Chapter 4 Escríbalo en tu own words, güey
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Samuel David
Abstract
In this chapter, I offer an analysis of language learning during a collaborative translation task, with a focus on how opportunities for playfulness and creative subversion of the norms of academic language use may contribute to deeper insights for learners about language structure, language meaning, and the relationships between different languages. I leverage Bakhtinian notions of heteroglossia and carnival to analyze three connected episodes in which students blur the lines between task-oriented and “off-task” behavior as they work together to translate a haiku from English into Spanish. During these episodes, the students explore multiple dimensions of the word güey, a sometimes-pejorative term in Mexican slang derived from the word for ox that has evolved into a common marker of adolescent discourse, akin to the word dude. Through analysis of this exemplary case, I suggest for teachers a set of task features that may facilitate students’ playful engagement in metalinguistic activity.
Abstract
In this chapter, I offer an analysis of language learning during a collaborative translation task, with a focus on how opportunities for playfulness and creative subversion of the norms of academic language use may contribute to deeper insights for learners about language structure, language meaning, and the relationships between different languages. I leverage Bakhtinian notions of heteroglossia and carnival to analyze three connected episodes in which students blur the lines between task-oriented and “off-task” behavior as they work together to translate a haiku from English into Spanish. During these episodes, the students explore multiple dimensions of the word güey, a sometimes-pejorative term in Mexican slang derived from the word for ox that has evolved into a common marker of adolescent discourse, akin to the word dude. Through analysis of this exemplary case, I suggest for teachers a set of task features that may facilitate students’ playful engagement in metalinguistic activity.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Chapter 1 Introduction to heteroglossia and language play in multilingual speech 1
- Chapter 2 Getting serious about language play: Language play, interlanguage variation and second language acquisition 17
- Chapter 3 Voice, stance, and role in Chinese immersion second graders’ language use 43
- Chapter 4 Escríbalo en tu own words, güey 67
- Chapter 5 Pedagogical language play in a beginning L2 Chinese classroom 91
- Chapter 6 Translanguaging and language play 117
- Chapter 7 Language play and social positioning in L2 narrative retells 137
- Chapter 8 Channeling Charlie: Suprasegmental pronunciation in a second language learner’s performance of others’ voices 161
- Chapter 9 Coda: Pedagogical implications and applications for language play beyond second/foreign language learning 191
- Subject Index 205
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Chapter 1 Introduction to heteroglossia and language play in multilingual speech 1
- Chapter 2 Getting serious about language play: Language play, interlanguage variation and second language acquisition 17
- Chapter 3 Voice, stance, and role in Chinese immersion second graders’ language use 43
- Chapter 4 Escríbalo en tu own words, güey 67
- Chapter 5 Pedagogical language play in a beginning L2 Chinese classroom 91
- Chapter 6 Translanguaging and language play 117
- Chapter 7 Language play and social positioning in L2 narrative retells 137
- Chapter 8 Channeling Charlie: Suprasegmental pronunciation in a second language learner’s performance of others’ voices 161
- Chapter 9 Coda: Pedagogical implications and applications for language play beyond second/foreign language learning 191
- Subject Index 205
