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Translanguaging in Systemic Functional Linguistics: A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Writing in Secondary Schools

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Bilingual Learners and Social Equity

Part of the book series: Educational Linguistics ((EDUL,volume 33))

Abstract

Bilingualism is often perceived as a deficit in English only classrooms. Multilingual students, however, have sophisticated cognitive strategies that can be leveraged in school contexts. This chapter investigates how SFL genre pedagogy and translanguaging can function as integral resources in a culturally sustaining instructional framework to support the meaning-making practices of high school bilingual learners in persuasive writing. Findings from the study show that when immersed in this culturally sustaining framework, students successfully learned how patterns of academic language (e.g. grammatical metaphors) function in expository texts to build arguments and challenge dominant worldviews.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I am fluent in English and Spanish and also speak three Indian languages: Hindi, Marathi, and Gujarati.

  2. 2.

    All names are pseudonyms.

  3. 3.

    In a sheltered classroom or scheduled class time, bilingual students at the middle and high school levels receive language assistance and/or content instruction in a class composed only of ELs, different from push-in models that place ELs in mainstream classes with an ESOL teacher as support.

  4. 4.

    DREAM (acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act is an American legislative proposal for undocumented immigrants in the United States that would first grant conditional residency. See www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr1751 for more details.

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  1. Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Nihal Khote

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  1. Language and Literacy Department, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    Ruth Harman

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Khote, N. (2018). Translanguaging in Systemic Functional Linguistics: A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Writing in Secondary Schools. In: Harman, R. (eds) Bilingual Learners and Social Equity. Educational Linguistics, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60953-9_8

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