Re-imagining cultural identity: transcultural and translingual communication in virtual third-space environments

Abstract

The rise of English as an international language (EIL) has brought to light the needs of those who speak it as an additional language. This has in turn radically reshaped the role of culture in the EIL classroom, which may now aim at developing critical transcultural awareness. By reporting on a joint initiative undertaken by three schools in two countries, the ‘EIL in Poland and Spain’ blog project, this article explores how a transcultural curricular approach could be implemented in the EIL classroom with particular reference to computer-mediated communication (CMC) that might lead to the creation of virtual ‘third spaces’. Results show that, upon task-induced reflection, participants (1) overwhelmingly acknowledge the power of the othering discourses which are central to national identity; (2) bond together through (2.1) widespread usage of the same register in English and CMC-standard non-verbal semiotic codes and (2.2) similar subcultural (yet transnational) affiliations; and (3) may be seen to develop some critical awareness of their place in the world beyond their respective national borders. Finally, the pedagogical implications of a tool through which youth appears as a meaningful cross-cultural experience, bringing both Polish and Spanish participants together as critical thinkers through EIL, are discussed.

Keywords:

• blogging
• computer-mediated communication
• EIL
• transcultural competence
• translingual communication
• identity

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for generous funding through research project FFI2010-21483-C02-02, while Karen Jacob also thanks the Balearic Government (Conselleria d'Educació, Cultura i Universitats) for funding this research through a research training programme (FPI08) co-financed by the European Social Fund. This research has been conducted within the competitive research group Allencam, funded by the Catalan Government (SGR 2009 140). Thanks are due to the schools, students and teachers that participated in the data collection process. We are also most grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Notes

EIL is the most widely used label today to refer to the global dimension of English in the current world. Alternatives include ‘world English’, ‘global English’ and ‘English as a lingua franca’. These, although possibly introduced to diminish an imperialistic attitude to the expansion of English at the cost of local languages and identities, are still perceived in some quarters as carrying the same ideological burden they were created to eliminate (Ives, 2009; Llurda, 2004).

The term ‘translingual’ derives from the notion of ‘translanguaging’, which views language ‘not as a uniform and restrictive system, but as a heterogeneous and evolving practice that emerges through multilingual networks and societies’ (Thompson, 2011, p. 209). The term ‘transcultural’ has been preferred to ‘intercultural’ as the former captures ‘a sense of multidirectional movement, flow and mixing’, while the latter invokes ‘notions of bi-directionality, stasis and separation’ (Thompson, 2011, p. 207).

There was no substantial difference in the participants' ability to communicate in English on account of age differences. At any rate, this study does not focus on their linguistic competence.

All excerpts have been taken verbatim from the blog without any editing. For anonymity's sake, however, participants' usernames have been replaced by codes. The first two letters in each identify the student's school – TA (TAK), VP (VPLO), BE (Bendinat) ? while the last four letters correspond to the two initial letters of the participants' name and surname.

Skateboarding has long been associated with urban subcultures. Related, more recently popularised activities include longboarding (involving the use of a larger board) and wakeboarding (the latter especially in coastal areas since it is a surface water sport combining techniques from other sports such as surfing, which has itself its own, well-established subcultural following). It is, therefore, hardly surprising that one of our participants based in the Mediterranean, and rather cosmopolitan, metropolitan area of Palma de Mallorca should express his interest in this activity.

This is especially the case among Spanish students. National identity, a very sore issue in contemporary Spain (see Prieto-Arranz, 2012), may well be behind this lack of response.

This is a term originally coined by Juri Lotman. It refers to a semiotic space in which sign processes are interrelated and, as such, cannot exist or be interpreted without one another (see Lotman, 2005).