Shared identities through translanguaging practices in the multilingual mariachi classroom

Abstract

Literature regarding translanguaging pedagogy has grown in recent years, with several studies examining its use within the classroom as well as potential ways it can shape learner identity constructions (e.g., Sayer, 2013). Drawing on translanguaging and translanguaging pedagogy (e.g., Canagarajah, 2011; Creese & Blackledge, 2010) and the literature on teacher identities, this study uses qualitative data collected through in‐depth interviews with a music teacher who self‐identifies as Hispanic1 and bilingual, observations of his classroom teaching, and descriptive field notes in order to elucidate the links between translanguaging and identity constructions in a U.S. high school classroom. Analyzing how the music instructor used translingual practices to teach Mariachi, we found he constructed shared sociocultural identities for himself and his students in a fluid languaged space. We conclude with implications for classroom practice as well as suggestions for research that may more fully capture the complex experience and identity work of linguistically, ethnically, and racially diverse teachers in multilingual K‐12 classrooms.

A scoping review of international mindedness and related concepts in music education, 2000–2020

“…In total, I found five studies that refer to both music education and multilingualism (Aliagas, 2017; Aliagas et al, 2016; Alvarez, 2014; Frimberger, 2016; Kayi‐Aydar & Green‐Eneix, 2019). Alvarez (2014) explored the benefits of a Spanish and English music and play class at a bilingual library in Lexington, Kentucky.…”

“…'Mariachi is a musical genre that conveys varying tales originating from Mexico' (Kayi-Aydar & Green-Eneix, 2019). According to Rodriguez-Sanchez et al (2018), their modified sound postcard method involved inviting interviewees to select and describe sounds representative of various parts of their life histories.…”

Introducing Translanguaging in an EAP Course at a Joint-Venture University in China

“…Feedback from students to date indicates that these particular translanguaging writing assignments have the potential to contribute to students’ cultural knowledge, writing and communication skills, and intercultural communication and awareness. They also seem to contribute to identity construction through positioning students as experts and providing them opportunities to share aspects of their cultural identities and to deploy their linguistic resources (Creese and Blackledge, 2015; Kayi-Aydar and Green-Eneix, 2019). In addition to the examples shared above, another layer to the translanguaging these assignments required was in negotiation of meaning between me, with my limited Chinese proficiency, and my students.…”

Teacher Identity (re)Construction in Collaborative Bilingual Education: The Emergence of Dyadic Identity

“…Some of this research has also investigated plurilingual teachers' identity within translanguaging pedagogy (i.e., where shuttling and alternating between and across two or more languages in creative or emergent ways is encouraged and facilitated to enhance meaning‐making in communication; Turner, 2019). For example, Kayı‐Aydar and Green‐Eneix (2019) probed a music teacher's practice in a high school in Southwestern United States as to how he constructed bilingual and high‐status bicultural identities with his minoritized students through engagement in and encouragement of translingual practices. A noteworthy finding was that, despite not being a language teacher, he developed a bilingual teacher identity and a commitment to BE practice in close connection with his students.…”

“…Empirical research into teacher identity in BE (e.g., Ellis, 2016; Kayı‐Aydar & Green‐Eneix, 2019; Morton, 2016; Varghese, 2006; Zheng, 2017) has largely focused on the identity construction of language and/or content teachers who already are or are becoming plurilingual (i.e., bilingual/multilingual) in developed countries. For example, Morton's (2016) research on a Spanish CLIL teacher's identity construction through discursive positioning revealed multiple, and at times contradictory, identity positions.…”