Language Histories, Community Translanguaging, and Collective Repertoires: Multilingual Language Learning Interactions in a Second-Grade Writing Workshop

Abstract

Using a community translanguaging lens, this paper focuses on the collective translanguaging practices of second-grade students who come from multilingual language backgrounds but were attending a school where English was the mandated language of instruction. The research question addressed is: How did students construct and employ a community language repertoire during writing interactions in a multilingual, English-medium classroom? Data were drawn from a year-long, qualitative study employing ethnographic and practitioner research methods to examine teacher and students' daily writing practices in one second-grade classroom. Data were analyzed using descriptive and thematic coding of students' language learning interactions. Findings illustrate how the community repertoire was drawn on and constructed as students: (1) talked about their own and others' language histories, (2) interacted with peers and materials to learn language(s), and (3) at times reproduced historical, macro-level discourses. Representative, interactional examples are used to illustrate and describe each theme in detail. Implications for theory and pedagogy are discussed, arguing that a focus on community translanguaging offers a more nuanced view of classroom language learning.