Students’ Translanguaging Practices In Chinese Tertiary EFL Classrooms:the Distributed Language Perspective

Translanguaging research has received academic attention since its coinage.Scholars have proposed its theoretical advantages through its unified model of language,and pedagogical facilitation in foreign language（FL）teaching and learning as well as content and language integrated learning（CLIL）.However,the few empirical investigations into translanguaging practices in the Chinese context suggest its under-exploration.Practically,translanguaging theory focuses on the integral meaning of various resources other than differentiating them.In previous literature,two foci are concluded in educational contexts:students’ understanding of language mixing,and students’actual linguistic practices in the classroom.The foci left the gap for the present study to concentrate on both semiotic and linguistic resources.Theoretically,while actively adopting the concept of "languaging" from the distributed language perspective（DLP）,translanguaging research merely refers to DLP for theoretical guidance.Thus,the present study turns to DLP for an analytical lens.Consequently,the present study tries to provide a comprehensive understanding by analyzing students’ linguistic and semiotic practices.Specifically,grounded in the Chinese tertiary EFL classrooms,the present study focuses on the following research questions:（1）How do students perceive translanguaging practices?（2）How do students practice their translanguaging?（3）Why do students orchestrate such translanguaging practices,and how are these practices constructed?The study mainly employed the qualitative approach in its four stages of analysis.First,questionnaires were collected from four classes of students（N=172）to investigate their desired language use and actual language use.The transcribed data was coded with Nvivo 12.Second,based on the consent forms affiliated to the questionnaires,semi-structured interviews were performed with two focal groups of students（N=20）,for an in-depth understanding of their perceptions of translanguaging practices.The data was also transcribed and processed through Nvivo 12.Third,the researcher made ethnographic classroom observations to explore the natural classroom activities,and observed students’ translanguaging practices within a whole unit in the teaching plan（from Aug,2018 to Oct,2018,and from Mar,2019 to Apr,2019）.The footage was transcribed,translated,and coded with ELAN₅.0.0-beta.Different tiers were set to analyze students’ verbal,visual,and embodied modes in the classroom activities.Fourth,a model is partially set up to understand students’ translanguaging practices.To complete the model,students’ self-reflections on their translanguaging practices were audio-recorded,transcribed and coded with Nvivo 12 to find the factors that influenced their translanguaging practices.The main contributions of the present study are as follows.First,it provides an analytical framework to examine students’ dynamic translanguaging practices.Second,it explores students’ perceptions on the selections of linguistic and semiotic resources.Third,it analyzed Chinese tertiary students’ translanguaging practices in the EFL classroom.The analysis of inter-lingual translanguaging revealed that translanguaging built symbolic,epistemic,and scaffolding connections;the analysis of intralingual and interdiscursive translanguaging proved that students’ language choices are not random,but restrained by ecological factors;students’ inter-semiotic translanguaging practices revealed their creativity and criticality;and in students’ translanguaging practices at the language-body interface,their self-synchrony and interactional synchrony were reached through the coordination between speech and other embodied modes.Lastly,a model based on DLP is built to explain students’ translanguaging practices.In students’ self-reflections,mainly three factors（effective communication,ecological affordances of the modes,and emotions conveyed）influence students’ translanguaging practices.Consequently,the present study has provided an in-depth understanding of students’ translanguaging practices in Chinese tertiary EFL classrooms.It is theoretically innovative for adopting DLP in analyzing translanguaging practices,and building a model of such practices.It is also pedagogically implicative in that though translanguaging is revealed natural,foreign language teachers should also focus on the processes and constraints modeled to leverage students’ multilingualism,and enhance their multilingual ability to choose certain elements in the repertoire.