Graduation Term

2023

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of English

Committee Chair

Joyce Walker

Abstract

117 PagesWhat impact can translingual pedagogy have in introductory composition classes? This thesis describes how first-year composition (FYC) students at a Primarily White Institution (PWI) participated in complicated, divergent uptake as they learned about terms such as translingualism, translation, and Global Englishes in the Fall of 2022. The research for this project was guided by the following questions. 1. In what ways were students understanding, resisting, or engaging with ideas such as Global Englishes, translingualism, and translation? When did moments of “discursive turbulence” occur in student uptake, and what was the result of that turbulence? (Ware and Zilles) 2. How did students understand translation and all communication as fluid, culturally and rhetorically situated, and beyond alphanumeric text, including semiotic and multimodal resources? How did students understand the concept of translingualism, and themselves as translingual communicators in the world? 3. How were students of different linguistic backgrounds developing linguistic empathy for the speakers of marginalized languages that do not fit into the monolingual “norm” in the U.S. academic system? 4. How can FYC instructors make translingual pedagogy accessible and comprehensible for traditionally considered “monolingual” English-speaking students? What impact does translingual pedagogy have on our “multilingual” students? Chapter 1 of this thesis reviews literature that discusses the importance of translingual pedagogy in language arts classrooms. Then, this chapter talks about translation research and especially focuses on Laura Gonzales’ concept of “A Revised Rhetoric of Translation” in her book, Sites of Translation. Chapter 2 considers the historical relationship between the linguistics, TESOL, and composition fields. Then, the chapter dives into the research questions that guided this project and the different methodologies used to conduct this project. More specifically, I describe a narrative theory and activity theory approach that I adopted as I collected student data. The chapter also gives an overview of the class I taught, and the components students had to complete in each unit. Chapter 3 gives an overview of my process as I collected data from student writing. In this chapter, I give my overall impressions of how students learned important class terms, such as translingualism, translation, and Global Englishes. Then, I chose 5 specific students to research whose uptakes were diverging and unique as they processed class terms in their writing. For each of the five students, I create a P-CHAT map and a collage to visually represent the students’ writing. I provide an analysis of each image and a description of the insights I gained about student uptake as I created and processed these visual representations of the data. Chapter four offers my interpretation of the data I collected. This chapter explores Ware and Zilles’s concept of “discursive turbulence” and how turbulence frames the stops and starts students experience in their learning. Then, I draw conclusions from the data and offer pedagogical recommendations for instructors seeking to incorporate translingual pedagogy in their FYC classroom. I also discuss the limitations of the project and suggestions for future research regarding divergent uptake and discursive turbulence.

KEYWORDS: Pedagogical Cultural-Historical Activity theory; discursive turbulence; narrative theory; translingualism; pedagogy; translation; Global Englishes; A Revised Rhetoric of Translation

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2023.20231004061829723632.999951

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