Exploring Indonesian Teachers' and Students' Perceptions and Practices of Translanguaging and Trans-Semiotizing in EFL Classrooms

Authors

  • Ronald Maraden Parlindungan Silalahi Universitas Bunda Mulia
  • Wulandari Santoso Universitas Bunda Mulia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29408/veles.v7i1.10199

Keywords:

Translanguaging, Trans-semiotizing, Multilingualism, Multilingual Language Practices

Abstract

The current trend of dynamic multilingualism in the field of applied linguistics has triggered the emergence of pedagogical approaches that aim to support and legitimate multilingual language practices. Translanguaging and trans-semiotizing are among the terms that have been widely used to describe the dynamic flows of discursive practices that involve one’s full semiotic repertoire to communicate and construct knowledge, which still remains unexplored in this context. This study aimed to investigate both university teachers and students’ perceptions of translanguaging and trans-semiotizing in English classrooms. Using observation, semi-structured interviews to five teachers and focus group discussion to seven students, the results of thematic analysis demonstrated that while the teachers seemed to expect the implementation of monolingual instruction, the students had a more positive view towards the utilization of multiple languages and semiotic signs in the classroom. It was also found out that translanguaging and trans-semiotizing served numerous pedagogical functions in enhancing students’ comprehension of the materials. Nevertheless, the ability to translanguage and trans-semiotize was not seen as a multilingual competence, but as a manifestation of one’s linguistic deficiency. This study suggests that translanguaging and trans-semiotizing should not merely be seen as a pedagogical tool, but these practices should also be legitimated and valued.

References

Accurso, K., & Muzeta, B. (2020). Can monolingual language teachers be effective? TESOL Connections. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341192941

Afriadi, R. (2021). Exploring language repertoire in EFL classroom interaction. Modality Journal: International Journal of Linguistics and Literature, 1(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.30983/mj.v1i1.4727

Borg, M. (2004). The apprenticeship of observation. ELT Journal, 58(3).

Brooks-Lewis, K. A. (2009). Adult learners’ perceptions of the incorporation of their L1 in foreign language teaching and learning. Applied Linguistics, 30(2), 216–235. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amn051

Cenoz, J. (2013). Defining multilingualism. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026719051300007X

Cenoz, J. (2017). Translanguaging in school contexts: International perspectives. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(4), 193–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1327816

Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2011). Focus on multilingualism: A study of trilingual writing. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 356–369. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01206.x

Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2020). Pedagogical translanguaging: An introduction. System, 92, 102269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102269

Cenoz, J., & Santos, A. (2020). Implementing pedagogical translanguaging in trilingual schools. System, 92, 102273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102273

Cook, V. (2001). Using the first language in the classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 57(3), 402–423. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.57.3.402

Cook, V. J. (1992). Evidence for multicompetence. Language Learning, 42(4), 557–591. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1992.tb01044.x

Cummins, J. (2007). Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics. https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/CJAL/article/view/19743/21428

de los Ríos, C. v, & Seltzer, K. (2017). Translanguaging, coloniality, and English classrooms: An exploration of two bicoastal urban classrooms. Research in the Teaching of English, 52(1), 55–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44821287

Duarte, J. (2019). Translanguaging in mainstream education: a sociocultural approach. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(2), 150–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1231774

Dustmann, C., & Fabbri, F. (2003). Language proficiency and labour market performance of immigrants in the UK. The Economic Journal, 113(489), 695–717. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.t01-1-00151

Erling, E., Seargeant, P., Solly, M., Chowdhurry, Q. H., & Rahman, S. (2012). Attitudes to English as a language for international development in rural Bangladesh. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/attitudes-english-a-language-international-development-rural-bangladesh

García, O. (2017). Translanguaging in schools: Subiendo y bajando, bajando y subiendo as afterword. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 16(4), 256–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1329657

García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. In Translanguaging. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765_4

García, O., & Lin, A. M. Y. (2017). Translanguaging in bilingual education. In Bilingual and Multilingual Education (pp. 117–130). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02258-1_9

Garcia, O., & Sylvan, C. E. (2011). Pedagogies and practices in multilingual classrooms: Singularities in pluralities. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 385–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01208.x

García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765

García-Mateus, S., & Palmer, D. (2017). Translanguaging pedagogies for positive identities in two-way dual language bilingual education. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(4), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1329016

Grosjean, F. (1985). The bilingual as a competent but specific speaker‐hearer. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 6(6), 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.1985.9994221

Halliday, M. A. K. (2013). Languages, and language, in today’s changing world.

Hamied, F. A. (2012). English in multicultural and multilingual Indonesian education. In English as an International Language in Asia: Implications for Language Education (pp. 63–78). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4578-0_5

Heller, M. (1999). Linguistic minorities and modernity: A sociolinguistic ethnography. Longman.

Jessner, U., & Cenoz, J. (2019). Teaching English as a third language (pp. 155–172). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02899-2_9

Jordà, M. P. S. (2017). Third language acquisition in multilingual contexts. In Language Awareness and Multilingualism (pp. 137–148). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02240-6_10

Khairunnisa, K., & Lukmana, I. (2020). Teachers’ attitudes towards translanguaging in Indonesian EFL classrooms. Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan, 20(2), 254–266. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345765129

Kralisch, A., & Mandl, T. (2006). Barriers to information access across languages on the internet: network and language effects. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’06), 54b–54b. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2006.71

Leung, C., & Valdes, G. (2019). Translanguaging and the Transdisciplinary Framework for Language Teaching and Learning in a Multilingual World. The Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 348–370. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12568

Li, W. (2011). Moment Analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222–1235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.035

Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039

Lin, A. (2015). Egalitarian bi/multilingualism and trans-semiotizing in a global world. In The Handbook of Bilingual and Multilingual Education (pp. 17–37). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118533406.ch2

Lin, A. M. Y. (2019). Theories of trans/languaging and trans-semiotizing: implications for content-based education classrooms. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(1), 5–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1515175

Lin, A. M. Y., & He, P. (2017). Translanguaging as dynamic activity flows in CLIL classrooms. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 16(4), 228–244. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1328283

Lucas, T., & Katz, A. (1994). Reframing the debate: The roles of native languages in English-only programs for language minority students. Source: TESOL Quarterly, 28(3), 537–561. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3587307

Macaro, E. (2001). Analysing student teachers’ codeswitching in foreign language classrooms: Theories and decision making. Source: The Modern Language Journal, 85(4), 531–548. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1193074

Mahboob, A., & Lin, A. M. Y. (2018). Local languages as a resource in (Language) education (pp. 197–217). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6421-0_10

Marlina, R., & Xu, Z. (2018). English as a Lingua Franca. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching (pp. 1–13). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0667

Nishanthi, R. (2018). The importance of learning English in today world. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, Volume-3(Issue-1), 871–874. https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd19061

Nursanti, Y. (2016). Students’ perception of teacher’s bilingual language use in an English classroom. Journal of English and Education, 4(1), 159–176.

Rasman, R. (2018). To translanguage or not to translanguage? The multilingual practice in an Indonesian EFL classroom. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(3), 687. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i3.9819

Rerung, M. K. T. (2015). Evaluating translanguaging practices in bilingual classrooms. In Journal of English Language and Culture (Vol. 5, Issue 1).

Roshid, M. M., & Chowdhury, R. (2013). English language proficiency and employment: A case study of Bangladeshi graduates in Australian employment market. Mevlana International Journal of Education, 3(1), 68–81. https://doi.org/10.13054/mije.13.06.3.1

Santoso, W. (2019). Students’ perceptions of teachers’ own-language use: A case study in an Indonesian EFL Senior High School. Linguistics, and Literature, 2(2), 38–53.

Santoso, W. (2020). Translanguaging through the lens of sociocultural approach: Students’ attitudes and practices. Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa, 9(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.31571/bahasa.v9i1.1707

Santoso, W., & Hamied, F. A. (2022). Towards multilingual education : Pre-service English teachers’ perceptions of translanguaging pedagogy. Prosiding Konferensi Linguistik Tahunan Atma Jaya (KOLITA), 20(20), 364–374. https://doi.org/10.25170/kolita.20.3817

Shields, M. A., & Price, S. W. (2002). The English language fluency and occupational success of ethnic minority immigrant men living in English metropolitan areas. Journal of Population Economics, 15(1), 137–160. https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00003836

Silalahi, R. M. P. (2019). Linguistic Imperialism : Native-Speakerism from the Perspective of Non-Native English Learners. Journal of ELT Research, 4(1), 73–84.

Swain. (2006). Languaging, agency and collaboration in advanced second language learning’ in H. Byrnes (ed.): Advanced Language Learning. In The Contributions of Halliday and Vygotsky. (pp. 95–108). Continuum.

Terry, G., Hayfield, N., Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2017). Thematic analysis. In C. Willig & R. W. Stainton (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research in psychology. (2nd ed.). Sage.

Thibault, P. J. (2011). First-order languaging dynamics and Second-order language: The distributed language view. Ecological Psychology, 23(3), 210–245. https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2011.591274

Turnbull, M., Cormier, M., & Bourque, J. (2011). The first language in science class: A Quasi-experimental study in late French immersion. The Modern Language Journal, 95, 182–198. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01275.x

Vallejo, C., & Dooly, M. (2020). Plurilingualism and translanguaging: emergent approaches and shared concerns. Introduction to the special issue. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 23(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2019.1600469

Wang, W., & Curdt-Christiansen, X. L. (2019). Translanguaging in a Chinese–English bilingual education programme: a university-classroom ethnography. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(3), 322–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1526254

Yuvayapan, F. (2019). Translanguaging in EFL classrooms: Teachers’ perceptions and practices. Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi, 15(2), 678–694. https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.586811

Zein, M. S. (2017). Elementary English education in Indonesia: Policy developments, current practices, and future prospects. English Today, 33(1), 53–59. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078416000407

Zein, S. (2019). English, multilingualism and globalisation in Indonesia. English Today, 35(1), 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026607841800010X

Zhou, X. (Emily). (2021). Engaging in pedagogical translanguaging in a Shanghai EFL high school class. ELT Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab054

Downloads

Additional Files

Published

2023-05-06

How to Cite

Silalahi, R. M. P., & Santoso, W. (2023). Exploring Indonesian Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions and Practices of Translanguaging and Trans-Semiotizing in EFL Classrooms. Voices of English Language Education Society, 7(1), 86–95. https://doi.org/10.29408/veles.v7i1.10199