Translanguaging as a vehicle for epistemic access

Those of us who believe in the power of translanguaging practices for learning in multilingual classrooms can argue with confidence that this 21st century phenomenon is about ways of knowing that are plural, dynamic and fluid. I have shown that translanguaging is a useful model, when aligned with the ancient African value system of ubuntu, to challenge colonial and monolingual language practices that have pre-occupied the teaching profession  for centuries and put multilingual children at the risk of failure, cognitive disadvantage and identity crisis for the rest of their lives. 

Should we still believe that use of more than one language creates mental confusion? Are multilingual children and adult speakers confused? My answer is a resounding NO. Both proposition were based on exclusive, segregating societies that would not tolerate multiplicity (aka one-ness ideology as seen in their one language, one nation mantra). In my latest publication on this subject, I present two cases: one primary school bilingual readers of African languages and English and university students learning African languages. The results of the study showed superior  performance in reading literacy and positive schooling experience in both groups.  Thus, it is instructive to argue that ubuntu translanguaging practices- where one language is incomplete without the other- are a way for African multilingual return. Here's the abstract for this piece of research:  

Translanguaging as a vehicle for epistemic access: cases for reading comprehension and multilingual interactions

Leketi Makalela

Abstract

African multilingualism has always been construed from a monoglossic (i.e., one language at a time) lens despite the pretensions of plural language policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study reported in this paper explored the efficacy of alternating languages of input and output in the same lessons in order to offset linguistic fixity that is often experienced in monolingual classrooms. I present two case studies of translanguaging practices, one at an institution of higher learning and another in the intermediate phase (primary school). The results from these cases show that the use of more than one language by multilingual learners in classroom settings provides cognitive and social advantages for them. Using what I refer to as the ubuntu translanguaging model, I make a case that fuzziness and blurring of boundaries between languages in the translanguaging classes are (i) necessary and relevant features of the 21st century to enhance epistemic access for speakers in complex multilingual spaces, and that they are (ii) indexical to the pre-colonial African value system of ubuntu. Useful recommendations for classroom applications and further research are considered at the end of the paper.