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This presentation deals with theoretical and practical aspects of the debate on the nature of the linguistic system that enables speech and writing in bilinguals. The debate and its educational implications have been articulated in terms of the notion of translanguaging. The prefix trans- in translanguaging is in the sense of 'going beyond' (as in transcend), in this case thinking about bilinguals while going beyond named languages like English, Spanish, French, Swahili, Arabic, etc. We have defined translanguaging as the deployment of a speaker’s full linguistic repertoire without regard for watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named (and usually national and state) languages. The notion of translanguaging has disrupted conventional concepts of bilingualism and multilingualism as simply the mastery of two or more languages from birth or as a result of an additive process. We discuss this theoretical position and the ways it has impacted theoretical concepts such as 'code switching', as well as the ways it has influenced instructional programs in bilingual, second-language, and foreign-language education in the U.S. and other countries.

Ofelia García, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).

Ricardo Otheguy, Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).

 

Photo gallery: https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/en/galleries/photos/photo-gallery-april-3-2018

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