“Okay, I will say in Korean and then in American”: Translanguaging practices in bilingual homes

Abstract

Building on the research on translanguaging practices in classrooms (e.g. García, 2009;Sayer, 2011) and immigrant families' literacy practices (e.g. Gregory et al., 2004;Li, 2006), this qualitative study explores the nature of translanguaging practices of four Korean bilingual children and their families in home literacy events. Participant observation with video recordings and field notes was used to gather data, and the data analysis focused on the literacy events defined by Heath (1982) and types of language use. The findings demonstrated that bilingual children and their family members used their two languages flexibly and strategically to create and negotiate meaning. Using both languages contributed to clarifying meaning in communication and expanding children's linguistic repertoires in their heritage language as well as in English. This study takes a particularized look at bilingual children's language experience in out-of-school contexts by focusing on families' ways of using their two languages to support their children's heritage language development in literacy events.

The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for LearningOfeliaGarcíaSusana IbarraJohnsonKateSeltzerCaslon Publishing, ISBN 978‐1‐93400‐019‐9 Price USD 39.95 (pbk). 224 pages.

“…The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning , one of the first books about translanguaging for teachers, provides practical guidelines about incorporating translanguaging in the classroom. Translanguaging, recently popularized by Ofelia García and other scholars in the field of bilingual education (Canagarajah, ; García & Wei, ; Otheguy, García, & Reid, ; Sayer, ; Song, ), refers to “the deployment of a speaker's full linguistic repertoire without regard for watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named (and usually national and the state) language” (Otheguy et al., , p. 283). Recognizing the deep‐seated monolingual ideology and a pervasive deficit orientation toward multilingual students in U.S. schools (García & Wei, ; Olsen, ; Valdés, ), the authors emphasize that “taking a translanguaging stance means viewing students’ dynamic bilingualism as an advantage, rather than as a problem to be solved” (García, Johnson, & Seltzer, , p. 118).…”

Bilingual families and information and communication technology at home

“…For example, she feels that having two languages helps one get ahead, learn more, and is good when seeking employment. Similar to families in the literature, Emma feels it is important to maintain her children maintain their heritage language (Song, 2016;Valdés, 2001). She contrasted this with her sister's kids who live in another city and who seldom have any need to speak Spanish, except when family gets together.…”

“…Emma reported that she felt that Spanish allowed her to be sterner, where the kids would know that she was not joking around. This indicates that she had purposes for using certain languages in certain situations (Song, 2016), and those decisions reflected the beliefs she held about what those languages conveyed. Table 14) consists of Ana, her husband Pedro, Sr., and their three children: Pedro, Jr., Sarai (17), and Daniela (10).…”

“…whereas Ximena used much more translanguaging. (Katz, 2010;Song, 2016). During most of the interviews, Ximena used English words whenever she could.…”

“…When she is present, the language of the home becomes almost exclusively Spanish. As translanguaging scholars have described, the use of two languages for the Huertas is just a regular part of their lives (Otheguy et al, 2015;Sayer, 2013;Song, 2016).…”