33.3508, Review: Applied Linguistics: Cenoz, Gorter (2022)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3508. Fri Nov 11 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3508, Review: Applied Linguistics: Cenoz, Gorter (2022)

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Maria Lucero Guillen Puon <luceroguillen at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2022 16:20:33
From: Ying Xiong [yjx5168 at psu.edu]
Subject: Pedagogical Translanguaging

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36817437


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/33/33-1331.html

AUTHOR: Jasone  Cenoz
AUTHOR: Durk  Gorter
TITLE: Pedagogical Translanguaging
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2022

REVIEWER: Ying Xiong, Pennsylvania State University

SUMMARY

“Pedagogical Translanguaging” is a monograph written by Jasone Cenoz and Durk
Gorter in 2021. As a part of the Cambridge series “Elements in Language
Teaching”, this book introduces the concept of pedagogical translanguaging,
its core characteristics, and its implementation in different social contexts
and assessment. The authors explain in detail how pedagogical translanguaging
enhances metalinguistic awareness and multilingual competence. The aim of this
book is to empower multilingual learners and to provide implications for
language educators in the context of multilingualism. 

There are 6 sections in this book. Section 1 is an introduction which provides
an overview of the background against which pedagogical translanguaging is
proposed. According to Cenoz and Gorter, the widespread use of English as the
medium of instruction in the contexts of globalization calls for an emphasis
on multilingualism in content and language learning. However, the traditional
language separation ideology has prevented the full development of the
linguistic potential of multilingual learners. As a theoretical and
instructional approach, pedagogical translanguaging requires teachers to take
into account the sociolinguistic contexts and the students’ prior linguistic
knowledge and learning experience when planning classroom activities.

Section 2 introduces the definition and major characteristics of the term
“translanguaging”. Originated from Welsh bilingual education, translanguaging
refers to “a pedagogical practice which deliberately switches the language
mode of input and output in bilingual classrooms” (Lewis, Jones & Baker,
2012a, p. 643). There are several features of translanguaging. First, although
translanguaging is used in both Wales and the United States, some differences
are identified in the two contexts. In Wales the aim is to strengthen both
English and Welsh and to develop balanced bilingual abilities, whereas in the
US translanguaging is used to acquire English and is seen as a way to empower
minority students. Another important characteristic of translanguaging is that
it aims to enhance understanding of subject content learning, since it allows
the use of prior knowledge and provides access to the teaching materials and
resources from two languages. It is also worth mentioning that the use of
translanguaging can be systematic and planned, as is documented in Welsh
bilingual classrooms. It can also be found during the natural use of language
of bilinguals inside and outside schools. 

Building on the discussion of translanguaging, Section 3 focuses on how
multilingualism can be represented in language teaching and learning through
the implementation of pedagogical translanguaging, a theoretical and
instructional approach emphasizing the importance of using learners’ entire
repertoires. Three dimensions of focus on multilingualism include social
context, multilingual speakers, and multilingual repertoire. Instead of
measuring multilinguals against the yardstick of native speakers of each
language, the authors point out that multilinguals differ from monolinguals in
that they have more fluid communicative competence and different linguistic
trajectories, which shapes the multilingual repertoire and allows
multilinguals to refer to prior learning strategies and to compare language
elements cross linguistically. This section also summarizes the core
characteristics of pedagogical translanguaging and how it is related to the
concepts of scaffolding and connected growers. 

Section 4 starts with the definition of metalinguistic awareness and explains
how pedagogical translanguaging can help learners raise metalinguistic
awareness and benefit from their multilingual resources. The authors then
discuss its relationship with metacognition and crosslinguistic awareness, and
distinguish it from metalinguistic knowledge. Depending on the use of
different languages and the focus on metalinguistic awareness, there are
strong and weak forms of pedagogical translanguaging practices. Next, several
examples of multilingual approaches to assessment in different contexts and
their limitations are discussed. 

Since pedagogical translanguaging involves the use of two or more languages,
at least one of which is a minority language, one major research concern is
how to protect the use of minority languages. In Section 5, two guiding
principles are proposed to ensure the development of minority languages in
sustainable translanguaging: designing breathing space for minority languages
and enhancing language awareness. In addition, this section examines the
application of pedagogical translanguaging in the contexts of immersion
program and CLIL, and it discusses how it can address the challenge of content
comprehension facing minority and majority language learners.

The last section is a conclusion in which the authors reflect on the relations
between translanguaging and pedagogical translanguaging, and highlight the
aims and core characteristics of pedagogical translanguaging. Another
important point made in this section is the challenges and future directions
of research in pedagogical translanguaging. So far there is limited research
evidence on the positive effects of pedagogical translanguaging in comparison
with traditional language separation approaches, and the optimal ages,
intensity, and multilingual competence for the implementation of pedagogical
translanguaging are still to be confirmed with more studies.

EVALUATION

A long-standing assumption now under intense scrutiny is that languages are
best taught and learned monolingually. Although this “multilingual turn” (May,
2014) has attracted much research interest from the fields of sociolinguistics
and applied linguistics, there is little specific guidance on how a
multilingual approach can be used by language teachers in classroom contexts.
“Pedagogical translanguaging” is a timely response to this issue. In this
book, the authors expose readers to many realistic issues in language and
content learning in the context of global mobility when justifying why
pedagogical translanguaging is needed and in which ways it can be beneficial
for learners. To be specific, although advocates of traditional language
separation ideology claim that learners might get confused when dealing with
different languages simultaneously, Cenoz and Gorter argue that it is natural
for multilingual learners to translanguage and to connect their previous
learning experience with the current learning. In other words, rather than
ignore and reject the learning trajectories of learners, it is more sensible
to recognize and help learners realize the value of their existent linguistic
resources.  

This book serves as a good reference for language researchers and educators in
that it combines both theoretical and practical issues related to pedagogical
translanguaging. The authors maintain an objective tone in the description of
the benefits and potential risks of implementing pedagogical translanguaging,
and the book covers all the core information needed to know about the concept
and its application in practical teaching. In this sense, the authors achieve
their goal with this book successfully. As a relatively new term, there is
some overlap between pedagogical translanguaging, translanguaging, and
code-switching. The differentiation between these concepts is helpful as it
shows readers the scope of using pedagogical translanguaging and the
importance of seeing languages as an integrated system instead of as several
separate systems. It is also useful to compare spontaneous translanguaging and
pedagogical translanguaging. Despite the difference in their contexts, the
authors point out that even spontaneous translanguaging can be a valuable
resource if teachers can link it to the planned learning process, which
highlights the perspective that the boundaries of languages should be softened
and language learning and use is a dynamic and fluid process (Li, 2017).

The content of this book unfolds and develops logically, with multilingualism
at its core. Before giving the definition of pedagogical translanguaging, the
book starts with a more familiar and well-established concept of
“translanguaging”, which originates from bilingual education in Wales. As an
umbrella term, translanguaging occurs  both in school contexts and outside
schools, with both planned and natural-occuring forms of language alternation,
whereas pedagogical translanguaging exclusively focuses on planned language
use in classroom contexts. It is good to see that the authors emphasize the
importance of social and historical context when examining the implementation
of pedagogical translanguaging. They give examples of pedagogical
translanguaging in the Basque Country and Wales, where minority language use
is promoted and the aim of pedagogical translanguaging is to protect the
status of a minority language. This is distinct from the situation in the
United States, where the use of pedagogical translanguaging is intended to
enhance proficiency in the majority language (English) and learners’ minority
languages are merely used as a stepping stone in this transition process
(Jones & Lewis, 2014). It is also worth mentioning that the authors remain
open-minded in the evaluation of pedagogical translanguaging. For example,
although the authors recognize the value of pedagogical translanguaging in
promoting metalinguistic awareness when it is systematically planned, they
extend the discussion to the potential negative effects pedagogical
translanguaging might have on learners’ minority L1, and raise the concern
over how to prevent the marginalization of minority language in pedagogical
translanguaging. Also, they call for more research to compare the
effectiveness of pedagogical translanguaging with other approaches in content
and language learning, specifically, the optimal age, intensity, and required
levels of multilingual competence in the successful implementation of
pedagogical translanguaging. In addition to the issue of language alternation
in classroom teaching and learning, the application of pedagogical
translanguaging in content and language assessment is an equally important
potential area of research. In particular, even though plenty of
translanguaging practices have been recorded in subject content learning,
reading comprehension, and writing proficiency assessment, very little
research is conducted on how multilingual speakers could improve communication
skills by using their whole linguistic repertoires. 

Another major point in this book is that pedagogical translanguaging can
improve metalinguistic awareness of learners and thereby multilinguals can
benefit from prior learning experience and their existing linguistic
repertoires. Two questions, however, remain unanswered. First, the authors
propose the use of pedagogical translanguaging on the premise that cross
linguistic influence is often positive and that there is a high degree of
connectivity between languages. I am not however sure whether this conclusion
still holds if two languages are typologically different, since researchers
have found typological distance between L1 and L2 may affect L2 processing and
its neural representation, and certain linguistic elements such as phonology
might be sensitive to the age of acquisition (Erdocia & Laka, 2018). If this
is the case, what kind of extra work will be required from language teachers
during the design and implementation of pedagogical translanguaging? Although
the authors mention in Section 4 that learners can be even more motivated to
learn an additional language when it is distant from their linguistic
repertoires, more research is needed to explain why this could happen and what
teachers should do to achieve this goal. Also, Cenoz and Gorter talk about how
learners can use their first and second languages to facilitate third language
learning using pedagogical translanguaging, but there is little information on
the reverse transfer from L3 to L1 and L2. In the context of global mobility,
it is not only common to see monolinguals move to a bi/multilingual society,
exposing them to a new language, but also people might choose to return to
their home country after a period of time. In such cases, it is necessary to
investigate to what extent the enhanced metalinguistic awareness can influence
learners’ L1 and/or L2.

Overall, this book is well written and it offers a comprehensive overview of
the term “pedagogical translanguaging”. The issues and concerns raised in this
book deserve research attention in the fields of applied linguistics and
language education. 

REFERENCES

Erdocia, K., & Laka, I. (2018). Negative transfer effects on L2 word order
processing. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00337

Jones, B. & Lewis W. G. (2014). Language arrangements within bilingual
education in Wales. In E. M. Thomas & I. Mennen, eds., Advances in the Study
of Bilingualism. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 141– 70.

Li, W. (2017). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied
Linguistics,39(1).9-30.
https://doiorg.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1093/applin/amx039. 

Lewis, G., Jones, B. & Baker, C. (2012a). Translanguaging: Origins and
development from school to street and beyond. Educational Research and
Evaluation, 18, 641– 54. doi: 10.1080/13803611.2012.718488

May, S. (2014). The Multilingual Turn. Implications for SLA, TESOL and
Bilingual Education. Routledge.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Ying Xiong is a PhD student in the department of Applied Linguistics at Penn
State.As a former language teacher of both Chinese and English, Ying is
interested in the cross-linguistic influence between L1 and L2, language
teachers perceptions and practices toward the use of learners' L1 in classroom
teaching. Ying would like to explore the possibility of making use of learners
existing linguistic repertoires in the learning of an additional language and
find more research evidence about the interconnectiveness between languages in
the context of multilingualism.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2022 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
                   https://crowdfunding.iu.edu/the-linguist-list

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3508	
----------------------------------------------------------