Obligatory Forum 2: My opinion about translanguaging in the language classroom
UIC Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual and Multilingual Contexts
November 20, 2022
A teacher leads by example. In a language classroom, the teacher is the main input of the target language and students will not only repeat but also mimic the way a teacher says something. In the case that the teacher is encouraging use of translanguaging and providing other input with examples of translanguaging (in writing, videos, podcasts, music, etc.) then it may cause fossilization in the learner's mind or work as a crutch for the student when they do not know a particular vocabulary word in the target language. The goal of teaching a language is communication, so as long as this does not hinder communication, and students understand when it is appropriate to translanguage - it is ok. Same as if a teacher repeatedly makes a mistake and teaches the students this error to be correct - this error will be fossilized in the learners' brain until they are able to “unlearn” it over time and continued effort of perfecting the language. If translanguaging is used in a meaningful manner in the classroom, it can be a great tool. This being said, I don’t think there is anything wrong with translanguaging in the classroom given it is purposeful and constructive.
One can definitely see within Latinx communities in the United States that a version of “American Spanglish” is extremely prevalent not only in spoken language but also in podcasts, music, movies, shows, and writing. What is important to note is the intended audience of these mediums. All of these modes of communication are marketed for other “Spanglish” speakers. If the intended audience did not speak English as well as Spanish, then this kind of translanguaging Lingua Franca would be nonsensical.
A perfect example of translanguaging in language education would be Duolingo language podcasts. If you have not listened to one of these podcasts before - you should. They are all entertaining story lines and linguistically interesting. A podcast that I have used as supplemental material for students, or recommended listening at home is Duolingo English Podcast for Spanish speakers. These podcasts are made for students who are Spanish speakers trying to learn English. They are written in English and Spanish and something that I, as an educator and language learner, really like about these blogs is that they are spoken at a slow intelligible speed, a listener can read along to the dialogue, and vocabulary words as well as main points are repeated in both languages to ensure listener’s comprehension.
The goal of these podcasts is not for listeners to speak one sentence in Spanish and then another in English, but for them to truly understand what is being said in the English portion of the podcast. Thus, I only use these podcasts as additional material or recommended listening activity for students in the appropriate level to obtain more input of the target language - English, while ensuring that they will comprehend what is being said in the podcasts.
On Duolingo’s website there is a brief description of the style of their podcasts and the intentional language. There are several podcasts available for language learners.
As Duolingo is one of the most common and most accessible modes of language learning in the world, they have a hold on the language learning market. On the Duolingo website, I looked for some information on the platform’s intention of the podcasts and found that they claim in their own words that the translanguaging within the podcasts is a “healthy combination” of the two languages that you can see in the image above (target language and heritage language). They also explain that the reasons for using both languages in the podcasts is because the stories are made for learners who are not so advanced in the language and without the combination of languages, the learner might not understand as much, leading to difficulties understanding and boredom. The intention of any podcast is to be interesting and hold the listeners attention. Duolingo also claims that these podcasts are “good for your passive language acquisition”. They explain that even as a beginner learner, you can listen to, read along, understand the gist, and enjoy these language podcasts.
I have used these podcasts in my English classes, recommended them to students trying to learn English, students trying to learn Spanish, and I have listened to the French podcast for English speakers myself with the intention of listening to more French. From personal experience, I can say that when I first started listening to the French podcast, I had a strong foundation in the language, but had not practiced for a long time. The first podcast was a little challenging to understand, but definitely intriguing and left me wanting to listen to more podcasts. After listening to several, my French listening skills improved as I was able to follow along with ease. One thing that I found really great about this method of translanguaging in language education is that the learner is provided with immediate positive reinforcement when they hear the information repeated in their native language and realize that they understood what was just said in the target language.
Bibliography:
Lingo, Duo. “Podcast - Duolingo.” Podcast.duolingo.com, 26 Nov. 2022, podcast.duolingo.com/.
Matt. “Duolingo Podcasts - Here’s What You NEED to Know.” Duoplanet, 19 Nov. 2021, duoplanet.com/duolingo-podcasts-guide/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2022.
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