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Chapter 14. Language alternation is not always translanguaging

Data from Cypriot classrooms

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between language alternation and translanguaging and an attempt is made, via an examination of two different sets of data collected with ethnographic tools from a multilingual and a bidialectal classroom in Cyprus, to examine whether the language/code alternation practices observed in the data can be said to constitute aspects of a pedagogy of translanguaging. The analysis shows that the structuring and distribution of the language/code-alternation patterns in terms of their orientation (participant- or discourse-oriented), directionality, and function within the overall dynamics of classroom discourse do not point to genuine translanguaging, but ultimately reinforce the explicitly stated aim of fostering monolingualism, which is moreover constructed as competence in Standard Greek, the prestige variety.

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between language alternation and translanguaging and an attempt is made, via an examination of two different sets of data collected with ethnographic tools from a multilingual and a bidialectal classroom in Cyprus, to examine whether the language/code alternation practices observed in the data can be said to constitute aspects of a pedagogy of translanguaging. The analysis shows that the structuring and distribution of the language/code-alternation patterns in terms of their orientation (participant- or discourse-oriented), directionality, and function within the overall dynamics of classroom discourse do not point to genuine translanguaging, but ultimately reinforce the explicitly stated aim of fostering monolingualism, which is moreover constructed as competence in Standard Greek, the prestige variety.

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Preface ix
  4. Chapter 1. Introducing multifaceted multilingualism 1
  5. Part I. The early years
  6. Chapter 2. To acquire a recursive grammar, children start with a recursive procedure (MERGE) 22
  7. Chapter 3. Pitfalls and promises of dialect in the classroom 47
  8. Chapter 4. Microstructural properties in the narrative retellings of young English learners in EMI schools in India 68
  9. Chapter 5. Multilingual advantages 123
  10. Part II. Issues in everyday life
  11. Chapter 6. Diglossia and developmental language disorder (DLD) in Arabic 154
  12. Chapter 7. “Grammar, I hate” or “I grammar hate”? 184
  13. Chapter 8. Bilingualism matters 204
  14. Chapter 9. Multimodal story-retelling 232
  15. Chapter 10. Raising awareness of stroke, stroke survivor-perspectives, and stroke–carer research 254
  16. Part III. From the past to the future
  17. Chapter 11. Heritage language education 270
  18. Chapter 12. Explaining gender 292
  19. Chapter 13. Meaning without borders 327
  20. Chapter 14. Language alternation is not always translanguaging 369
  21. Chapter 15. The sociolinguistics of urban multilingualism 395
  22. Chapter 16. Barossa German 414
  23. Index 429
Multifaceted Multilingualism
This chapter is in the book Multifaceted Multilingualism
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.66.14tsi

Chapters in this book

  1. 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Preface ix
  4. Chapter 1. Introducing multifaceted multilingualism 1
  5. Part I. The early years
  6. Chapter 2. To acquire a recursive grammar, children start with a recursive procedure (MERGE) 22
  7. Chapter 3. Pitfalls and promises of dialect in the classroom 47
  8. Chapter 4. Microstructural properties in the narrative retellings of young English learners in EMI schools in India 68
  9. Chapter 5. Multilingual advantages 123
  10. Part II. Issues in everyday life
  11. Chapter 6. Diglossia and developmental language disorder (DLD) in Arabic 154
  12. Chapter 7. “Grammar, I hate” or “I grammar hate”? 184
  13. Chapter 8. Bilingualism matters 204
  14. Chapter 9. Multimodal story-retelling 232
  15. Chapter 10. Raising awareness of stroke, stroke survivor-perspectives, and stroke–carer research 254
  16. Part III. From the past to the future
  17. Chapter 11. Heritage language education 270
  18. Chapter 12. Explaining gender 292
  19. Chapter 13. Meaning without borders 327
  20. Chapter 14. Language alternation is not always translanguaging 369
  21. Chapter 15. The sociolinguistics of urban multilingualism 395
  22. Chapter 16. Barossa German 414
  23. Index 429
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