Translanguaging for Cognitive Relief in FL Academic Writing

Abstract

In the present study, two groups of German undergraduates taking a course in English Linguistics at a midwestern German university were compared in terms of their attitudes towards translanguaging, their translanguaging behaviour during foreign-language academic writing processes, and the quality of their foreign-language texts. One group was taught with a translanguaging teaching approach, the other group was taught monolingually in English. Students in the translanguaging group became aware of the benefits translanguaging can have during foreign-language academic writing processes. Students’ translanguaging behaviour during foreign-language academic writing is discussed in two case studies. Importantly, more students in the translanguaging than in the English group improved their ability to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information in academic texts, a finding that underscores the didactic importance of translanguaging in tertiary education.
 Keywords: translanguaging, tertiary education, academic writing, beliefs and attitudes, FL text quality