Shh, hushed multilingualism! Accounting for the discreet genre of translanguaged siding in lecture halls at a South African university

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Date

2017

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

De Gruyter Mouton

Abstract

Translanguaged siding is the term used here for the relatively under-researched phenomenon of student-to-student communication occurring in parallel to the teacher-talk, but using language and other semiotic resources that differ from the teacher's in order to shape understanding of the teacher's meanings or to make other meanings. This article draws on Fishman's reflections on his now famous 1965 question Who speaks What language to Whom and When?, and on Bakhtin's work on dialogicity to examine the dynamics of semiotic choice in translanguaged siding as well as its functions in the experience of multilingual students at a South African University. Data obtained from recorded interviews, a questionnaire survey and documentary evidence allow for establishing that (1) there are complex chains of correlation involving subsets of identified siding variables, and (2) translanguaged siding can be supportive of learning, contrary to associations of siding with Malinowskian small talk.

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Keywords

Classroom discourse, Joshua Fishman, Semiotic choice, Translanguaged siding, Multilingualism

Citation

Antia, B.E., 2017. Shh, hushed multilingualism! Accounting for the discreet genre of translanguaged siding in lecture halls at a South African university. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2017(243), pp.183-198.