Translanguaging for STEM learning: Exploring tertiary learning contexts

Langman, J., Solís, J., Martin-Corredor, L., Dao, N., & Garza, K. G. (2022). Translanguaging for STEM Learning: Exploring Tertiary Learning Contexts. In A. Jakobsson, P. Nygård Larsson, & A. Karlsson (Eds.), Translanguaging in Science Education (Vol. 27, pp. 39–60). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82973-5_3

Link to Publication: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-82973-5_3

Overview

Theoretical Background

The concept of translanguaging has become one of high interest in the field of education over the last 15 years. Translanguaging can be defined, according to García (2009) as the “multiple discursive practices in which bilinguals engage in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds” (p. 45).  Multiple discursive practices theoretically draw upon all features that form part of bilingual or multilingual individuals’ linguistic repertoires (García, 2009, p. 51; García & Wei, 2014, p. 22). Due to its link to education, much of the research on translanguaging explores the link between language use and learning (García & Wei, 2014; Mazak & Herbas-Donoso, 2015). Certain features of translanguaging make it a robust theoretical lens with which to examine language use as it connects to learning. First, translanguaging, seen as a form of languaging, is simultaneously a social and cognitive act (Canagarajah, 2013). As such, we can examine the learning at the micro-level through an analysis of language. Second, the social, cultural, and institutional context may provide affordances as well as constraints on translanguaging, offering the possibility of examining learning contexts and learner practices. Third, the multimodal nature of translanguaging offers another analytical lens for learning in practice, by examining translanguaging used as a tool for teaching and/or learning in and across oral, written, and visual modes. García and Wei (2014) suggest that “successful multilingual interactions have always been aided by multimodalities” and cite examples of students using written materials in one language and discussing it in another (García & Wei, 2014, p. 28). Finally, translanguaging connects social identity (Fuller, 2012; Wei, 2018). From a cognitive perspective, translanguaging practices can expand the range of affordances or opportunities for learning by drawing on the learner’s full repertoire of semiotic learning tools and knowledge (Martin-Beltrán, 2014). 

Research Goals & Questions

Translanguaging in higher education has not been explored extensively (for a noteworthy exception see Mazak & Carroll, 2016).  Further, there are few bilingual tertiary options in multilingual countries. This paper examines translanguaging practices of engineering students in large lecture classes at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the Southern United States. The HSI designation applies to universities whose Hispanic student population is at or above 50%. The HSI designation does not directly correlate with any particular percentage of students who use Spanish in addition to English regularly, but it provides a context in which multilinguals with varying educational experiences in and through various languages are common. 

This paper is part of a larger four-year longitudinal curriculum redesign project aimed at improving the success rate of both Hispanic and first-generation students enrolled as STEM majors in an HSI in the southern United States of America. Using Lesson Study (LS)  as a framework (Lewis, Perry, Friedkin & Roth, 2012), the larger project focuses on intensive work with university faculty in redesigning the Engineering curriculum by focusing on student learning. Part of the LS framework involves recording and analyzing lessons, as well as, extensive interviews and focus groups with students enrolled in the courses. The materials collected as part of the curriculum redesign provide a rich database for exploring translanguaging practices and attitudes in university contexts, which are often conceptualized, even by multilingual students and faculty, as monolingual (Mazak & Carroll, 2016). 

The main aim of this paper is to explore the affordances and constraints on translanguaging discourse practices in tertiary STEM contexts. More particularly, we examine:

  1. the frequency and nature of unplanned translanguaging that occurs (or not) in classroom contexts;
  2. the development of planned translanguaging in classroom contexts;
  3. faculty and teaching assistants’ reflections on the potential for intentional integration of translanguaging as a pedagogical tool for multilingual students, and
  4. discussion of the value of translanguaging for identity positioning and learning from the perspective of learners.

Data Collection

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), as an HSI aims to increase academic success for historically underrepresented students. Low passing rates for Hispanic and low-income students (57%) enrolled in gateway engineering courses emphasize a need for seeking innovative means of supporting student learning. Data are drawn from 3 semesters of classroom data, working with 3 faculty members, 4 TAs, and over 800 students enrolled in a gateway engineering undergraduate course.

Data will be drawn from five sources collected as part of the larger study: 

  1. video/audio tapes of  in-class lessons in large STEM lectures, including teacher lectures, and small group interactions;
  2. audio-taped student interviews and focus groups related to specific engineering topics as well as orientations to learning and self-efficacy in learning;
  3. audio-taped meetings with faculty engaged in lesson study; 
  4. audio-taped interactions with teaching assistants; and 
  5. written course materials. 

Data Analysis

Analysis of data for this paper involves a sequential analysis of translanguaging first in practice and then in reflection of current and potential future practice. The first round of analysis will identify instances of translanguaging across the data, focusing on when, by whom, and with what purposes translanguaging occurs. A round of analysis will examine students’ interpretations of the value of translanguaging as part of their learning drawn from interview data; the final round of analysis will examine reflections from faculty and teaching assistants on the potential for intentional integration of translanguaging as a pedagogical tool for multilingual students. 

In this way, the analyses will connect to the view of translanguaging as a meaning-making tool particularly useful for collaborative sense-making, and explore the potential affordances planned and unplanned translanguaging spaces may offer from the perspective of students and faculty at the tertiary level.

References

Canagarajah, A. S. (2013). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge. 

Espinosa, C. M. (2016). Reclaiming bilingualism: Translanguaging in a science class. In  O. García, & T. Kleyn (Eds.), Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. (pp. 174-192). Routledge.

Fuller, J. M. (2012). Bilingual pre-teens: Competing ideologies and multiple identities in the US and Germany (Vol. 6): Routledge.

García, O. (2009). Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century. In A. Mohanty, M. Panda, R. Phillipson, & T. Skutnabb-Kangas, Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local(pp. 128–145). Orient Blackswan. 

García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education. Bilingual Research Journal, 37(3), 366–369. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2014.965361

Garza, A. (2017). “Negativo por negativo me va dar un… POSITIvo”: Translanguaging as a Vehicle for Appropriation of Mathematical Meanings. In Discourse Analytic Perspectives on STEM Education (pp. 99-116). Springer, Cham.

Lewis, C. C., Perry, R. R., Friedkin, S., & Roth, J. R. (2012). Improving Teaching Does Improve Teachers: Evidence from Lesson Study. Journal of Teacher Education,63(5), 368–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487112446633

Martin-Beltrán, M. (2014). “What Do You Want to Say?” How Adolescents Use Translanguaging to Expand Learning Opportunities. International Multilingual Research Journal,8(3), 208–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2014.914372

Mazak, C., & Carroll, K. S. (Eds.). (2016). Translanguaging in higher education: Beyond monolingual ideologies. Multilingual Matters.

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.

Vogel, S., & García, O. (2017). Translanguaging. Publications and Research. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/402Wei, L. (2018). Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039