CTL7019 Supporting English Language LearnersClass 3: Using Translanguaging & Plurilingual Strategies to Support ELLs

Dr. Shakina RajendramIntersession 2020

Class 3 Agenda◉ Recap of Class 2

◉ Plurilingualism & Translanguaging

○ What Theory & Research Say

○ Give & Get Activity

○ My Plurilingual Journey Assignment

○ Incorporating Translanguaging

Strategies into your Lessons

○ ELL Connect Group Work

1. 3 theories of language acquisition

• Language is learned through imitation and habit formation (behaviourist

view)

• Language is learned through an innate cognitive process (innatist view)

• Language is learned through social interaction (interactionist view)

2. Thinking about effective strategies for your ELLs

based on your own language learning

experiences

3. Ideal conditions for language learning

Class 2 Recap

1. Language is Learned through Imitation & Habit Formation

◉ Behaviourist perspective (e.g., B.F. Skinner)

◉ Children imitate the language they hear & receive positive

reinforcement. Positive reinforcement encourages children to

continue reproducing language patterns until they become

automatic/conditioned

◉ L2 learning → learners may have difficulty recognizing & producing

sounds of a new language because they have refined their

production of sounds to match their first language

environment

2. Language is Learned as an Innate Cognitive Process

◉ Innatist perspective (e.g., Noam Chomsky)

◉ Children learn language because they have an innate predisposition

for language learning & language acquisition device

◉ Children seek patterns (hypothesis testing) & modify their patterns in

response to feedback & further linguistic input

◉ L2 learning → “overgeneralization” (e.g., “I go, she go”);

“interlanguage” (intermediate forms of language);

“fossilization” (e.g., when an interlanguage pattern

remains static)

3. Language is Learned through Social Interaction

◉ Interactionist perspective (e.g., Lev Vygotsky)

◉ Children learn language by interacting & participating in activities

with others

◉ Adults scaffold children’s language development within their zone

of proximal development through their use of modified input

(e.g., “cars and trucks” rather than “vehicles”), and by

providing contextual support & expanding on what

children say

◉ L2 learning → learners need extended, purposeful interactions in the

L2 with adults or peers

◉ Stephen Krashen: learning occurs when learners receive

comprehensible input (language presented not too far above

learners’ current level of development/within learners’ ZPD; when the

meaning of new words or grammatical forms can be easily inferred)

◉ Merrill Swain: input alone is not enough; learners need to

produce meaningful output & receive feedback

(genuine 2-way communication in the L2)

3. Language is Learned through Social Interaction

1. Expose learners to vast quantities of language.

2. Provide opportunities for learners to interact with more proficient language users.

3. Do not require learners to produce language that is too far beyond their current stage

of development.

4. Provide modified input to learners.

5. Strongly link the language directed at learners to its context.

6. Do not point out or criticize young children’s language errors.

7. Rephrase and provide models of correct utterances.

8. Expand on learners’ utterances.

9. Teach language through purposeful use.

10.Use learners’ first language as a foundation for second language learning.

Ideal Conditions for

Language Learning

Ideal Conditions for Language Learning

Multilingual Pedagogies: Plurilingualism & Translanguaging

1

Source: https://chiararuggieri.wordpress.com/individual-bilingualism/

Additive & Subtractive Bilingualism

The Bicycle Analogy: Subtractive Bilingualism

The Bicycle Analogy: Additive Bilingualism

Additive Bilingualism in theory

Additive Bilingualism in reality

Plurilingualism• Plurilingual and pluricultural competence does not

consist of the simple addition of monolingual

competences

• Abandoning ‘perfect bilingualism’; Developing a linguistic

repertoire, in which all linguistic abilities have a place

• Profile of competences in one language is different from

that in others. This ‘partial’ competence is a functional

competence

• An individual builds up a communicative competence to

which all knowledge and experience of language

contributes and in which languages interrelate and

interactSource: Piccardo & Council of Europe

Plurilingual Competence

“Plurilingual competence refers to “the ability

to use languages for the purposes of

communication and to take part in intercultural

interaction, where a person, viewed as a social

actor, has proficiency, of varying degrees, in

several languages and experience of several

cultures. This is not seen as a superposition or

juxtaposition of distinct competences, but rather

as the existence of a complex or even

composite competence on which the social

actor may draw”

Source: Council of Europe, 2009, p. 11

Plurilingual Competence

Source: CECR Section 1.3

Visual Representations of Plurilingualism by Children Across English and French

schools in Toronto and Montpellier

Plurilingualism as communicative

capacity: thinking/thought

Source: I am plurilingual! Je suis plurilingue!

Plurilingualism as identity:

national/cultural affiliations

Source: I am plurilingual! Je suis plurilingue!

Plurilingual competencies

learned through popular culture

Source: I am plurilingual! Je suis plurilingue!

Plurilingual development through travel

Source: I am plurilingual! Je suis plurilingue!

Plurilingual development:

age/time

Source: I am plurilingual! Je suis plurilingue!

Conflicted feelings about plurilingualism

Source: I am plurilingual! Je suis plurilingue!

Interdependence of languages

Source: Drawing the Plurilingual Self

◉Multilingual speakers have only “one

linguistic repertoire from which they select

features strategically to communicate

effectively” (García, 2012, p. 1)

◉Translanguaging is “the ability of

multilingual speakers to shuttle between

languages, treating the diverse languages

that form their repertoire as an integrated

system” (Canagarajah, 2011, p. 401)

Not three

monolinguals in

one

Translanguaging

One multilingual

with one

language

repertoire

◉Multilingual speakers have only “one

linguistic repertoire from which they select

features strategically to communicate

effectively” (García, 2012, p. 1)

◉Translanguaging is “the ability of

multilingual speakers to shuttle between

languages, treating the diverse languages

that form their repertoire as an integrated

system” (Canagarajah, 2011, p. 401)

Translanguaging

Translanguaging as a Pedagogy

1. Stance – the belief that the diverse linguistic practices of learners are valuable

resources that the teacher should draw on and use in the classroom

2. Design – the design of strategic plans (including instructional units, lesson plans,

and assessments) that are informed by learners’ diverse language practices and

ways of knowing, and the creation of opportunities for learners to practise the

language features that are necessary for various academic tasks

3. Shifts – the ability to make necessary moment-by-moment changes to one’s

instructional plans according to feedback from learners

Source: García, O., Johnson, S., & Seltzer, K. (2017). The translanguaging classroom: Leveraging student bilingualism for learning.

Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.

Principles of Sustainable Translanguaging

1. Rules to apply to the creation of translingual materials:

• The materials need to build vocabulary across languages – where a phrase or idea occurs in one language, it must also occur somewhere else in the other language.

• There must be repetition of ideas intersententially but also fluidity intrasententially.

2. Types of translanguaging (based on recent neurolinguistic research):

• Translanguaging for self-repetition (repeating oneself but using a different language each time)

• Continuous segmental translanguaging (moving between languages intrasententially)

• Cross-speaker interactional translanguaging (a second speaker building upon a first speaker’s utterance but doing so in a different language from the first speaker)

Source: Seals & Olsen-Reeder (2020)

Affordances of Translanguaging for Learning

1. Cognitive-conceptual affordances

• Functions that focus on understanding the concepts and content related to the task, and the exchange of information and ideas

2. Planning-organizational affordances

• Functions that focus on planning and organizing roles, responsibilities and tasks within the group, and coordinating the collaboration

3. Affective-social affordances

• Functions that focus on building rapport, engaging peers in social interactions, providing socio-emotional support, and assisting each other

4. Linguistic-discursive affordances

• Functions that focus on learning and using the linguistic structures and discourse required to complete the task, and supporting peers' linguistic and discursive knowledge

Source: Rajendram (2020)

Give & Get Activity: Translanguaging &

Plurilingualism

Share an idea from the Give column with your group and obtain an idea in exchange. Record the ideas that you

receive in the Get column.

Post your completed Give & Get sheet in the Give & Get Activity folder on

Pepper (under Class 3).

As a group, discuss the implications of translanguaging & plurilingualism for

your work with supporting ELLs.

My Plurilingual

Journey2

This assignment is designed to offer

you insights, through self-reflection,

about the role of language in your

life trajectory, the relationship

between your language, culture

and identity, and the implications of

your plurilingual journey for your

future teaching.

My Plurilingual Journey – 20% (pp. 5-6)

These questions should orient your work:

• How did you learn all the language(s) and dialect(s) you speak?

• What experiences have you had with second/additional/foreign languages, either in

formal or informal contexts?

• What challenges and successes have you had along your language learning journey?

• What is the relationship between your language, culture and identity? What role has

language played in forming your identity?

• Based on your own experiences, challenges and successes with language learning,

and your reflections on the relationship between language, culture and identity, how

you will support the language learning of your ELLs?

My Plurilingual Journey – 20% (pp. 5-6)

• You can include other salient topics if you

feel they are relevant to your journey.

• You should make reference to relevant

readings, discussions, activities and ideas

from our course.

• Include a reference list in APA format with

your submission.

My Plurilingual Journey – 20% (pp. 5-6)

You can present your assignment through any of these modes:

• video form (e.g., on Flipgrid, PowerPoint with voiceover, a digital story) (5-7

minutes)

• audio form (e.g., spoken word, poetry, song). Include a written explanation if the

audio component of your assignment does not address all the questions.

• audio or video podcast form (5-7 minutes)

• by writing a paper with pictures (1000-1250 words)

• by writing a blog post with pictures/videos/audio/hyperlinks (1000-1250 words)

• by creating artwork with a written statement connecting the artwork to these

prompts

My Plurilingual Journey – 20% (pp. 5-6)

Incorporating Translanguaging Strategies into your Lesson Plans

3

Translanguaging Strategies(pp. 116-144 of the CUNY-NYSIEB Translanguaging Guide)

• Multilingual Collaborative Work: Content Area

• Collaborative Work: Reading Groups

• Multilingual Writing Partners

• Multilingual Reading Partners

• Bilingual Dictionaries and Online Translation Tools

• Internet as a Multilingual Resource

• Building Background with Preview-View-Review

• Multilingual Research

• Comparing Multilingual Texts

• Multilingual Reading and Responses

• Translanguaging with Independent Writing

• Translanguaging with Multi-genre Writing

• Multilingual Word Walls

• Cognate Charts

• Four Box Graphic Organizer and Frayer-Model

• Vocabulary Inquiry across Languages

• Sentence Building

• Conferring About Syntax Transfer

Preview-View-Review & Frayer Model

• Grade 3: Healthy Eating

• Preview: Students share their prior knowledge about healthy eating habits, recipes in their own cultures, names of healthy food in their L1, local organic food, etc.

• View: Students are presented with the content.

• Review: Students display their learning in a Frayer Model diagram using English and their home languages.

39

• Four-Box Graphic Organizer & Frayer Model

• Grade 6: Understanding Earth and Space Systems

• Each student creates their own graphic organizer and fills them out to best suit their understanding and language needs

• Students compare their organizers with their peers to learn from each other

• Graphic organizer templates are made available throughout the unit for students to interact with new words or concepts

Multilingual Word Wall, Frayer Model & Cognate Chart

Grade 7: Physical Education

• Word wall & Frayer model used to teach students the content-specific vocabulary & help learners explore complex and abstract concepts

• Students can use the words as reference while speaking & to find synonyms

• Cognate chart used for ongoing word study & to encourage learners to build their bilingual vocabulary

ELL Connect Group Preparation

Look through the Translanguaging

Strategies in the CUNY-NYSIEB

Translanguaging in Curriculum &

Instruction Guide and discuss how you

can integrate at least ONE

translanguaging strategy into your

lesson for the ELL Connect assignment.

Reminders

• Post your completed Give & Get sheet in the Give & Get Activity folder on Pepper (under Class 3)

• My Plurilingual Journey assignment is due this Sunday (May 31st) by 11:59pm on Pepper

• Thursday: Identity text projects