Layering the Trans-Multi-Pluri Pedagogies in Postsecondary Classrooms

• In Event: New Perspectives and Directions in Social Semiotics in Education: Investigating Meaning-Making Potentials

Abstract

As we are deep into the 21st Century, our approach to multiliteracies pedagogy and plurilingual/pluricultural pedagogy within an educative context requires a reawakening, given the globalized and technological changes that have occurred. There has been recent research into the importance of semiotics and multiliteracies in elementary classrooms (Cummins, 2009; Prasad, 2013) but there continues to be a lack of this integrated approach within the curriculum of post-secondary institutions (Marshall & Moore, 2013; Marshall, 2020). This paper highlights the importance of the intersection between multiliteracies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009; New London Group, 1996) and plurilingual pedagogy (Coste & Simon, 2009; Marshall & Moore, 2013; Lin, 2015) in a post-secondary institution by including a trans-semiotic lens in both teaching and learning (Lin, 2019). Lin (2019) refers to the connections between translanguaging and trans-semiotizing as a means to allow for “ communication resources in partially shared semiotic repertoires keep expanding with the co-contributions of other participants in the dynamic flow of the meaning making (He, Lai, & Lin, 2016, p.8).
This research draws from a larger ethnographic study that took place in a first year, academic literacy class, in a Metro Vancouver University. A qualitative methodology with an interpretivist ethnographic approach was used. Data was analyzed based on the theoretical concepts linking plurilingualism and multiliteracies and the ways in which identity can be negotiated using trans-semiotizing practices in the classroom. This article focuses on tone of the participants from the study and sets forth to answer the following questions:
1. How do the participants negotiate and perceive their multi/plurilingualism within the context of a classroom?
2. How can trans-semiotizing teaching practices in combination with multiliteracies and plurilingual pedagogies, be utilized in the classroom.
This study is not meant to draw conclusory arguments. It is meant to provide a new form of reflection for educators wanting to incorporate trans-semiotizing practices within a multiliteracies and plurilingual pedagogical approach. An example of such an artefact, was from an interview excerpt where Mariyam, an 18-year old student, discusses her narrative text about a significant moment in her life. The students were asked to peer review their texts with at least two classmates and then have an opportunity to discuss it with the instructor.
Excerpt Mariyam:
“At the end of the day no matter how much I had tried to fit in, I was isolated and rejected because of the country and culture I had come from (Mariyam’s narrative).
The lecturer of this academic literacies course created a space for students to discuss and negotiate their identities. During the peer review portion, students used dialogue, emotion, gestures and expressions. Together, these semiotic modes combine to create new meanings and a new artefact. During the post interview, Mariyam discussed how much she appreciated the lecturer’s approach to understanding his students.
By incorporating a layered teaching practice that utilizes trans-semiotics multiliteracies and plurilingual pedagogical approach, new artefacts of knowledge can be created. In tertiary education settings, it is possible to incorporate trans-semiotizing teaching practices within a layered pedagogical framework.

Author

• Arlene Spracklin, Simon Fraser University