The public art of translanguaging: reimagining theory from grassroots perspectives on social media

Abstract

This study investigates public engagement with translanguaging on Xiaohongshu, a prominent Chinese social media platform, to challenge its academic framing as an unproblematic construct. Grounded in citizen sociolinguistics, analysis of user-generated content reveals four distinct engagement profiles: (1) digital nomads who amplify translanguaging's visibility through superficial interactions; (2) enthusiastic diplomats who broker accessible knowledge via multimodal content; (3) neoliberal consumers who commodify translanguaging for practical benefits; and (4) critical citizen sociolinguists who contest reductive narratives and institutional appropriation. Findings indicate that while neoliberal commodification reflects discursive drift within academia, public critical voices recontextualise translanguaging in everyday praxis, exemplifying grassroots knowledge production. The study underscores social media as a participatory space for sociolinguistic engagement and as a catalyst for academic reflexivity, compelling translanguaging scholars to confront issues of legitimacy, authenticity, and epistemic exclusion. It also advocates for bridging academic theory with public lived realities, promoting collaborative methodologies that include marginalised voices and transcend disciplinary insularity in translanguaging research.