis was ongoing, allowing for the emergence of patterns in all data sources to be continuously evaluated.
Participants (N=20) worked collaboratively with speakers of the same native languages to produce written translations of the English language source text. Excerpts from Carmen Maria Machado’s (2017) Her Body and Other Parties served as the source text for these exercises.
This study’s design ensures credibility via the triangulation of three primary data sources: participants’ written translations; video recordings and transcriptions of semi-structured post-translation interviews; exit survey data.

Results and significance. Preliminary data analysis reveals that the translation activity leveraged the unique linguistic strengths that participants brought to the task of translanguaging, albeit in different ways.
This study lends insight into developing instructional supports that benefit LM learners enrolled in required remediation coursework, currently a major gap in the literature. Moreover, this study embraces LM learners’ complete linguistic potential, reframing their meaning-making skills in a positive light.

Authors

• Alexis McBride, Mount Saint Mary College

• Robert T. Jimenez, Vanderbilt University