Translanguaging: the concept origin and meaning

Abstract

The status of English language as a lingua franca and the steady expansion of its influence in many areas of human activity cause an ambiguous reaction in the modern world and is accompanied by the emergence of relevant trends in linguistic science and real practice of foreign languages training. In the world linguodidactics, there is a constant search for effective ways of teaching foreign languages, which is inevitably accompanied by a search for solutions to acute problems associated with the English language diversification from the one hand and the preservation of linguistic diversity and cultural identity from the other hand. Analysing the scholars and educators works the author traces the emergence and meaning of the concepts of “translingualism” as a linguistic approach and “translanguaging” as a didactic method. The paper is of great interest from the point of view of acquiring new knowledge and expanding the existing linguodidactic experience. In foreign linguistics, there is a lively discussion about the essence of this phenomenon, which arose as a pedagogical tool in the UK and later took shape in the pedagogical system by the efforts of many scientists and received full theoretical justification in the works written by American scientist Ophelia Garcia and British linguist Lee Wei. Translingualism is considered not only as a powerful pedagogical tool of foreign language training, one the ways to diversify and develop English language, but also as a way to solve accumulated problems in the social sphere, including those the speakers from different linguistic cultures have while communicating.