Translanguaging as a vehicle for L2 acquisition and L1 development: students' perceptions. Issue 2 (3rd May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carstens, Adelia
• Is Part Of: Language matters. Volume 47:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 203
• Page End: 222
• Publication Date: 2016-05-03
• Subjects: academic literacy -- L1 development -- L2 acquisition -- multilingualism -- terminologisation -- translanguaging; Africa -- Languages -- Periodicals; 496.05
• DOI: 10.1080/10228195.2016.1153135
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1022-8195

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The purpose of the article is to report on a project aimed at exploring the use of translanguaging as a strategy to support bi-/multilingual students in acquiring academic literacy in English while promoting the terminologisation of African languages through exploratory scientific talk. The topic is contextualised by juxtaposing multilingualism as a problem with multilingualism as a resource. This is followed by a discussion of translanguaging as an alternative to monolingual education. An overview is given of a number of empirical studies on translanguaging conducted in South Africa during the past 15 years. Subsequently, I discuss a research project that elicited students' opinions about translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy. Speakers of eight African languages, including Afrikaans, experienced cognitive and affective benefits. Despite some reservations, they also considered translanguaging to be a useful platform for creating technical terms in African languages, and were positive about future use.