Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia

Translanguaging has been considered as an effective pedagogical approach to foster multilingualism. Previous studies have suggested further that teaching English through pedagogical translanguaging can increase participation of language-minoritized students and thus, promote minoritized language...

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Main Authors: Margana, Rasman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/1/39884-159224-1-PB.pdf
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author Margana,
Rasman,
author_facet Margana,
Rasman,
author_sort Margana,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Translanguaging has been considered as an effective pedagogical approach to foster multilingualism. Previous studies have suggested further that teaching English through pedagogical translanguaging can increase participation of language-minoritized students and thus, promote minoritized language maintenance. However, it remains unclear as to what extent the assumed transformative power of translanguaging allows students to challenge prevailing monolingual ideologies that are gradually pushing minoritized language use to the periphery of society. There is growing evidence that promoting translanguaging practices to language-minoritized students can inadvertently contribute to their language shift from minoritized to majoritized languages (i.e., English and national languages). To maintain and extend this discussion, this article reports on a case study investigating the extent to which translanguaging practices in a tertiary-level EFL class in Indonesia contributes to the efforts to reverse language shift from Javanese to Indonesian and English. The data were drawn from audio-recorded classroom interactions, artefacts of student work and follow-up semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that translanguaging pedagogy can support minoritized language maintenance only when language inequalities and language hierarchies are transgressed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of translanguaging in maintaining Javanese seemingly relies on whether students have enough proficiency in the Javanese language. Otherwise, the endorsement of translanguaging in this polity may be perceived as an opportunity to practice more dominant languages.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:173052021-08-13T02:39:25Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/ Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia Margana, Rasman, Translanguaging has been considered as an effective pedagogical approach to foster multilingualism. Previous studies have suggested further that teaching English through pedagogical translanguaging can increase participation of language-minoritized students and thus, promote minoritized language maintenance. However, it remains unclear as to what extent the assumed transformative power of translanguaging allows students to challenge prevailing monolingual ideologies that are gradually pushing minoritized language use to the periphery of society. There is growing evidence that promoting translanguaging practices to language-minoritized students can inadvertently contribute to their language shift from minoritized to majoritized languages (i.e., English and national languages). To maintain and extend this discussion, this article reports on a case study investigating the extent to which translanguaging practices in a tertiary-level EFL class in Indonesia contributes to the efforts to reverse language shift from Javanese to Indonesian and English. The data were drawn from audio-recorded classroom interactions, artefacts of student work and follow-up semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that translanguaging pedagogy can support minoritized language maintenance only when language inequalities and language hierarchies are transgressed. Furthermore, the effectiveness of translanguaging in maintaining Javanese seemingly relies on whether students have enough proficiency in the Javanese language. Otherwise, the endorsement of translanguaging in this polity may be perceived as an opportunity to practice more dominant languages. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/1/39884-159224-1-PB.pdf Margana, and Rasman, (2021) Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 27 (2). pp. 1-15. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1407
spellingShingle Margana,
Rasman,
Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia
title Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia
title_full Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia
title_fullStr Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia
title_full_unstemmed Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia
title_short Translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from Indonesia
title_sort translanguaging and minoritized language maintenance: lessons from indonesia
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17305/1/39884-159224-1-PB.pdf