Translanguaging Perspectives on Writing Development and Pedagogy - (Research in Bilingual Education) (Hardcover)

About the Book

Translanguaging Perspectives on Writing Development and Pedagogy takes up translanguaging perspectives on writing development and writing pedagogies across a variety of contexts. The chapters explore how a translanguaging lens can shift and expand notions of writing practices and instruction.

Book Synopsis

Translanguaging Perspectives on Writing Development and Pedagogy takes up translanguaging perspectives on writing development and writing pedagogies across a variety of contexts. The chapters explore how a translanguaging lens - which is rooted in the idea that bi/multilingual people draw from an integrated repertoire of language features, rather than use separate, named languages, to communicate and make meaning - can shift and expand notions of writing practices and instruction. Individual chapters illustrate rich, descriptive studies of writing across three contexts: K-12 classrooms and schools, learning environments that extend beyond the classroom, and pre- and in-service teacher education, framing the book's three-part organization.

Highlighting meaningful collaborations with teachers, students, families, and community members, the volume offers innovative methodologies and approaches to research relationships in language- and literacy-learning spaces.

Translanguaging Perspectives on Writing Development and Pedagogy advances a comprehensive view of translanguaging perspectives on writing and how such a perspective can shift traditional approaches to the research on and teaching of writing.

Review Quotes

A book that explores translanguaging as pedagogy with a focus on writing! Unique to this book is the discussion of translanguaging pedagogies in writing in three distinct but vital educational contexts including classroom settings, beyond school settings, and teacher education; plethora of much needed examples of applications of theory to practice; and the avoidance of dichotomous discourse about languaging in bilingual contexts. For example, translanguaging pedagogy does not have to be mutually exclusive from more traditional policies in dual language programs such a strict separation of named languages. Further, translanguaging is beneficial in monolingual English settings as well as bilingual settings. The book is a confirmation of what we know, but don't necessarily know how to use, in service to teaching and learning.

--Kathy Escamilla, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, University of Colorado, USA

This well curated selection of papers presents writing development and pedagogy from a translanguaging perspectives, giving a well-rounded picture of what educators (teachers, coaches, researchers) experience while using and reflecting on translanguaging practices. The experiences of students in schools are further enriched by descriptions of programs outside school, where writers encounter greater flexibility in language use and a variety of programs, such as family literacy where mothers and children write and share their work. Each chapter starts with a vignette, bringing the reality of practices to the fore and drawing the interest of both practitioners and researchers. Collectively the chapters in the book provide a comprehensive literature review on translaguaging research and rich and varied data on writing, adding invaluable scholarship to the field of biliteracy and flexibility of language practices.--María Estela Brisk, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, Boston College, USA

About the Author

Mileidis Gort is Professor of Equity, Bilingualism, and Biliteracy and Associate Dean of Students at the University of Colorado Boulder's School of Education, USA.
Angie Zapata is Associate Professor of Language and Literacies Education at the University of Missouri, USA, and is a longtime teacher, teacher educator and researcher.
Kate Seltzer is Associate Professor of ESL and Bilingual Education at Rowan University's College of Education, USA.
Margarita Gómez is Professor of Literacy Education at Loyola University Maryland, USA.