Discussion questions
Translingual theory
1. Are translingual practices increasing (due to movement of people and contact between
languacultures1) or decreasing (due to convergence/standardization of language varieties) and
how (e.g. mass media and online social networking)?
2. Is the current increase in discussion on translingual practices a result of:
a) an increase in such practices (e.g. in contact zones between ‘languacultures’ esp. in [often
urban] areas of greater cultural diversity and online environments)?
b) a (perhaps distorted) reflection of the contexts in which sociolinguists and theorists are
working (i.e. predominantly [capital] cities, where such practices may be more common
than in countries at large)?
c) simply a reflection of the ideological and political biases of (socio)linguists?
…and if it’s a combination of these, what is the driving force that is bringing this to the surface of
the discussion?
3. Are borders between ‘languages’ blurring more, or are they ‘shoring up’ but sharing resources?
What about spoken (often diverging) vs. written (often standardising) forms, and the influence
of IT on the latter?
The influence of translingual theory on language learning and classrooms
1. One implication is that if we accept that translingual practices and translanguaging are
increasing, especially in the urban metropolises and online environments where learners may
aspire to work, then should language teaching be aspiring to (and modelling) monolingual
practices? Or should they focus on and try to replicate the more realistic, more likely practical
reality that will characterise our learners’ future involvement with English?
2. If it is accepted that, for e.g., Canagarajah’s performative competence is the objective of
language learning, does this reshape our understanding of ‘authenticity’ in the communicative
language classroom? Also, do we need to teach performative competence, or do we focus on
monolingual competence and presume that performative competence is developed by the
learner in the future without the need for explicit classroom focus?
3. Do we simply ‘tag on’ an explicit focus on translingualism (e.g. a resource book to dip into to
‘raise awareness of intercultural issues’), or do we embody it in our shared behaviours as a
learning community of teacher and learners, and if so, how?
4. Could the translanguaging of bilingual classrooms be a valid practice for the FL/SL classroom? If
not, why not, given that it arguably replicates the practices of functioning bilinguals?
5. If we do attempt to bring translanguaging into the ‘shared-L1’ classroom, how would it look?
E.g. Spanish L1 learners learning English with a bilingual teacher. What practices might occur in
such a classroom?
1
Languaculture (Agar 1994), is the notion that language and culture are inextricably entwined and that to treat
them separately distorts both concepts.
6. And what about the content of syllabi? If there are no ‘languages’ but merely ‘resources’ and
‘languaging’, what do we teach?
7. What are the implications for CLIL and immersion programmes, also usually fairly monolingual
environments?
8. What about ELF, which is also surprisingly monolingual in its precepts and vision?
References
Agar, M. H. (1994). Language shock: Understanding the culture of conversation. New York: Morrow.
Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (5th ed.). Clevedon, UK:
Multilingual Matters.
Canagarajah, A. S. (2013). Translingual practice. New York/Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Canagarajah, A. S. (2014). Theorizing a competence for translingual practice at the contact zone. In S.
May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 78–
102). New York/Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
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García, O. (2009). Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century. In T. Skutnabb–
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