Translanguaging and named languages: productive tension and desire

ABSTRACT

In this article, we address the epistemological conflict inherent in the relationship between named languages and translanguaging theory. Following with interest Turnbull’s (2016) reframing of foreign language education as bilingual education and García’s (2017) response, we see the logic of this reframing, but we also acknowledge García’s concern that the notion of deficit lies at the heart of language learning as it is commonly conceptualized, and this deficit construct sits uncomfortably within translanguaging epistemology. In the article, we draw on Bakhtin’s (1981) dialogical theory of language, Thibault’s (2011) distributed language view and the theoretical construct of desire as both a lack and an energy (Ahmed 2010) to suggest that the naming of languages needs to be incorporated into translanguaging theory in a way that acknowledges the social construct of ‘named languages’ as integral to the expansion of one’s linguistic repertoire as a whole. We make this suggestion in order to help develop translanguaging theory from a subaltern to a majority theory. We further suggest that language education can play a significant role in furthering the translanguaging project.

KEYWORDS:

• Translanguaging
• foreign language education
• bilingual education
• majority languages

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Marianne Turner is a senior lecturer in bilingual education and TESOL at Monash University. Her research interests include the leveraging of students’ linguistic and cultural background as a resource for learning and language education in institutionally monolingual settings. This latter includes researching and facilitating learning around context-sensitive approaches to content and language integrated learning (CLIL).

Angel M. Y. Lin is Professor & Head of the English Language Education Division at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. She is well-respected for her interdisciplinary research in classroom discourse analysis, plurilingual education, and language-in-education policy and practice in postcolonial contexts.