An exploratory study of translanguaging practices in an online beginner-level foreign language classroom

Abstract

Translanguaging, the movement between communicative modes and features of different languages, is becoming an established research tradition in content-focused second language learning contexts. Pedagogic translanguaging practices nevertheless remain under-applied and under-researched in foreign language instructional settings, whether face-to-face or online. Synchronous virtual foreign language classrooms represent particularly rich spaces in which to begin to explore such practices, due to their multimodal affordances on the one hand and their technical constraints on the other. This study examines the pedagogic translanguaging practices that occur in a corpus of beginner-level Spanish online group tutorial data. A macro-level analysis of the interactional patterns that occur within this context reveals that both teacher participants follow closely the pedagogic prescriptions provided by the course designers with regard to the activities they employ. The finding that these activities offer limited opportunities for students to move between communicative modes and languages may be attributed in part to the emphasis on spoken interaction in this particular setting. A complementary micro-level analysis nevertheless reveals a more autonomous and intuitive approach to the teachers’ choice of language when mediating such activities. Instances of student code-switching are relatively few, however. The study concludes with a call to course designers and practitioners to experiment with integrating a wide range of pedagogic translanguaging opportunities into online foreign language classroom activities, with a view to enhancing teaching, learning and communication in such environments.

Multimodality and translanguaging in negotiation of meaning

“…Although translanguaging and code-switching have been largely researched in language classrooms (Adinolfi & Astruc, 2017;Canagarajah, 2011;García & Kleyn, 2016;García & Lin, 2016;Kramsch & Huffmaster, 2015;Liebscher & Dailey-O'Cain, 2005), and in CMC (Kötter, 2003;Rao et al, 2016;Zheng et al, 2017), research on translanguaging in online SCMC and VEs is scarce. This section details the few studies which have examined different aspects of translanguaging in oral and written interactive tasks in online or hybrid settings.…”

“…Adinolfi and Astruc (2017) examined translanguaging practices in a beginner‐level Spanish online audio‐based synchronous lesson delivered through a videoconferencing tool. The analysis of teacher–student and student–student interactions revealed frequent use of translanguaging on the part of the teachers, mainly when giving instructions and prompting nonverbal responses, whereas students rarely exhibited any instances of translanguaging.…”

Exploring Language Repertoire in EFL Classroom Interaction

“…Such practice of exploiting various repertoire is also evident in Adinolfi & Astruc who found that during the course of the learning process, students and teachers did codeswitching between English and Spanish. 21 Moreover, Saputra & Akib also found in their study that teachers mixed language repertoire in the learning process through both intersentential and intransentential codeswitching between Indonesian, English, and local language. 22 In short, language repertoires are exploited in classroom interaction by mixing them or translating from one repertoire to another.…”

Microclassroom Design Based on English Embedded Grammar Compensation Teaching

“…Learning through microclasses allows students to adjust their learning speed according to their own basis and habits, and personalized learning is supported; in addition, microclasses can enhance the initiative of students in learning. erefore, the application of microclasses to teaching not only conforms to the view that "students are the subject of cognitive process and the active constructor of meaning" [17] in the constructivist theory but can also take into account the differences between students. It can be said to coincide with each other.…”