Translanguaging and Multilingual Academic Literacies: How Do We Translate That into French? Should We? Pour en faire quoi ? (et pourquoi s'en faire?)

Translanguaging has become an inescapable notion in the anglophone literature on multilingual education. Questions thus arise as to whether and how it should be imported into francophone educational discourse, which has developed parallel vocabularies and orientations. The stakes are not only terminological — how to import a notion with ill-defined contours from one discursive universe to another — but pedagogical and political: what value could be added by the notion of translanguaging, either translated or borrowed as is, not only in addressing the needs of plurilingual writers who, like francophone educators, must reconceptualize English disciplinary discourses in another language, but also in creating more equitable conditions for the circulation of ideas across linguistic and national lines? To tackle these questions, this paper draws on two sources of insight: strategies for cross-lingual mediation developed in translationand terminology studies, and lessons from the import of literacy into francophone discourse in the 1990s and 2000s. Existing uses and translations of translanguaging are then reviewed, and new translation equivalents proposed to render and clarify the multiple meanings of translanguaging and operationalize the notion in French. In keeping with a translanguaging approach, the paper translanguages about translanguaging, deepening our understanding of it through more than one linguistic lens. Keywords: Translanguaging, translation and writing pedagogy, multilingual terminology, multilingual academic literacies, crosslingual reading and composing, international circulation of ideas

Enabling Translanguaging in the French Language Classroom

Recent studies in multilingual and translanguaging pedagogies have shifted the focus from investigating how students engage their multilingual repertoires to exploring how teachers understand and implement these pedagogical directions in their practice. In this article, the authors report on a national online survey on the multilingual perspectives and practices of teachers of French in Australia. The overall goal of the survey discussed here was to comprehensively capture how teachers of French understand the teaching and learning of languages in general, and of French in particular. The study revealed several tensions between the language teachers’ beliefs and practice. While most of the survey participants expressed strong support for innovative pedagogies such as translanguaging (García & Wei, 2014), and keen motivation to engage the full multilingual repertoire of their learners, a closer reading of the data indicated that most of them felt restricted in their practice by “the normative terms and conditions of an understanding of languages education that remains rooted in parochial, monolingual and pecuniary perspectives” (Weinmann & Arber, 2017, p. 173). In particular, the findings indicate that (self-)perceptions of “non-native” language teachers as “culturally deficient” continue to frame the notion of what constitutes a “good” language teacher (Holliday, 2015). For teachers to feel more confident and better equipped to effectively implement translanguaging pedagogies in their practice, teachers’ perceptions of their own multilingual identities and how these are shaped within the systems they work in (Young, 2017) need to be better understood. Keywords: Languages teaching, languages education, translanguaging, native language teacher, non-native language teacher, linguistic repertoire, multilingualism, Australia

Translanguaging and Multilingual Texts as a Resource in Superdiverse Classrooms

This contribution draws on the preliminary results of a project that uses translanguaging and plurilingual texts during an intervention (of six months) in one primary and one lower secondary school class in Vienna. Although Viennese pupils’ linguistic repertoires are highly diverse, pupils usually barely get a chance to use their respective repertoires at school, because of a focus on highly prestigious languages, such as German or English. We assumed that pupils would positively experience the use of their plurilingual competences to gain self-efficacy. Moreover, we expected that group dynamics would improve due to the use of translanguaging. Results of the ethnographic observations and interviews we conducted with one teacher at each school at the end of the intervention are discussed in this article. They support the conclusion that school classes that are linguistically diverse benefit from intervention at the socioemotional level. However, it is crucial that teachers pay particular attention to the integration of less dominant languages. Keywords: translanguaging pedagogy, plurilingual texts, linguistic superdiversity, self-efficacy, dominant languages

Translanguaging et intercompréhension - deux approches à la diversité linguistique ?

C’est la compétence plurilingue qui constitue l’un des objectifs centraux de la politique linguistique de l’Europe. Le translanguaging (TL) comme l’intercompréhension (IC) sont des conceptions proposées comme appropriées sur le chemin vers une diversité linguistique vécue. Les deux concepts se situent dans le champ de recherche en plurilinguisme comme approches positives à la diversité linguistique. Incontestablement, ils représentent un enrichissement dans le débat scientifique autour du plurilinguisme. Néanmoins, les frontières et interfaces entre TL et IC restent floues de sorte que la question d’une définition pertinente se pose généralement. À cet égard, la présente contribution se penchera sur la clarification des notions en question. L’objectif de cet article est donc de mettre en évidence quelques convergences et divergences épistémologiques entre les deux approches. Afin de compléter la perspective théorique, seront discutés quelques exemples d’une enquête menée à ce propos parmi des acteurs universitaires dans le domaine du plurilinguisme, les participants du Colloque du CCERBAL 2018. Mots-clés : translanguaging, intercompréhension, plurilinguisme, approches plurielles, éducation plurilingue et interculturelle

Translanguaging and Linguistic Landscapes: A Study of Manitoban Schoolscapes

The purpose of this article will be to review how the theory of translanguaging can be used to explore the linguistic landscapes of bi- and multilingual schools. Such an approach requires researchers to view space and language holistically since translanguaging practices occur not only within an individual but also within a particular space. As a result, a school’s linguistic landscape (schoolscape) can be viewed as a representation of the students’ language repertoire. Qualitative data will be presented from three different secondary school contexts in Manitoba, Canada; French immersion single-track, French immersion dual-track and French-language schools. This data will illustrate how translanguaging offers a new way to approach the analysis of schoolscapes in bi- and multilingual contexts. Keywords: translanguaging, linguistic landscapes, French immersion education, French-language education

Translanguaging, recours aux langues et aux cultures de la classe autour de la littérature de jeunesse pour des publics allophones d’Ottawa (Canada) et de Montpellier (France) : opportunités et défis pour la classe

Bien que vivant un contexte sociolinguistique bien différent, l’Ontario au Canada et le Languedoc–Roussillon en France partagent de nombreux points communs (idéologie de défense de la langue française, impératif de reconnaître la diversité scolaire) utiles à une réflexion sur l’enseignement aux élèves migrants, population de plus en plus grandissante sur les deux bords de l’Atlantique, et au translanguaging. Le manque de formation concernant le répertoire plurilingue de l’élève, les approches plurielles et les activités translangagières dans l’appropriation du français nous ont incitées à choisir des albums de jeunesse comportant des aspects interculturels afin de proposer à des enseignants sur nos deux sites d’utiliser ces artefacts. Après avoir formé un certain nombre d’enseignants à la mise en oeuvre de l’interculturel et des albums de jeunesse en classe, nos résultats montrent que les enseignants ont des discours et attitudes contradictoires. Si l’album leur permet de s’autoriser et d’autoriser les langues et les cultures des élèves lors des séquences de classe, la majeure partie des activités translangagières proposées consistent à parler sur les langues et les cultures (sans inclure toutefois toujours celles des élèves) plutôt qu’à les utiliser comme une ressource à tout moment de la classe. Ces résultats nous amènent à proposer une redéfinition de la mise en oeuvre des approches plurielles et des pratiques translangagières qui soient traduisibles dans les futures formations des enseignants. Mots-clés : allophones, approches interculturelles, pratiques pédagogiques translangues, littérature de jeunesse

“We are all (potential) plurilinguals”: Plurilingualism as an Overarching, Holistic Concept

In spite of the spark that plurilingualism has given throughout Europe and beyond to the idea that linguistic and cultural diversity is an asset rather than an obstacle, the term plurilingualism itself has not frequently been used in the English-speaking world. Beginning with an analysis of this issue, this paper aims to help readers better understand the nature of the concept of plurilingualism and reflect on its social and educational value. To do so, it firstly presents the term from a historical and comparative perspective in relation to other terms used in the English-speaking literature. It then moves on to explain the crucial difference between plurilingualism and multilingualism, thus introducing the notion of dynamic repertoire and its underlying theoretical perspective. Finally, the article introduces the descriptors for plurilingual and pluricultural competence from the newly released CEFR Companion Volume, together with the potential for these descriptors to facilitate mediation and plurilanguaging among learners and to foster a new, open, and positive attitude towards linguistic and cultural diversity in language classes. Keywords: plurilingualism, multilingualism, plurilanguaging, CEFR, mediation

Translation and Translanguaging Pedagogies in Intercomprehension and Multilingual Teaching

Since 2007, California State University, Long Beach has developed and offered courses that highlight students’ pre-existing linguistic repertoires in English and in the Romance languages. These courses are unique in that they build upon a multilingual base for the acquisition of new languages through the method of intercomprehension. As an approach that moves among languages, Intercomprehension places learners in conditions that are conducive to translanguaging and translation. This paper discusses the role of translation and translanguaging in Intercomprehension as a pedagogical approach in these courses. Since our students are constantly moving between English and one ormore Romance language(s), they actively bring the other Romance languages they are learning into the translingual repertoire they already practice through the multilingual learning strategies deployed in intercomprehension. Keywords: intercomprehension, plurilingualism, multilingualism, pedagogies, translanguaging, translingual practices

Trois modalités de réseaux littéraires pour enseigner la grammaire en contexte plurilingue

La grammaire est une discipline qui est ancrée dans la tradition scolaire francophone et dont l’enseignement, parce qu’on lui reconnait une fonction normative assumée, peut contribuer à la reproduction de certaines inégalités à l’école. Au regard de cet état de fait, le présent article veut, dans un premier temps, mettre en évidence la pertinence didactique que revêtent les réseaux littéraires pour l’enseignement de la grammaire du français (langue d’enseignement ou seconde) en contexte plurilingue. Ainsi exposerons-nous les fondements théoriques qui concourent à l’utilisation de ces réseaux et verrons-nous comment on peut les mettre en oeuvre afin de valoriser et de mettre à profit le répertoire linguistique pluriel des élèves. Dans un second temps, il s’agira d’exemplifier notre propos en présentant trois modalités de réseaux littéraires, ceux-ci, s’ils sont élaborés en considérant les plurilinguismes qui caractérisent de nos jours les salles de classe, pouvant soutenir le développement de la compétence grammaticale des élèves. Mots-clés : grammaire, enseignement, réseaux littéraires, plurilinguisme, écriture