Abstract
This chapter contributes to ongoing explorations of translanguaging in everyday contexts, acknowledges the origins of the concept in multilingual educational contexts, and notes how researchers have also applied the concept to multilingual interactions in research teams. The authors of this chapter broaden the consideration of everyday translanguaging further to explore the fieldwork practices of a team of Global Mental Health (GMH) researchers collaborating with applied linguists in Uganda. This case study was part of a larger, AHRC- funded research study, operating across academic disciplines, professions and countries. In the case study drawn upon here, researchers and practitioners, who could access a range of linguistic resources themselves, conducted fieldwork in the city of Lira, Uganda. In discussing what is called here the everyday “translingual practice” observed within the team engaging in fieldwork, the authors focus what might have shaped translingual practice. This focus is informed by ecological theory and it enables the authors to consider possible contextual, personal, disciplinary, methodological, and other influences on researchers’ and research participants’ translingual practices. The argument developed in the chapter is supported by data captured during the fieldwork blogs kept by the researchers. The chapter concludes with two key areas for continued discussion, namely: (1) translanguaging can make a significant contribution to the conceptualisation of research and practice in a range of disciplines and professions, beyond the educational origins of the concept; and (2) that in order to understand, as well as document, translanguaging, researchers may draw on additional theoretical traditions, such as ecological theory, which will support a contextually-informed analysis of the shaping influences on translanguaging.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The fieldwork team consisted of: the project leader (RW); a clinical psychologist from a Uganda university (RK); and an applied linguist (RF) and a linguistically-inclined creative artist (KF) from the broader project. Further applied linguistics support in making sense of the translanguaging aspects of the fieldwork was provided by JA. The authorship of this chapter reflects the translanguaging focus subsequently added but the authors gratefully acknowledge the fieldwork roles of all concerned in enabling such a focus to develop.
- 2.
e.g. see http://www.uklef.net/
- 3.
Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Law, the Body and the State (funded by the UK AHRC, AH/L006936/1). www.researching-multilingually-at-borders.com
- 4.
- 5.
References
Andrews, J., Fay, R., & White, R. (Forthcoming). From linguistic preparation to developing a translingual orientation – possible implications of plurilingualism for researcher education. In J. Choi, S. Ollerhead, & M. French (Eds.), Plurilingualism in learning and teaching: Complexities across contexts. London: Routledge.
Androulakis, G. (2013). Researching language needs using ‘insiders’: Mediated trilingualism and other issues of power asymmetries. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(3), 368–384.
Barker, R. G. (1968). Ecological psychology: Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
Blackledge, A., & Creese, A. (2010). Multilingualism: A critical perspective. London: Continuum.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Canagarajah, A. S. (2013). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. London: Routledge.
Conteh, J., & Meier, G. (Eds.). (2014). The multilingual turn in languages education: Opportunities and challenges. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2012). Voice and meaning-making in team ethnography. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 43(3), 306–324.
Dennett, D. (1987). The intentional stance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Fay, R., & Stelma, J. (2016). Criticality, intentionality and intercultural action. In M. Dasli & A. Diaz (Eds.), The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice (pp. 120–146). London: Routledge.
Fricker, M. (2009). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
García, O., & Kleyn, T. (Eds.). (2016). Translanguaging with multilingual students. Learning from classroom moments. Abingdon: Routlegde.
García, O., & Li Wei. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Gramling, D. (2016). The invention of monolingualism. London: Bloomsbury.
Holliday, A. R. (1994). Appropriate methodology and social context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holmes, P., Fay, R., Andrews, J., & Attia, M. (2013). Researching multilingually: New theoretical and methodological directions. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(3), 285–299.
Holmes, P., Fay, R., Andrews, J., & Attia, M. (2016). How to research multilingually: Possibilities and complexities. In Zhu Hua (Ed.), Research methods in intercultural communication: A practical guide (pp. 88–102). London: Wiley.
Jones, K. E., Martin Jones, M., & Bhatt, A. (2000). Constructing a critical dialogic approach to research on multilingual literacy: Participant diaries and diary interviews. In M. Martin Jones & K. E. Jones (Eds.), Multilingual literacies: Reading and writing in different worlds (pp. 319–351). Amsterdam: John Benjamin.
Lawson, R., & Sayers, D. (Eds.). (2016). Sociolinguistic research: Application and impact. London: Routledge.
Li Wei. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222–1235.
Malle, B. F., Moses, L. J., & Baldwin, D. A. (Eds.). (2001). Intentions and intentionality: Foundations of social cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281–307.
Papadopoulou, M. (2012). The ecology of role play: Intentionality and cultural evolution. British Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 575–592.
Reed, E. S. (1996). Encountering the world: Towards an ecological psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stelma, J. (2011). An ecological model of developing researcher competence: The case of software technology in doctoral research. Instructional Science, 39(3), 367–385.
Stelma, J., & Fay, R. (2014). Intentionality and developing researcher competence on a UK master’s course: An ecological perspective on research education. Studies in Higher Education, 39(4), 517–533.
Stelma, J., Fay, R., & Zhou, X. (2013). Developing intentionality and researching multilingually: An ecological and methodological perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 23(3), 300–315.
Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 675–735.
White, R., Jain, S., Orr, D. M. R., & Read, U. (Eds.). (2016). The Palgrave handbook of sociocultural perspectives on global mental health. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Williams, C. (1996). Secondary education: Teaching in the bilingual situation. In C. Williams, G. Lewis, & C. Baker (Eds.), The language policy: Taking stock (pp. 39–78). Llangefni: Canolfan Astudiaethau Iaith.
Young, M. F., DePalma, A., & Garrett, S. (2002). Situations, interaction, process and affordances: An ecological psychological perspective. Instructional Science, 30(1), 47–63.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Andrews, J., Fay, R., White, R. (2018). What Shapes Everyday Translanguaging? Insights from a Global Mental Health Project in Northern Uganda. In: Mazzaferro, G. (eds) Translanguaging as Everyday Practice. Multilingual Education, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94851-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94851-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94850-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94851-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)