Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-d8cs5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T03:17:13.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Translingual Playfulness, Precarity and Safe Space

from Part I - Beyond Translingual Playfulness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2024

By
Sender Dovchin ,
Toni Dobinson ,
Qian Gong  and
Paul Mercieca
Edited by
Sender Dovchin ,
Rhonda Oliver  and
Li Wei
Sender Dovchin
Affiliation:
Curtin University, Perth
Rhonda Oliver
Affiliation:
Curtin University, Perth
Li Wei
Affiliation:
Institute of Education, University of London
Get access

Summary

Translingual users recruit diverse linguistic and non-linguistic resources in fluid and playful ways within their daily linguistic and communicative repertoires. In so doing, they are often involved with ‘playful naughtiness’ that is marked by exuberant banter, mockery, jokes, and travesty. Yet this ‘playful naughtiness’ should not necessarily be the main focus of the analysis, as translingual repertoires may also be linked to precarious conditions of life through the multifarious politics of precarious reality. Translingualism can be fundamentally identified through the failing social, political, academic and economic networks that expose language users to varied critically precarious settings. First, translingualism may be linked with precarious working conditions, particularly for south-to-north migrants or international students who are situated in the Anglophone world. Second, in the precarious world of translingualism, one may find a ‘safe space’ with those who share a similar translingual space. The chapter concludes that understanding the social, political, emotional and ideological conditions for translingual precarity, and the effects of these on translingual users’ own subjectivities, social positions, language ideology and policy, is essential.

Keywords

translingualismplayfulnessprecaritysafe spacemigrants
Type
Chapter
Information
Translingual Practices
Playfulness and Precariousness
 , pp. 19 - 42
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ABC news. (August, 2020). Ongoing coronavirus border closures take their toll as families separated for months. www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-23/coronavirus-border-closures-take-toll-as-families-separated/12564488Google Scholar
Back, M., Han, M., & Weng, S. C. A. (2020). Emotional scaffolding for emergent multilingual learners through translanguaging: Case stories. Language and Education, 34(5), 387–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1744638CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays (trans. C. Emerson and M. Holquist). University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. (1984). Rabelais and His World. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Benson, P. (2011). Language learning and teaching beyond the classroom: An introduction to the field. In Benson, P. & Reinders, H. (eds.), Beyond the Language Classroom (pp. 7–16). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackledge, A., & Creese, A. (2009). Meaning-makings as dialogic process: Official and carnival lives in the language classroom. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 8, 236–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348450903130413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. (2010). The Sociolinguistics of Globalisation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J., & Rampton, B. (2011). Language and superdiversity. Diversities, 13(2), 1–22.Google Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2013). Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations. Routledge, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2018). Translingual practice as spatial repertoires: Expanding the paradigm beyond Structuralist orientations. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 31–54. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx041CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2021). Rethinking mobility and language: From the Global South. The Modern Language Journal, 105(2), 570–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12726CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coates, K., & Carr, S. C. (2005). Skilled immigrants and selection bias: A theory-based field study from New Zealand. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 577–99. 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.05.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, G. (2000). Language Play, Language Learning. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? The Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 103–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00986.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D. (1998). Language Play. Penguin Books, London.Google Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Li, W., & Rawal, H. (2019). Language teacher emotions. In Peters, M. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Teacher Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_262-1Google Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Gajasinghe, K., Ojha, L. P., & Rabie–Ahmed, A. (2022). Bridging the researcher–practitioner divide through community‐engaged action research: A collaborative autoethnographic exploration. The Modern Language Journal, 106(3), 547–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, X., & De Costa, P. I. (2018). Faith-based teacher emotional experiences: A case study of a veteran English lecturer in China. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 41(4), 529–48. https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2018-0037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S. (2021). Translanguaging, emotionality, and English as a second language immigrants: Mongolian background women in Australia. TESOL Quarterly, 55(3), 839–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S. (2022). Translingual Discrimination. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009209748CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., & Dryden, S. (2022a). Unequal English accents, covert accentism and EAL migrants in Australia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, (277), 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., & Dryden, S. (2022b). Translingual discrimination: Skilled transnational migrants in the labour market of Australia. Applied Linguistics, 43(2), 365–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dovchin, S., Pennycook, A., Sultana, S. (2017). Language, culture and the periphery. In Popular Culture, Voice and Linguistic Diversity: Young Adults On-and Offline (pp. 1–26). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.Google Scholar
Dryden, S., & Dovchin, S. (2021). Accentism: English LX users of migrant background in Australia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1980573CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dryden, S., & Dovchin, S. (2022). Translingual English discrimination: Loss of academic sense of belonging, the hiring order of things, and students from the Global South. Applied Linguistics Review, 43(2), 365–88.Google Scholar
Dryden, S., Tankosić, A., & Dovchin, S. (2021). Foreign language anxiety and translanguaging as an emotional safe space: Migrant English as a foreign language learners in Australia. System, 101, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102593CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, E. (2008). Defining and investigating monolingualism. Sociolinguistic Studies, 2(3), 311–30. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v2i3.311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, F., & Liu, Y. (2020). ‘Using all English is not always meaningful’: Stakeholders’ perspectives on the use of and attitudes towards translanguaging at a Chinese university. Lingua, 247, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102959CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Firkin, P., Dupuis, A., & Meares, C. (2004). The Experiences of professional migrants working in New Zealand: A biographical-narrative approach. Summary Report, Labour Market Dynamics Research Programme Working Paper No. 13, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Flores, N. L. (2019). Translanguaging into raciolinguistic ideologies: A personal reflection on the legacy of Ofelia García. Journal of Multilingual Education Research, 9, 45–60. https://research.library.fordham.edu/jmer/vol9/iss1/5Google Scholar
Flores, N., & Chaparro, S. (2018). What counts as language education policy? Developing a materialist anti-racist approach to language activism. Language Policy, 17(3), 365–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-017-9433-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flubacher, M. C., Duchêne, A., & Coray, R. (2017). Language Investment and Employability: The Uneven Distribution of Resources in the Public Employment Service. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.Google Scholar
García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Mateus, S., & Palmer, D. (2017). Translanguaging pedagogies for positive identities in two-way dual language bilingual education. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 16(4), 245–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2017.1329016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O., Johnson, S. I., & Seltzer, K. (2016). The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning. Caslon, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Gkonou, C., Miller, E. R., Dewaele, J. M., & King, J. (2020). Critical incidents in language teachers’ narratives of emotional experience. In The Emotional Rollercoaster of Language Teaching (pp. 131–49). Multilingual Matters, Bristol.Google Scholar
Gkonou, C., & Miller, E. R. (2021). An exploration of language teacher reflection, emotion labor, and emotional capital. TESOL Quarterly, 55(1), 134–55. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.580CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harpalani, V. (2017). ‘Safe spaces’ and the educational benefits of diversity. 13 Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy, 117. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2942980Google Scholar
Johnsen, R. (2022). ‘Quiero juksar en la julaftenito’ – Playfulness and metalinguistic awareness in translingual family interactions. Multilingua, 41(1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2019-0120CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, J. N. (2008). Polylingual languaging around and among children and adolescents. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(3), 161–76. 10.1080/14790710802387562CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, J. N., Karrebæk, M. S., Madsen, L. M., & Møller, J. S. (2011). Polylanguaging in superdiversity. Diversities, 13(2), 23–38.Google Scholar
Kim, T. (2017). Academic mobility, transnational identity capital, and stratification under conditions of academic capitalism. Higher Education, 73(6), 981–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0118-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kottler, J. A. (1996). The Language of Tears. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Ladegaard, H. J. (2014). Crying as communication in domestic helper narratives: Towards a social psychology of crying in discourse. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 33(6), 579–605. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X14538823CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, N. W. (2019). Teachers’ translanguaging practices and ‘safe spaces’ for adolescent newcomers: Toward alternative visions. Bilingual Research Journal, 42(1), 73–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2018.1561550CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, R. L. (2017). Writing on the Move: Migrant Women and the Value of Literacy. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Leppänen, S., Pitkänen-Huhta, A., Piirainen-Marsh, A., Nikula, T., & Peuronen, S. (2009). Young people’s translocal new media uses: A multiperspective analysis of language choice and heteroglossia. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(4), 1080–107. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01482.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, M., & Campbell, J.. (2009). Accessing employment: Challenges faced by non-native English-speaking professional migrants. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 18, 371–95. 10.1177/011719680901800303CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30 https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039Google Scholar
Li, W., & Zhu, H. (2019). Tranßcripting: Playful subversion with Chinese characters. International Journal of Multilingualism, 16(2), 145–61 https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2019.1575834Google Scholar
Lytra, V. (2008). Playful talk, learners’ play frames and the construction of identities. In Martin-Jones, M., de Mejia, A. M., & Hornberger, N. H. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education (pp. 185–97). Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Moody, A., & Matsumoto, Y. (2003). ‘Don’t touch my moustache’: Language blending and code ambiguation by two J-Pop artists. Asian Englishes, 6(1), 4–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2003.10801106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Reilly, K. (2009). Key Concepts in Ethnography. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ollerhead, S. (2019). Teaching across semiotic modes with multilingual learners: Translanguaging in an Australian classroom. Language and Education, 33(2), 106–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2018.1516780CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pacheco, M. B. (2018). Spanish, Arabic, and ‘English-only’: Making meaning across languages in two classroom communities. TESOL Quarterly, 52(4), 995–1021. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.446CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, S., & Bernstein, K. (2008). Depression and Korean American immigrants. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 22(1), 12–19. 10.1016/j.apnu.2007.06.011CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pennycook, A. (2015). Class is out: Erasing social class in applied linguistics D Block: Social class in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 36(2), 270–7. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amv003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2015). Metrolingualism: Language in the City. Routledge, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piller, I. (2016). Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice: An Introduction to Applied Sociolinguistics. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandwall, K. (2010). ‘I learn more at school’: A critical perspective on workplace-related second language learning in and out of school. TESOL Quarterly, 44(3), 542–74. https://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2010.229270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, B. d. S. (2016). Epistemologies of the South and the future. From the European South, 2016(1), 17–29. www.boaventuradesousasantos.pt/media/Epistemologies%20of%20the%20south%20and%20the%20future_Poscolonialitalia_2016.pdfGoogle Scholar
Tai, K. W. H., & Li, W. (2021). Constructing playful talk through translanguaging in English medium instruction mathematics classrooms. Applied Linguistics, 42(4), 607–40, https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaa043CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tankosić, A. (2022). Translingual identity: Perpetual foreigner stereotype of the Eastern-European immigrants in Australia. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 45(3) 246–71. https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.20078.tanCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tankosić, A., & Dovchin, S. (2021). (C)overt linguistic racism: Eastern-European background immigrant women in the Australian workplace. Ethnicities, 45(2), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968211005104Google Scholar
Tankosić, A., Dryden, S., & Dovchin, S. (2021). The link between linguistic subordination and linguistic inferiority complexes: English as a second language migrants in Australia. International Journal of Bilingualism, 25(6), 1782–98. 10.1177/13670069211035561CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ting-Toomey, S. (2013). Managing conflict in intimate intercultural relationships. In Dudley, Cahn, S. (ed.), Conflict in Personal Relationships (pp. 47–77). Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Wiley, T. G., & García, O. (2016). Language policy and planning in language education: Legacies, consequences, and possibilities. The Modern Language Journal, 100(S1), 48–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12303CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, D., & De Costa, P. I. (2017). Expanding the language teacher identity landscape: An investigation of the emotions and strategies of a NNEST. The Modern Language Journal, 101(S1), 76–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12370CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×