Journal Article

Translanguaging and Latinx Bilingual Readers

García, Ofelia

2020

Overview

The traditional monolingual and monoglossic perspective of literacy and biliteracy is compared with the perspective offered by translanguaging. The author explores how the monolingual and monoglossic view of literacy has been responsible for the failure of many Latinx bilingual students. A translanguaging perspective turns its attention toward the language actions of a bilingual reader and away from the language of a written text. Focusing on the actions of three Latinx bilingual readers—a pre‐reader, an elementary school student, and a middle school student—the author explores how bilingual readers leverage their translanguaging, turning what are said to be static monolingual texts into multilingual/multimodal ones. Through the actions of three Latinx readers in different types of educational contexts, the author shows how literacy educators can take steps to acknowledge bilingual readers’ translanguaging and enter with them into a translanguaging space to do literacy.

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell,Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subject: 1‐Early childhood / 2‐Childhood / 3‐Early adolescence / Action / Bilingual Education / Bilingual Students / Bilingualism / Biliteracy / Code Switching (Language) / Comparative Analysis / Comprehension / Elementary Education / Elementary School Students / Elementary schools / English as a second language / English for speakers of other languages < Language learners / English language learners / English learners / Hispanic American Students / Instructional strategies / Learning environment / Literacy / Literacy Education / methods and materials / Middle School Students / Middle schools / Monolingualism / Motivation/engagement / Multilingualism < Language learners / Preschool Children / Reading Materials / Reading Processes / Strategies / Teachers / Transformative < Theoretical perspectives / Translanguaging