Translanguaging/trans-semiotizing in teacher-learner interactions on social media: Making learner agency visible and achievable

Abstract

Through a translanguaging lens, trans-semiotizing emphasizes the entanglement of language and other semiotic resources to negotiate meaning. Recent studies have begun to recognize the pedagogical functions of translanguaging/trans-semiotizing by optimizing the use of multisemiotic resources. The present study contributes to this growing body of literature by exploring the association between translanguaging/trans-semiotizing and learner agency (the initiative to learn) in a course of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) under everyday and crisis contexts. Firstly, the patterns of trans-semiotizing were analyzed in social media interactions between 2121 undergraduate students and three teachers over three semesters. Secondly, the process of trans-semiotizing for learner agency was examined through multimodal conversation analysis. Thirdly, perceptions of four semiotic resources were explored via chat-log-stimulated interviews and a follow-up questionnaire. The convergent results show that trans-semiotizing was a common practice under both everyday and crisis contexts, being closely associated with the fluctuation of learner agency. Significantly, trans-semiotizing between texts and pictures fosters learner agency by facilitating learners' exploration of the learning opportunities, while trans-semiotizing to emojis manifests the fluctuant learner agency. These findings indicate that trans-semiotizing makes learner agency more visible and achievable, and teachers' trans-semiotic competence to differentiate and deploy multisemiotic resources is critical.