Translanguaging, Coloniality and Decolonial Cracks

Robyn Tyler

Description

Unique linguistic ethnography of discourse in science learning

In this linguistic ethnography of bilingual science learning in a South African high school, the author connects microanalyses of classroom discourse to broader themes of de/coloniality in education. The book challenges the deficit narrative often used to characterise the capabilities of linguistically-minoritised youth, and explores the challenges and opportunities associated with leveraging students’ full semiotic repertoires in learning specific concepts. The author examines the linguistic landscape of the school and the beliefs and attitudes of staff and students which produce both coloniality and cracks in the edifice of coloniality. A critical translanguaging lens is applied to analyse multilingual and multimodal aspects of students’ science meaning-making in a traditional classroom and a study group intervention. Finally, the book suggests implications for decolonial pedagogical translanguaging in Southern multilingual classrooms.

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1. De/coloniality and Language in South African Schooling 

Chapter 2. Language, the Body and Identity in Learning 

Chapter 3. Language at Success High: Ideologies and Practices 

Chapter 4. Constraint in Curriculum, Assessment and Classroom Discourse

Chapter 5. Decolonial Cracks Introduced by Students

Chapter 6. Decolonial Cracks in Pedagogy: Freedom and Resistance

Chapter 7. Conclusion: Widening the Cracks 

Appendix 1: A Multilingual Science Resources list

Appendix 2: Grade 9 Chemical Reactions Tests and Worksheets: English, isiXhosa and Translingual

Appendix 3: Transcription Conventions

References

Index

Sujets

• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Teaching
• EDUCATION
• Sudáfrica
• Linguistics
• South Africa
• Multilingualism
• Professional
• Postgraduate education
• General officer
• General
• Research
• Postgraduate
• Science
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Channel View Publications
• Date de parution: 13 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781800412002
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 16 Mo

Extrait

Translanguaging, Coloniality and Decolonial Cracks
TRANSLANGUAGING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
Series Editors : Li Wei , University College London , Angel Lin , Simon Fraser University , Yuen Yi Lo , The University of Hong Kong and Saskia Van Viegen , York University .
Translanguaging in Theory and Practice aims to publish work that highlights the dynamic use of an individual’s linguistic repertoire and challenges the socially and politically defined boundaries of languages and their hierarchy. We invite research from across disciplines by both established and emergent researchers in multifarious settings, including everyday use, educational, digital and workplace contexts. We also actively welcome and solicit studies on translanguaging in contexts where English is not the mainstream language and where other modalities and semiotic resources take prominence over speech and writing. The series is transdisciplinary and encourages scholars to publish empirical research on translanguaging, especially that which aims to disrupt power relations, to create new identities and communities, to engage in the discussion of translanguaging theories and pedagogies, and/or to help the field of translanguaging consolidate its scholarship.
Topics to be covered by the series include:
• Theoretical underpinnings of Translanguaging.
• Translanguaging Pedagogies.
• Translanguaging in Assessment.
• Translanguaging and Language Policy.
• Translanguaging in Everyday Social Practices in Different Contexts and Communities, including Digital/ Social/ Media.
All books in this series are externally peer-reviewed.
Full details of all the books in this series and of all our other publications can be found on http://www.multilingual-matters.com , or by writing to Multilingual Matters, St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
TRANSLANGUAGING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: 4
Translanguaging, Coloniality and Decolonial Cracks
Bilingual Science Learning in South Africa
Robyn Tyler
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS
Bristol • Jackson
DOI https://doi.org/10.21832/TYLER1982
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Names: Tyler, Robyn, author.
Title: Translanguaging, Coloniality and Decolonial Cracks: Bilingual Science Learning in South Africa/Robyn Tyler.
Description: Bristol, UK; Jackson, TN: Multilingual Matters, 2023. | Series: Translanguaging in Theory and Practice: 4 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “In this ethnography of bilingual science learning, the author connects microanalyses of classroom discourse to broader themes of de/coloniality in education. The author examines the linguistic landscape of the school and the attitudes of staff and students which produce both coloniality and cracks in the edifice of coloniality”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022039345 (print) | LCCN 2022039346 (ebook) | ISBN 9781800411982 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800413566 (paperback) | ISBN 9781800411999 (pdf) | ISBN 9781800412002 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Multilingual education—South Africa. | Translanguaging (Linguistics) | Science—Study and teaching (Secondary)—South Africa. | Language policy—South Africa.
Classification: LCC LC3738.S6 T95 2023 (print) | LCC LC3738.S6 (ebook) | DDC 370.117/50968—dc23/eng/20220824
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022039345
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022039346
 
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-198-2 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-80041-356-6 (pbk)
 
Multilingual Matters
UK: St Nicholas House, 31–34 High Street, Bristol, BS1 2AW, UK.
USA: Ingram, Jackson, TN, USA.
 
Website: www.multilingual-matters.com
Twitter: Multi_Ling_Mat
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/multilingualmatters
Blog: www.channelviewpublications.wordpress.com
 
Copyright © 2023 Robyn Tyler.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in sustainable forests. In the manufacturing process of our books, and to further support our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification. The FSC and/or PEFC logos will appear on those books where full certification has been granted to the printer concerned.
 
Typeset by SAN Publishing Services.
Printed and bound in the UK by the CPI Books Group Ltd.
For my parents, Christine and Campbell.
And to the young people of Grade 9B, 2016: Nibahle!
Contents
Acknowledgements
1 De/coloniality and Language in South African Schooling
2 Language, the Body and Identity in Learning
3 Language at Success High: Ideologies and Practices
4 Constraint in Curriculum, Assessment and Classroom Discourse
5 Decolonial Cracks Introduced by Students
6 Decolonial Cracks in Pedagogy: Freedom and Resistance
7 Conclusion: Widening the Cracks
Appendix 1: A Multilingual Science Resources List
Appendix 2: Grade 9 Chemical Reactions Tests and Worksheets: English, isiXhosa and Translingual
Appendix 3: Transcription Convention
References
Index
Acknowledgements
It is a generous and brave teacher who allows a researcher access to her classroom. I am very grateful to Ms B for her vulnerability and willingness to help me. Ndiyabulela titshalakazi. Also, to the students of 9B: you took a chance on me and shared your vibrant selves with me. Thank you very much. Ndavuya ndahamba nani.
I would like to thank those people who have encouraged and supported me in completing this book. I am grateful to colleagues and graduate students at the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research for your support and interest along this journey. Your engagement in seminars and discussions on my research has shaped my thinking deeply. Thank you to one of the series editors, Angel Lin, who encouraged me to write the book in the first place. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my doctoral supervisor, Carolyn McKinney, for her intellectual and personal support beginning during my PhD and extending into this book project. Your encouragement, reading of drafts and insightful critique are invaluable. Thank you, too, for reminding me why we write books and keeping my vision lifted always towards social justice through language and literacy education. I would also like to thank Pam Christie for her very helpful comments on an early draft as well as the two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript who were exceptionally engaged readers. All shortcomings are now solely my own.
Transcribing noisy classroom video data is laborious and painstaking. Thank you to the transcribers and translators who worked with me on the data: Babalwayashe Molate and Juliette Manitshana. I would like to thank the artists who so beautifully transformed a suite of data into the cartoons included here: Zachary Stewart and Julia Davies. I so value your drawing skills. Thank you to Babalwayashe Molate and Lara Krause who worked with me to produce the multilingual Science tests in Appendix 2 which are based on a test developed at Success High.
Lastly, a very warm thank you to my friends and family. In particular, thank you to Mark, Georgia and Erin. Your love keeps me going.
I gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to re-use material from the following publications:
McKinney, C. and Tyler, R. (2018) Disinventing and reconstituting language for learning in school Science. Language and Education 33 (2), 141–158.
Tyler, R. (2021) Transcribing whole-body sense-making by non-dominant students in multilingual classrooms. Classroom Discourse 12 (4), 386–402. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2021.1896563
Tyler, R. (2022) Identity meshing in learning Science bilingually: Tales of a ‘coconuty nerd.’ In C. McKinney and P. Christie (eds) Decoloniality, Language and Literacy: Conversations with Teacher Educators (pp. 63–77). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
1 De/coloniality and Language in South African Schooling
Introduction
It is April 2016 and Ms B is teaching her Grade 9 Science class in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Her students are wrestling with understanding how atoms gain and lose electrons during reactions. The topic has been covered in the previous year, and this is the fourth hour that Ms B has spent teaching chemical reactions. Finally, understanding dawns for most of the young people in the room. When Ms B expresses her frustration that it took so long for them to understand, Onke, 15, rocks back on his chair and cries out: ‘ We were bhided by George! ’ (‘We were confused by English!’).
In this exclamation, Onke meshes features of English and isiXhosa, 1 combined with a wide smile and a glance at his desk mate while rocking back on his chair to create an innovative, multimodal and irreverent performance. The performance is at the same time shot through with the precarity of this particular experience of language for learning Science in school. ‘George’ is a popular nickname for the English language among isiXhosa speakers, taken from George VI who was king of England at the time when the formal education of isiXhosa speakers in the colonial language was in its ascendancy in Southern Africa. Onke expresses in bald terms the deleterious effects of learning Science exclusively through a colonial language in which he is not yet fully proficient.
Onke’s performance reverberates with the de/coloniality (Quijano, 2017) of language and identity for learning which goes to the heart of this book. Both ongoing coloniality and decolonial disruptions to this status quo are salient features of learning in Southern, post-colonial schools serving speakers of non-dominant languages. The study presented in this