Research in the Teaching of English Aug 2013

Negotiating Translingual Literacy: An Enactment

A. Suresh Canagarajah

Abstract

This article argues that an understanding of writing as translingual requires a shift to a different orientation to literacy—i.e., from autonomous and situated to negotiated. Such an orientationtreats the text as co-constructed in time and space—with parity for readers and writers in shaping the meaning and form—and thus performed rather than preconstructed, making the multimodal and multisensory dimensions of the text fully functional. Going beyond the native/nonnative and monolingual/multilingual speaker binaries, this study demonstrates that both student groups can orient themselves to such literate practices in the context of suitable pedagogical affordances. Drawing from teacher research informed by an ethnographic perspective, the study identifies four types of negotiation strategies adopted by writers to code-mesh and readers to interpret texts: envoicing, recontextualization, interaction, and entextualization. Envoicing strategies set the conditions for negotiation, as it is a consideration of voice that motivates writers to decide the extent and nature of code-meshing; recontextualization strategies prepare the ground for negotiation; interactional strategies are adopted to co-construct meaning; and entextualization strategies reveal the temporal and spatial shaping of the text to facilitate and respond to these negotiations. The analysis points to the value of a dialogical pedagogy that can further develop the negotiation strategies students already bring to the classroom.

Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Published
2013-08-01
DOI
10.58680/rte201324158
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy teacher development qualitative research multimodality translingualism literacy studies
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Robledo et al. (2025)
    Critical and Creative Quantum Literacies
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Walker (2025)
    Machine Learning’s Unintended Curriculum: The Impact of Large Language Models o…
    College English
  3. Wang et al. (2025)
    A posthumanist approach to AI literacy
    Computers and Composition
  4. Anderson et al. (2025)
    Framing Educators’ Orientations to Standardized English via Language Ideologica…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  5. Frandsen et al. (2024)
    Challenging the Myth of the Traditional Grad Student: A Case Study about Academ…
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 12 →
  1. Wisniewski (2024)
    College Composition Graduate Instructors’ Development of Conceptual and Practic…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Mahmou-Werndli (2024)
    A Rhetorical Content Analysis of Moroccan Regional Agronomic Abstracts: Textual…
    Written Communication
  3. Zhang-Wu (2023)
    Rethinking Translingualism in College Composition Classrooms: A Digital Ethnogr…
    Written Communication
  4. Shapiro (2022)
    Interchanges: A Kairotic Moment for CLA? Response to Anne Ruggles Gere et al.’s…
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Shapiro et al. (2022)
    Translingual Praxis: From Theorizing Language to Antiracist and Decolonial Pedagogy
    College Composition and Communication
  6. Walker (2020)
    Lifeworld Discourse, Translingualism, and Agency in a Discourse Genealogy of Cé…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  7. Tardy et al. (2020)
    Teaching and Researching Genre Knowledge: Toward an Enhanced Theoretical Framework
    Written Communication

References (0)

No references on file for this article.

CrossRef global citation count: 211 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Research in the Teaching of English Feb 2025
    Heteroglossia and Community Translanguaging in an English-Medium Classroom: Multilingual Elementary Students’ Use of Multiple Voices in Digital Texts ↗
    Lindsey W. Rowe
    writing pedagogy teacher development qualitative research translingualism literacy studies
  2. Computers and Composition Dec 2024
    When generative artificial intelligence meets multimodal composition: Rethinking the composition process through an AI-assisted design project ↗
    Jialei Jiang
    writing pedagogy teacher development revision qualitative research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies
  3. Pedagogy Oct 2023
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy writing across the curriculum two-year college teacher development collaborative writing assessment writing centers qualitative research multimodality literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies affect and writing literary studies book reviews editorial matter
  4. Literacy in Composition Studies May 2018
    “To Whom Do We Have Students Write?”: Exploring Rhetorical Agency and Translanguaging in an Indonesian Graduate Writing Classroom ↗
    Amber Engelson
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development qualitative research translingualism literacy studies
  5. Composition Forum 2015
    Multimodality, Translingualism, and Rhetorical Genre Studies ↗
    Laura Gonzales
    rhetorical criticism genre theory writing pedagogy teacher development qualitative research multimodality multilingual writers translingualism