Translanguaging with ‘Monolingual’ Teachers and Heterogeneous Multilingual Learners: Forging New Pedagogies with Shakespeare
Date
2023-10
Authors
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Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
Despite the multilingualism of most South Africans, and the use of two or more languages by many teachers and learners in South African classrooms, there is a particular sector of the formal education system that is characterised by White English ‘monolingual’ teachers who only use English to communicate with their multilingual learners, some of whom do not speak English as a home language. Such monolingualism deprives many multilinguals of the social and educational benefits of learning in their home languages. The dissertation investigates a pedagogy that can be implemented to address the linguistic injustice in this educational sector. Within the broad understanding of the concept of ‘multiliteracies’, it adopts the New London Group’s (1996) Pedagogy of Multiliteracies as its framework because the pedagogy’s emphases on social justice and linguistic inclusivity make it particularly well-suited for addressing the linguistic inequalities in this sector. However, while highlighting the importance of multilingualism, Multiliteracies pedagogy does not emphasise the lingually complex scenarios in the sector on which the study focuses. To accommodate this issue, the study investigates the inclusion of translanguaging pedagogy as a linguistic component that can be integrated into the four pedagogical components of Multiliteracies pedagogy, when and as required. Specifically, it examines the efficacy of translanguaging pedagogy when it is implemented by a ‘monolingual’ teacher (a teacher who only communicates in a single language) in a class with heterogeneous multilinguals (people who speak multiple, often unrelated languages). To obtain the data for the study, practitioner-based research was conducted in a private secondary school in Johannesburg with a class of heterogeneous multilinguals. Using a mixed-method design, a range of translanguaging activities were implemented during the teaching and learning of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. A Shakespearean play was used because the frequency with which Shakespeare is taught in South African secondary schools necessitates an urgent transformation of its pedagogy. Furthermore, the comprehension difficulties associated with the teaching and learning of Shakespeare’s Early Modern English require a form of translation, which facilitates the introduction of translanguaging pedagogy in the sector on which the study focuses. The results of the study indicate that translanguaging in this educational setting raises learners’ awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and facilitates their understanding of Macbeth. These findings suggest that translanguaging can and should be implemented in this educational sector as much as possible. Perhaps counterintuitively, the implementation of translanguaging in the pedagogy of Shakespeare also provides a way to narrow the educational divide between the global north and the global south by empowering learners to provide uniquely (South) African contributions to global discourses on Shakespeare.
Description
A Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of English, to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Literature, Language and Media, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023.
Keywords
Translanguaging, Monolingual’ teachers, Multilingual learners, Shakespeare, South African education system, Linguistic injustices, Multiliteracies pedagogy, UCTD
Citation
Ritchie, Linda Anne. (2023). Translanguaging with ‘Monolingual’ Teachers and Heterogeneous Multilingual Learners: Forging New Pedagogies with Shakespeare. [PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WIReDSapce.