Analyzing Student Perceptions on Translanguaging: A Case Study of a Puerto Rican University Classroom

Article Sidebar

PDF HTML
Published: Apr 5, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.19183/how.24.1.312
Keywords:
Language attitudes, translanguaging, translingual pedagogy

Main Article Content

Adrian J. Rivera
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
Catherine M. Mazak

Abstract

Translanguaging in the classroom is gaining traction as a viable pedagogical choice. Often overlooked, though, are the students’ attitudes in response to strategic classroom translanguaging. This study seeks to determine whether students’ language attitudes influence their perceptions of an instructor’s translingual pedagogy. The study took place in an undergraduate psychology classroom at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, and involved a case-study approach and analysis of survey results. The results show this particular group of students has a neutral to positive outlook on classroom translanguaging. The high number of neutral responses may mean students are indifferent to translingual pedagogy or that these students are conditioned to work within a context where code switching and translanguaging happen frequently.

Article Details

How to Cite
Rivera, A. J., & Mazak, C. M. (2017). Analyzing Student Perceptions on Translanguaging: A Case Study of a Puerto Rican University Classroom. HOW, 24(1), 122–138. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.24.1.312
Issue
Vol. 24 No. 1: (January/June 2017)
Section
Reports on Pedagogical Experiences

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The authors of the manuscripts accepted for publication in HOW journal are required to sign a nonexclusive license agreement allowing ASOCOPI to reproduce the full text on the Internet or in any other available source. Authors retain copyright of their manuscripts with the following restrictions: first publication is granted to ASOCOPI; nonexclusive agreements with third parties can be established as long as the original publication in the HOW journal is properly acknowledged.

Author Biographies

Adrian J. Rivera, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne

Adrian J. Rivera graduated from the University of Puerto Rico (Mayaguez) with a Master’s in English Education in 2015. He is a Limited Term Lecturer of English Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, as well as the ESOL Tutor at Ivy Tech Community College, Fort Wayne.

Catherine M. Mazak

Catherine M. Mazak is co-director of CeIBA (Centro para la investigación del bilingüismo y aprendizaje [Center for research on bilingualism and learning]) and associate professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. She studies bilingualism and translanguaging practices in higher education using ethnographic research methods.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Canagarajah, A. S. (2013). Negotiating translingual literacy: An enactment. Research in the Teaching of English, 48(1), 40-67.

Census 2010 total population. (n.d.). American FactFinder [website]. Retrieved from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml.

Department of English, University of Puerto Rico: Mayagüez. (n.d.). [website]. Retrieved from http://www.uprm.edu/english/?q=node/27

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

García, 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.

Kircher, R. (2016). Language attitudes among adolescents in Montreal: Potential lessons for language planning in Quebec. Nottingham French Studies, 55(2), 239-259. https://doi.org/10.3366/nfs.2016.0151.

Klapwijk, N., & Van der Walt, C. (2016). English-plus multilingualism as the new linguistic capital? Implications of university students’ attitudes towards language of instruction in a multilingual university. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 15(2), 67-82. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2015.1137475.

Mazak, C. M., & Herbas-Donoso, C. (2014). Translanguaging practices and language ideologies in Puerto Rican university science education. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 11(1), 27-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2014.871622.

Mazak, C. M., & Herbas-Donoso, C. (2015). Translanguaging practices at a bilingual university: A case study of a science classroom. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18(6), 698-714. http://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2014.939138.

Michael-Luna, S., & Canagarajah, A. S. (2008). Multilingual academic literacies: Pedagogical foundations for code meshing in primary and higher education. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(1), 55-77.

Milson-Whyte, V. (2013). Pedagogical and socio-political implications of code-meshing in classrooms: Some considerations for a translingual orientation to writing. In A. S. Canagarajah (Ed.), Literacy as translingual practice: Between communities and classrooms (pp. 115-127). New York, US: Routledge.

Muthanna, A., & Miao, P. (2015). Chinese students’ attitudes towards the use of English-medium instruction into curriculum courses: A case study of a national key university in Beijing. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(5), 59-69. https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v3i5.920.

Sayer, P. (2013). Translanguaging, TexMex, and bilingual pedagogy: Emergent bilinguals learning through the vernacular. TESOL Quarterly, 47(1), 63-88. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.53.

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. (n.d.). Undergraduate catalogue 2014-2015. Retrieved from http://www.uprm.edu/cms/index.php?a=file&fid=7081.