Harnessing multimodality in language teacher education: expanding English-dominant teachers’ translanguaging capacities through a Multimodalities Entextualization Cycle

Abstract

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study (Yin, [2014]. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 5th Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.) emerged from our effort to support teachers, who predominantly identify as monolingual speakers, in learning about translanguaging through a less-explored facet of translanguaging: multimodality. Drawing upon Bezemer and Kress’s (2016) social semiotic framework for multimodal analysis and Lin’s, [2019]. “Theories of Trans/Languaging and Trans-Semiotizing: Implications for Content-Based Education Classrooms.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 22 (1): 5–16. doi:10.1080/13670050.2018.1515175.) Multimodalities Entextualization Cycle (MEC), we ask: ‘What did integration of multimodal resources contribute to pre- and in-service teachers’ learning about translanguaging in an online asynchronous course within an English as a Second Language teacher education program at a Midwest U.S. university?’ Through multimodal analysis (Jewitt 2017), we analyzed the texts teachers created in response to four multimodal tasks; this included analyzing semiotic meaning conveyed through the multiple modes teachers integrated in their responses. We also compared broader patterns in their cumulative learning about translanguaging as a part of an MEC. Our findings suggest that envisioning a cycle of multimodal learning tasks can provide predominantly monolingual-identifying teachers with means to expand their own dynamic repertoires as they make sense of translanguaging. We conclude with recommendations for how language teacher educators can harness multimodal resources to expand teachers’ capacity to enact translanguaging as an equity-based pedagogy of hope. (194 words)