Global Englishes, Translinguistic Identities, and Translingual Practices in a Community College ESL Classroom: A Practitioner Researcher Reports

Abstract

English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in the United States increasingly include students who have had exposure to more than one global context of English. Unless explicitly discussed, the variations within global Englishes can lead to confusion and obstruct learning. In addition, sometimes teachers fail to acknowledge the Englishes that their students bring into the classrooms as valid and valuable, and miss an opportunity to teach their students even more effectively. Teachers who are themselves familiar with global contexts of English can draw upon their own translingual practices and translinguistic identities to validate their students' Englishes while teaching the target variety and developing their students' translingual competence. Translingualism in TESOL is emerging as a new paradigm, and the advances that have been made in theorization about translingual practices need to be supplemented with translingual pedagogies. In response, this article presents a practitioner research report on teaching ESL in a community college from a translingual perspective, and offers snapshots of classroom discussions around variations in postcolonial Englishes. The author emphasizes the need for teachers to acknowledge and validate the Englishes and translinguistic identities present in their classrooms, and shares implications for ESL practitioners' professional development, teacher education programs, as well as practitioner research.