EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages Special Issue, Volume 5, Issue 2, December 2018, 44-61 ISSN 2376-905X DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.9.147 www.e-journall.org © Musanti 2018. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. “Siento que siempre tengo que regresar al inglés”: Embracing a translanguaging stance in a Hispanic-serving institution SANDRA I. MUSANTI*, ALYSSA G. CAVAZOS The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Received 27 June 2018; received in revised form 16 October 2018; accepted 14 November 2018 ABSTRACT EN This chapter centers on our reflections and pedagogical moves as two bilingual educators at a Hispanic-Serving Institution on the borderland region of South Texas, a predominantly bilingual and bicultural community. Specifically, the chapter documents how we embrace a translanguaging pedagogical stance. Translanguaging practices are identity markers and represent the complex ways bilinguals use their linguistic repertoire to communicate across contexts and to negotiate social identities (García & Li Wei, 2014; Martinez-Roldán, 2015). Drawing on García, Johnson, and Seltzer’s (2017) conceptualization of a translanguaging “corriente,” we describe our translanguaging stance and moves as we, respectively, design and teach two undergraduate courses: an upper-level undergraduate Foundations of Bilingual Education course and an undergraduate Rhetoric and Composition I course. We identify tensions, as well as commonalities and differences in our experience enacting translanguaging pedagogies and assignments in two different disciplinary areas. We also present two students’ reflections and assignments to illustrate the outcomes of our translanguaging pedagogies. Key words: TRANSLANGUAGING, HIGHER EDUCATION, BILINGUALISM ES Este capítulo se centra en nuestras reflexiones y actividades pedagógicas como educadoras bilingües en una institución de servicio a hispanos en la región fronteriza del sur de Texas, una comunidad predominantemente bilingüe y bicultural. Específicamente, el capítulo documenta cómo tomamos una postura pedagógica translingüista. Las prácticas translingüistas son marcadores de identidad y representan las formas complejas en que los bilingües usan su repertorio lingüístico para comunicarse en diferentes contextos y negociar identidades sociales (García y Li Wei, 2014; Martinez-Roldán, 2015). Basándonos en la conceptualización de una “corriente” translingüista de García, Jognson y Seltzer (2017), describimos nuestra postura y nuestras actividades translingüistas al diseñar y enseñar, respectivamente, dos cursos universitarios: uno, de nivel avanzado (Fundamentos de educación bilingüe), y otro, de escritura, de primer año universitario. Identificamos tensiones, aspectos en común y diferencias en nuestra experiencia al implementar las pedagogías y evaluaciones translingüistas en dos áreas disciplinarias diferentes. También presentamos dos reflexiones y actividades de alumnos que ilustran los resultados de nuestras pedagogías translingüistas. Palabras clave: TRANSLENGUAR, EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR O UNIVERSITARIA, BILINGÜISMO IT Questo capitolo è centato sulle nostre riflessioni e sulle nostre scelte pedagogiche in veste di docenti bilingui in un istituto con utenza ispanica nell’area di confine del Texas meridionale, che è popolata da una comunità prevalentemente bilingue e biculturale. Nello specifico, il capitolo documenta il modo in cui sposiamo una posizione di pedagogia translanguaging. Le pratiche translinguistiche sono marcatori di identità e rappresentano i modi complessi in cui i bilingui utilizzano il loro repertorio linguistico per comunicare in contesti diversi e per negoziare identità sociali (García & Li Wei, 2014; Martinez-Roldán, 2015). Basandoci sulla concettualizzazione di García Johnson e Seltzer (2017) di una "corriente" translanguaging, descriviamo l’approccio e le strategie che ognuna di noi ha messo in essere mentre progettavamo e insegnavamo due corsi universitari: un corso avanzato chiamato Foundations of Bilingual Education e un corso iniziale chiamato Rhetoric and Composition !. Inoltre identifichiamo le tensioni, gli aspetti in comune e le differenze nella nostra esperienza di messa in pratica delle pedagogie translanguaging e nei compiti in due diverse aree disciplinari. Presentiamo anche le riflessioni ed i compiti di due studenti per illustrare i risultati delle nostre pedagogie translanguaging. Parole chiave: TRANSLANGUAGIN, ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE, BILINGUISMO * Contact: sandra.musanti@utrgv.edu http://www.e-journall.org/ TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 45 1. Introduction Translanguaging practices are identity markers and represent the complex ways in which bilinguals use their linguistic repertoires to communicate across contexts and to negotiate social identities (García & Li Wei, 2014; Martinez-Roldán, 2015). In addition, translanguaging practices have the potential to be powerful tools for learning that have been insufficiently researched and documented in higher education contexts (García & Li Wei, 2014; Mazak & Caroll, 2017; Musanti & Rodríguez, 2017). Recently, translanguaging pedagogies have been defined as political acts, as they challenge monoglossic views of bilingual education and leverage students’ linguistic repertoires (García & Li Wei, 2014; Palmer, Martínez, Mateus, & Henderson, 2014). This chapter aspires to contribute to emerging conversations and pedagogical innovations that tap into bilingual students’ full linguistic repertoires. It explores how two faculty who teach undergraduate courses at a Hispanic-Serving Institution attempt to move from a language-compartmentalized approach to instruction that leverages students’ bilingualism for learning (García & Li Wei, 2014). The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is the second largest Hispanic-Serving Institution in the United States, where 89% of the student population self-identify as Hispanic. The mission of the University is to become a bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate institution. As an institution of higher education located on the Mexico/U.S. border, translanguaging practices occur naturally among linguistically diverse students as they engage with various stakeholders in and outside of the university context. However, the region is fraught with contradictory perceptions of the value, purpose, and aims of bilingualism (Musanti, 2017; Sayer, 2013; Sutterby, Ayala & Murillo, 2005). 2. Translanguaging and translingual practice The notions of translingual practices (e.g., Canagarajah, 2011, 2013; Cavazos, 2017) and translanguaging (e.g., Creese & Blackledge, 2010; García & Li Wei, 2014; Sayer, 2013) challenge the practice of separating monolingual and multilingual perspectives on language. Language users do not have a separate competence for each language, but rather operate with an integrated linguistic system (Canagarajah, 2013; Nikula & Moore, 2016; Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015). This integrated understanding is anchored on the premise that named languages are social as opposed to static and separate entities (Otheguy et al., 2015; Sayer, 2013). Moreover, language is a local practice; we understand local, with Pennycook (2010), to mean a dynamic and fluid space where language is used, constructed, and interpreted amid social interaction. Scholars in the field of bilingual education have conceptualized translanguaging as "multiple discursive practices in which bilinguals engage in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds" (García, 2009, p. 45, emphasis in original). The notion of translanguaging is embedded in the idea of flexible bilingualism. It acknowledges the need to leverage students’ linguistic and sociocultural resources by embracing language integration instead of language separation for teaching and learning (Creese & Blackledge, 2010; Nikula & Moore, 2016). From a sociolinguistic perspective, two central tenets of translanguaging are the problematization of the separation of languages and the challenge to the monoglossic view of bilingualism. One of the main arguments supporting the strict separation of languages in educational settings derives from the idea that it is important to protect the space of minority languages in contexts that tend to suppress them (Otheguy et al., 2015). But translanguaging acknowledges bilingual individuals languaging to make meaning across social contexts and within one integrated, complex, dynamic, and flexible linguistic repertoire (Creese, 2017; García & Li Wei, 2014; Guerra, 2015). This insider perspective on languaging puts the emphasis back on what bilingual people do with language as opposed to what a language is from an outsider’s perspective (Otheguy et al., 2015). As Swain (2006) explains, languaging refers to "the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language" (p. 98), and is therefore central to learning and to learning about language. Moreover, recognizing translanguaging practices as intrinsic to bilingual individuals’ way of making meaning and learning is “an ideological and pedagogical shift for linguistic rights and social justice in education in an increasingly diverse world" (Paulsrud, Rosén, Straszer, & Wedin, 2017, p. 17). For this reason, we are inspired to engage in problematizing our teaching approach and in inquiring how translanguaging pedagogies can promote language awareness and advance linguistic rights in an increasingly bilingual and multilingual world. 2.1. Translanguaging as pedagogy Addressing translanguaging from a pedagogical perspective is especially relevant in bilingual communities because, as García (2009) explains, it is impossible to participate, communicate, and interact in MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 46 a bilingual community without appealing to translanguaging. Bilingual and multilingual classrooms are social spaces and translanguaging practices are salient features in the communication process (Creese, 2017). A dynamic, holistic understanding of language challenges the notion that languages are mutually exclusive as well as the belief that there is a risk of “confusion or cross-contamination” (Jacobson & Faltis, 1990, p. 7), ideas that are still present in bilingual classrooms. Disregarding the prevailing emphasis on promoting monolingual instruction and on strictly separating languages, teachers use translanguaging to support students' learning process (García & Li Wei, 2014). A translanguaging approach to teaching zooms in on students' language experiences, acknowledges their languages as resources for learning, and raises questions about how educators should create opportunities and design learning environments that integrate and extend students' linguistic repertoire (Cavazos, Hebbard, Hernandez, Rodriguez, & Schwarz, 2018; García, 2014; García & Li Wei, 2014; Martínez- Roldán, 2015; Musanti & Rodríguez, 2017; Paulsrud et al., 2017). More specifically, in higher education, Van der Walt and Dornbrack (2011) have argued for approaches that create learning opportunities where “students are encouraged to draw on their various languages (even if complete fluency is not available) as resources, rather than as barriers…” (p. 101). To respond to varying levels of language fluency, García, Johnson & Seltzer (2017) propose following the translanguaging corriente, which is a metaphor that refers to the "current or flow of students' dynamic bilingualism that runs through our classrooms" (p. 21). The imagery of a tide of language resonates with the reality of our borderland region, where the Rio Grande has been designated as the geographical separation between countries. The corriente is especially visible in our bilingual and bicultural borderland region where the language landscape is fluid, where Spanish and English are deeply rooted in the identity of the region, and where translanguaging practices define and identify its people. In the words of García, Johnson, and Seltzer (2017): Thus, U.S. Latinos, as well as other bilinguals, experience "language" and histories constructed through one or another named "language" as an integrated system of linguistic and cultural practices. The translanguaging corriente generates the creative energy and produces the speaker's way of interacting with others and other texts, rather than responding to restrictions imposed by the officially accepted way of using language. (p. 23) The translanguaging corriente has specific implications for a translanguaging pedagogy that includes three strands: (1) embracing a translanguaging stance, (2) building a translanguaging instructional design, and (3) engaging in making meaningful translanguaging shifts (García et al., 2017). A translanguaging stance refers to a pedagogical approach that embodies the idea of dynamic and holistic bilingualism, that embraces students' full and complex linguistic repertoire as resource for learning, and that provides opportunities for students to develop metalinguistic awareness. A translanguaging instructional design “refers to how we strategically plan instruction to work within the translanguaging corriente” (García et al., 2017, p. 61) and is grounded on and integrates students' linguistic and cultural backgrounds and practices. In using an instructional design based on translanguaging, teachers use translanguaging pedagogical strategies that create spaces for students to use their entire linguistic repertoire while developing language skills and learning new content. In following the translanguaging corriente intrinsic to interactions in a bilingual class, educators comply with their design while making moment-by-moment pedagogical decisions that will ultimately enact their translanguaging stance (García et al., 2017). We contend that higher-education educators and teacher-educators in bilingual contexts need to embrace a translanguaging stance, follow a translanguaging design, and make meaningful translanguaging moves. 3. Methodological considerations We approach this work from the perspective of self-study in education and its “moral commitment to improving practice” (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2004, p. 317). From a methodological perspective, self-study involves three characteristics: (1) it emphasizes the centrality of inquiring about self; (2) it renders teacher educators’ experience as a resource for research; and (3) it urges those who engage in self-study to be critical of their roles as researchers and educators (Feldman, Paugh, & Mills, 2004). Our positionality as bilingual educators who learned English as a foreign and as a second language, respectively, influences not only how we design linguistically inclusive coursework, but also how we investigate the impact of our pedagogical practices on student learning. Sandra, first author, learned English as a foreign language in Argentina and then as a second language when completing her graduate studies in the United States Alyssa, second author, emigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was eight years TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 47 old and began to learn English as a second language when she was in fifth grade. As teacher-scholars, we recognize that our own personal and scholarly experiences continuously shape how we have redesigned our courses, how we ask research and pedagogical questions, and how we adjust our own pedagogies to optimize student learning and success across their full linguistic repertoire. During one semester we engaged in purposefully enacting a translanguaging stance in two of our undergraduate courses. We kept a journal where we wrote notes on our lesson planning, after-thoughts about the implementation of our design, and questions that arose about our practices as the semester progressed. In addition, as part of a broader research study, we collected students’ assignments and met twice during the semester to discuss salient events in our courses. We also observed each other and collected survey data from our students to document their linguistic profiles. For this article, we decided to produce a detailed documentation of our classes and to identify students whose coursework provided evidence of the effects of implementing a translanguaging design. We worked individually to reconstruct and document our teaching experiences, drawing from the recordings of our meetings, our journals, our class materials, and student work. We then met to compare and contrast our accounts and to identify commonalities and differences that we analyzed from the perspective of the translanguaging corriente (García et al., 2017). In what follows, we present our individual instructional accounts, illustrating elements of translanguaging stance, design, and pedagogical moves through the work of two students selected in our respective classes. We draw on our complex linguistic repertoire to represent the translanguaging corriente that influences how we think and teach. In their call for proposals, the guest editors, Josh Prada and Tarja Nikula, invited contributors to “purposefully push the boundaries of monolingual academic writing through written translanguaging.” We embrace this invitation because it is an opportunity to accurately represent how we draw on our full linguistic repertoire to think about and make sense of our teaching practices. In this way, we invite readers of all language backgrounds to remain open to our linguistic differences and enact a translanguaging stance as they navigate between English and Spanish while making meaning with us. Therefore, we choose not to translate from one language to another but rather integrate them in the narrative. 4. Alyssa’s translanguaging stance and design Because as an English as a second language learner, I struggled with learning how to write well in English throughout my education, I began to question and explore how to design writing courses where students reflect on and compose in different languages and for different purposes, thereby encouraging metalinguistic awareness. This is necessary in a discipline where the English language is often privileged (Horner & Trimbur, 2002; Matsuda, 2006). Due to my language background and writing experiences, I wanted to learn about how multilingual faculty conduct research and how multilingual faculty and students negotiate languages for different purposes (Cavazos, 2015; Cavazos, in press). Through conversations with multilingual faculty members and students, descubrí nuevas perspectivas que me han ayudado a diseñar cursos centrados en los conocimientos multilingüísticos de mis alumnos. First-year writing son mis cursos favoritos de enseñar porque es un espacio ideal para desafiar las expectativas y normas de la escritura académica en inglés. De esta manera, nos enfocamos en ser conscientes de cómo es que usamos el lenguaje en diferentes contextos académicos y en la comunidad para comunicarnos con una variedad de audiencias. Con un enfoque en nuestras propias experiencias lingüísticas, podemos crear nuevos conocimientos mientras investigamos teorías de la escritura. First-year writing encompasses two one-semester writing courses in which first-year students learn about research methods and analyze and compose written, visual, and aural genres for different audiences. First-year writing is a part of the core curriculum in the Texas higher education system and is critical to the academic success of first-year college students. According to institutional data, in first-year writing courses, on average, 94% of the students self-identify as Hispanic or of Latino origin and 68% of the total number of students enrolled in these courses self-identify as fluent Spanish speakers. 4.1. Translanguaging stance Los cursos de first-year writing tradicionalmente se enfocan en la enseñanza de la escritura en inglés, ya que el prefijo del curso es English 1301: Rhetoric and Composition I y, por esta razón, los estudiantes creen que la clase se enseña en dicho idioma. La mayor parte del curso sí lo enseño en inglés, ya que aprendí sobre la disciplina leyendo teorías de la escritura en este idioma. Por lo tanto, para mí es importante desafiar el MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 48 predominio del inglés de manera explicita y directa, especialmente en como comunico mi translanguaging stance. My first semester first-year writing course is titled “Writing about (Translingual) Writing,” which is partially inspired by Downs and Wardle’s (2007) writing-about-writing approach to teaching first-year writing and my previous research on language diversity in the writing classroom (Cavazos, 2017; Cavazos, in press). My translanguaging stance is conveyed in the syllabus in various forms: in semester-long guiding questions, in a translingual statement, and in learning outcomes. Additionally, I describe my value of collaborative learning and language awareness and provide questions that will guide our thinking, writing, and reading activities. One of those questions reads, “How does our knowledge of languages other than English function as a strength when writing academically in college and future careers?” These questions continuously evolve and change as all the students, with their unique linguistic abilities, respond to course readings, engage in collaborative activities, and reflect on course projects. To further convey my translanguaging stance, I incorporate a translingual statement into my syllabus. Because the purpose of the course is for students to become aware of how to write for different audiences and rhetorical contexts, their knowledge of different languages is essential: it gives them access not only to more literacies but also to a broader audience. I write the translingual statement in both English and Spanish as these are the two languages I know and the most common languages used by students in the course. Part of the statement reads as follows: Yo los invito a escribir, leer y desarrollar investigaciones en cualquier lenguaje o dialecto que esté alineado a sus metas y expectativas… Usar diferentes lenguajes o dialectos mientras hacemos investigaciones, conversamos y escribimos no solo incrementa nuestro acceso a conocimientos diversos, pero también incrementa nuestra habilidad de crear nuevos conocimientos. I accentuate that knowledge of different languages expands our access to different conocimientos that we would not have access to otherwise, which is critical because in first-year writing students are exposed to the research process and the dominance of English in scholarship has been well-documented (Canagarajah, 2013; Cavazos, 2015). In this way, students are encouraged to conduct more critical and deeper investigations of knowledge production in diverse languages and beyond traditional academic texts. Subsequently, I introduce students to how their exploration of the guiding questions throughout the semester and their diverse linguistic abilities will ensure they achieve student learning outcomes. 4.2. Translanguaging design Conveying a translanguaging stance to students in the course syllabus not only provides the framework for the course, but also prepares students for optimal translanguaging engagements. Most importantly, because a translanguaging stance is a living and dynamic pedagogical approach (García et al., 2017), it is continuously enacted throughout the pedagogical design and moves of the course, such as course readings, course project descriptions, collaborative activities, reflective writing, and teacher and peer feedback throughout the semester. Así como mis investigaciones surgen de mis propias experiencias como estudiante que aprendió inglés como segundo idioma, diseño mi curso de first-year writing de esta misma forma. Deseo que los estudiantes analicen y reflexionen sobren sus propias experiencias como escritores y lectores y que reconozcan que estas experiencias tienen el mismo peso y validez que las fuentes académicas. Esta estructura provee incentivos a los estudiantes para que desarrollen sus propias perspectivas, argumentos y conocimientos y así puedan identificar a una audiencia a quien le beneficiaría saber más sobre los temas de reflexión e investigación. To illustrate how students engage translanguaging practices, I provide a short case-study narrative of Rafael’s writing and languaging experiences. Rafael is a 20-year-old freshman and first-generation college student who returned to school two years after graduating from high school. He is from Veracruz, Mexico where, as he describes, “opportunities are [rare], and people rarely finish school.” Rafael learned English as a second language, and he is a business management major. He self-identifies as bilingual and as proficient in reading, writing, speaking, and listening in both English and Spanish but shares that he experiences challenges writing in English. In a translingual writing course, my choice of readings and how students respond to those readings are purposeful. Course readings are essential as they not only frame course projects, but also represent my attempt at consciously challenging the dominance of English in writing studies scholarship (Horner, NeCamp, & Donahue, 2011). The readings are divided into three sections, corresponding to the three major projects in the course: translanguaging autoethnography, navigating sources that disagree, and writing for public TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 49 change. Therefore, course readings encompass the following: personal narratives of translanguaging (e.g., Tan, 1990; Brandt, 1998), academic articles on investigating translanguaging practices (e.g., Canagarajah, 2011; Cavazos, 2017), academic articles on reading rhetorically and on arguments as conversation (e.g., Haas & Flower, 1988; Kantz, 1990; Greene, 2001), and a variety of primary documents that merge the personal and academic for the specific purpose of writing for change (e.g., Young, 2010; Guerra, 2012). Students are encouraged to respond to course readings via rhetorical responses where they analyze translanguaging events (Alvarez, 2014) and create translanguaging events. In response to Canagarajah’s (2011) reading titled “Codemeshing in Academic Writing: Identifying Teachable Strategies of Translanguaging” and Amy Tan’s (1990) “Under Western Eyes,” which included discussion questions written in both English and Spanish as part of my translanguaging moves, Rafael wrote the following in his rhetorical response: As writers, we are in the process of learning new strategies of writing […] Por ejemplo, yo en la clase de Cavazos me siento mas libre de expresarme major. Muchas de las veces quisiera expresarme en inglés pero no seria lo mismo que si me expresara en español, y por eso pienso que debemos usar los recursos que temenos como estudiantes “Bilingual”. We also need to be more open minded; we need to think out of the box when it comes to writing. For example, Buthania uses symbols in some parts of her essay, which means that she uses symbols as another language. Maybe that’s one way where she can express better […] This literacy show[s] us that we can be linguistic[ally] discriminated by the way we talk, but if we see the positive side of this, we can also use it as a motivation to overcome any language we are trying to learn.2 Rafael not only synthesizes two different course readings in his response, but also creates a translanguaging event as he uses both English and Spanish to convey how he overcame linguistic discrimination. He deliberatively challenges monolingual ideologies in written academic texts. Y es esto, precisamente, el propósito de las lecturas y preguntas de discusión —comprender y analizar los factores culturales, raciales y socioeconómicos que contribuyen al desarrollo de la escritura y la lectura en diferentes idiomas. Después de analizar las lecturas, continuamos con proyectos reflexivos sobre la alfabetización que escribo en inglés con algunas palabras claves en español. Una de las metas del translingual autoethnography es que los estudiantes desarrollen un argumento sobre los factores que contribuyeron a su aprendizaje de las habilidades lectoescritoras. Rafael explora estos factores de su alfabetización con detalles de cómo su papa le enseñó a leer: Mi papa no sabía escribir ni leer tanto, pero a pesar de eso, el tomo la decisión de ñarme a leer, ¿cómo le hiso? Tal vez su instinto de enseñarnos a siempre ser lo mejor que podamos en cualquier cosa que nos pongamos en mente. Rafael relaciona su desarrollo como lector y escritor a cómo su padre le enseñó a nunca darse por vencido. Al final de su ensayo, Rafael comparte: We might not know it, but persons, things, can affect the way we better ourselves. Ya sea en estudiar o mejorar como personas. Siempre es bueno mirar hacia adelante sin importar lo que la gente piense. I’m very happy with everyone who helped me achieve the English language; no matter what language I learn, I will always love my Spanish because fue el idioma con el que crecí, con que el que mis papas me enseñaron, y con el que algún día le enseñare a mis hijos a ser grandes personas. I can say I know how to read/write in English, but for now on, I am going to focus on mastering my accent. It is going to be a very difficult task, but that is my goal. I know if I am willing to put all the work, I will achieve my goal. “El querer es poder.” From his initial rhetorical analysis to his reflections on his autoethnography, Rafael is building critical language awareness by using both English and Spanish in more natural ways as he draws on his language resources to convey his message. Mientras los estudiantes escriben su translingual autoethnography, los invito a identificar preguntas de investigación que surjan de sus propias experiencias. Así, los estudiantes reúnen diversas fuentes que tratan su pregunta desde diferentes puntos de vista y las analizan using rhetorical reading strategies (Haas & Flower, 1988) y enfocándose en cómo los autores llevaron a cabo sus 2 To respect students’ linguistic choices, their writing excerpts are included verbatim. MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 50 investigaciones (qué argumentos, evidencia marcos teóricos emplean). El propósito de esta actividad es que los estudiantes cuestionen los argumentos presentados en estas lecturas a la vez que presentan sus propias perspectivas, contribuyendo así al debate. Ya que su padre influenció su desarrollo como lector y escritor, Rafael decidió explorar la siguiente pregunta de investigación: “¿Qué efecto tienen los papás en sus hijos al no tener conocimiento de leer y escribir?” La mayoria de sus fuentes academicas fueron en inglés pero Rafael decidió analizarlas en los dos idiomas. En su análisis, Rafael emplea las estrategias de rhetorical analysis que sugieren Haas and Flower (1988), Kantz (1990) y Greene (2001): Literacy is a powerful tool needed in many situations, such as a country’s economy. [Researchers] concluded that if we encourage people to acquire some knowledge on literacy, we can help them get jobs which will improve the economy of a country. We can use myself for example. We got more jobs due to our bilingualism and the more jobs, the more money we can make. We can change people’s lives by empowering them to learn new things. My parents were the key to where I am right now. They empower me to become someone in life, and they also contributed to my literacy knowledge since I was a little boy […] La alfabetización es algo interesante de mirar. Te puede ayudar a desallorar nuevas habilidades como aprender otro idioma. Te puede mejorar la vida agarrando mas conocimiento. Todo empieza en la casa con nuestros padres. I believe that our parents are the key to our way to success. Si enseñara el research project en mi clase de una forma estricta y si les dijera a mis estudiantes que solamente pueden escribir en inglés, tal vez algunos de ellos no llegarían a desarrollar las ideas que el uso de sus dos (o más) idiomas les permite conceptualizar. Rafael not only articulates the arguments the authors present, but he also expands upon them by providing his own experience on bilingualism—a perspective the authors he cites did not address. Rafael recognizes his goal of becoming proficient in English and is critically aware of his internal linguistic system as he draws on his language resources to strengthen his analysis. El trabajo final requiere que los estudiantes diseñen algún proyecto para una audiencia específica y el contenido de este proyecto, regularmente, surge del translingual autoethnography y del proyecto de investigación. Rafael analiza cómo llegó a identificar a su audiencia: After doing project one and project two, I realized the huge impact our parents play in our education. Project three means a lot to me because it shows me how far I have gotten with the support of my parents. I always imagined myself doing something else with my life. But if it wasn’t because of my parents, I wouldn’t be here right now writing this project. I believe that the same way my parents supported my brothers and me is the way parents should take into consideration when it comes to helping their kids with their education journey. Rafael wrote the above analysis in English, perhaps, because most of his academic sources were in English. The lack of sources in other languages may have influenced his decision to create a document that would appeal to parents in Spanish. While his analysis of genre choices is in English, he decided to analyze the document he created, a flyer, in Spanish (see Figure 1). TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 51 Figure 1. Rafael’s public document. He shares: "En este proyecto 3 la audiencia que elegí fueron los padres […] No necesariamente tienen que ayudarles con sus trabajos sino alentarlos y apoyarlos con otros recursos, como los que mencioné anteriormente." Rafael has taken a translanguaging stance by addressing his intended audience, parents, in Spanish, which allowed him to develop rhetorical and linguistic agency as he draws on his full linguistic repertoire throughout the various stages of his writing projects. 4.3. Translanguaging moves A translanguaging stance is enacted throughout the semester via class activities, course discussions, and feedback to student writing. Aunque durante los translanguaging moves sentía que siempre tenía que regresar al inglés, ya sea para explicar alguna lectura o rhetorical reading and writing strategies, Rafael's reflections illustrate how a course focused on overt translanguaging moves creates optimal opportunities for learning, writing, and the creation of meaning. Rafael synthesizes various perspectives presented in the course through course readings, original research, and personal experiences with writing and reading in different languages. This type of synthesis and critical analysis is the work we expect from first-year writing students—enhancing their ability to think critically and rhetorically about their writing choices and to develop their own voice and perspectives. In the final reflection of the course, where students are expected to self-assess their rhetorical writing abilities, Rafael narrates: Voy a escribir en español porque es una de las experiencias que disfrute durante este semestre. Toda mi vida desde que llegué a este país, nunca volví a poner en práctica mi forma de escribir en español. Como el español es parte de mi cultura creo que por eso no me costó tanto trabajo volverme adaptar a él. Al usar el español en esta clase, me ayudo a entender las materias mejor. Cuando se requirió hacer apuntes de la lectura, yo siempre los hacía en español. Esto me ayudaba a regresar y mirar los puntos importantes de la lectura. Siento que, por ser mi primer idioma, le encontraba más sentido a lo que apuntaba. Atreves de estas lecturas que tuvimos en clases aprendí que nadie se tiene que sentir menos por como hablas el inglés. Amy Tan dice que no importa si tienes un "broken english" porque cada quien tiene su forma de expresarse. Al igual cuando se requiere escribir. Vershawn AshantiYoung nos enseña que los escritores deberían de usar su propio inglés. No importa si es black english, mexican english, or any other type of english. Young en sus lecturas nos demuestra que también no deberíamos de solo usar una lengua a la hora de escribir. Él dice that it is okay to code mesh cuando sea necesario … Algo que me gusto de esta clase fue que pude utilizar mi lenguaje más fuerte. Me hiso sentir más libre de asimismo … En un futuro talvez ya no vuelva a utilizar el español debido a que los demás maestros no piensan como MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 52 usted … Al dejarnos comunicarnos en español fue algo realmente excitante, porque yo hasta la fecha no tengo la confianza suficiente para poder comunicarme oralmente en inglés. My translanguaging moves, inviting students to engage reading and writing in Spanish in an English writing class through discussion questions and written feedback, facilitated Rafael's linguistic agency and awareness. Rafael challenged the perception that learning and writing only happen in English by reconnecting with the Spanish language in written form, which is one of the learning moments he explicitly states that he valued. If our goal as first-year writing teachers is to teach students how to engage rhetorically with course readings, research, and their projects, then we must consider that students may be adept at rhetorical analysis in languages other than English. 5. Sandra’s translanguaging stance and design My pathway to bilingualism was later in life, as I came to the United States to pursue a masters’ degree. I am originally from Argentina, so Spanish is my first language. I see myself as a teacher educator with a passion for inquiry, and as a sequential bilingual who discovered the meaning of translanguaging when I arrived in South Texas seven years ago to teach in the bilingual education EC-6 (early childhood through sixth grade) teaching certification program. I was puzzled and I marveled when listening to my students using their Spanish and English repertoire in such a fluid and complex way. I was also saddened to hear them apologize for speaking pocho, a new term to me at the time, which to them means that they do not speak well enough. This illustrates how the stereotypical characterization of bilingual Mexican Americans as people who speak English but lack fluency in Spanish embodies an ideology of language oppression and suppression still prevalent in this region and across the nation. As a teacher educator, I felt the need to explore how to better integrate students’ communicative practices in the courses I was teaching for the bilingual education certification program that were taught in Spanish. As I taught these classes, it became clear that English was unavoidable for several reasons. First, the lack of materials written in Spanish that were appropriate to cover course content. Second, the dominant presence of the English language in the schooling experiences of my students and the configuration of bilingual education itself. And, most importantly, translanguaging was evident in students’ interactions in class and written assignments as well as in my teaching. The self-study was conducted in one of the five courses required for the bilingual education certification, Foundations of Bilingual Education and English as Second Language (ESL), one of the first courses in the bilingual courses sequence. All bilingual specialization courses in the program are taught in Spanish. The group of student teachers registered for these courses represented the student profile of most of my undergraduate classes and students in this program. A class survey showed that of a total of 25 students, 19 indicated they speak Spanish as a first language, three English, and three both. However, when asked which language they dominate, nine indicated Spanish, nine English and seven both. In addition, 18 believed their writing skills were stronger in English, five in Spanish, and two in both languages. The survey asked them to identify the language in which they feel most comfortable reading for a class. 10 students indicated both languages, 10 chose English, and only four chose Spanish. These data portray a complex linguistic landscape that informs and impacts my pedagogical stance, course design, and pedagogical moves. 5.1. Translanguaging stance At the beginning of each course, I lay out what I call the contrato pedagógico, a pedagogical agreement that bounds what I do and what I expect from my students. This is also an opportunity to provide a pedagogical rationale informed by theoretical principles for my approaches to teaching. For instance, as I discuss with my students what teaching and learning are, I define learning as a social process that is co- constructed through interaction with each other and the course content. As a result of my ongoing inquiry on translanguaging dynamics in my courses (Musanti & Rodriguez, 2017), I have freed myself from chains imposed by the relentless push for strict language separation in bilingual education contexts (García, 2014; Mazak, & Herbas-Donoso, 2015). However, the pathway to translanguaging pedagogy is still a road under construction. Framing the course from a translanguaging perspective required me to make explicit statements in the course syllabus for student teachers. Initially, given the predominant monolingual ideology dominating education in the region, it was important to clearly define the role of English in a course taught in Spanish. The following statement in Spanish followed the English version and was discussed with students TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 53 the first week of class. The statement explains how bilingual people use their linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning and how I am including translanguaging as an innovation in my classes to integrate students’ full linguistic repertoire: Un aspecto innovador de este curso es el uso del translenguar. La noción de translenguar está basada en que la gente bilingüe usa el lenguaje para muchos propósitos incluyendo la expresión de ideas y la interacción (García, 2009). En las comunidades bilingües, así como en los salones de clase que sirven a estudiantes bilingües, los participantes utilizan el translenguar como un mecanismo no sólo de comunicación sino también de pertenencia al grupo de hablantes que negocia significados a través del uso de las dos lenguas con diferentes personas, en diferentes contextos y con diferentes propósitos. En este curso usaremos todos los recursos lingüísticos de las aspirantes a maestras bilingües, es decir, las clases modelarán el uso del lenguaje inglés y español para la enseñanza bilingüe y a la vez promoverán el uso del lenguaje de modo tal que facilite el aprendizaje. As this course is designed for pre-service bilingual teachers, an important feature of my translanguaging stance was including the preview-view instructional strategy to use as a model of instruction in a bilingual classroom. This particular strategy has been thoroughly described (e.g., Freeman & Freeman, 2005; Mercuri, 2015) and consists of introducing a topic in the language that is not targeted for instructional purposes but is part of students’ linguistic repertoire as a way to create background knowledge, and then developing the main portion of the lesson in the language of instruction. Sometimes, a review moment is included at the end of the lesson when the instructor returns to the minority or non-targeted language for content integration or to establish explicit cross-linguistic connections (Mercuri, 2015). The preview-view approach was reflected in the organization of the course, which involved an initial week discussing basic ideas on bilingualism by reading, writing, and talking in Spanish as a preview of the content. The following three weeks, we covered content on first- and second-language acquisition theories (e.g., Wright, 2015) while doing some writing and discussion in Spanish. Then, we continued the course in Spanish, referencing these authors and theories when appropriate but using Spanish as the language for teaching and learning. 5.2. Translanguaging design One important translanguaging factor in how students are granted access to knowledge relates to the availability of materials in different, “named” languages or “the language of a nation or a social group” (Otheguy et al., 2015, p. 281) included in the course. Resources related to bilingual education in the United States are available mainly in English. Even though this trend seems to be changing, it still shows how English is legitimized as the language of knowledge and science (Mazak & Herbas-Donoso, 2015). Course readings were in Spanish and English. The textbook assigned to the course was a recently published book in Spanish (Guerrero, Guerrero, Soltero-González, & Escamilla, 2017), one of the few available related to the course’s topic. I assigned other readings to expand each topic, some of which were in English. One criterion for including a given reading in English was that it was relevant or that it covered a specific aspect of a topic not found in any of the Spanish texts. For instance, for a topic like historical and legal foundations of bilingual education, the syllabus included two readings in Spanish (Aquino-Sterling, Rodríguez-Valls, & Outes, 2017; Crawford, 2001). However, student teachers read materials relevant to bilingual and ESL education in Texas that were available only in English through the Texas Education Agency. An important insight related to the decision to include texts in Spanish and English to address the same themes is that this practice afforded student teachers with opportunities to shuttle between texts and languages. Thereby, students engaged in translanguaging through reading and writing about those texts—an important cross-linguistic skill for future bilingual teachers. Another important component in the course design that reflected elements of a translanguaging approach were the assignments. All assignments were required to be written only in Spanish in previous versions of this course. However, for this iteration of the course, I purposefully made some changes to reflect the translanguaging stance of the course while trying to safeguard Spanish as the main language for teaching and learning. I struggled with this decision because most of my students have had minimal opportunities to develop academic Spanish writing skills. Only five students in a course of 25 believed their writing skills were stronger in Spanish than English. These were students who had completed most of their K-12 schooling in Mexico. MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 54 I designed a collaborative reflective inquiry assignment that attempted to incorporate two key translanguaging approach tenets: to appeal to student teachers’ full linguistic repertoire (García & Li Wei, 2014), and to engage in a process of inquiry in collaboration with peers and the community through the use of their full range of oral and written translingual strategies (Canagarajah, 2013; Cavazos, 2017). During the semester, student teachers received detailed instructions in Spanish and English to complete the assignment. The following is a transcription of the assignment description included in the syllabus: This assignment requires that you and one or two peers (no more than three students per group) conduct research to investigate the state of bilingual education in Texas and teachers, administrators, students, and/or parents’ beliefs and knowledge about bilingualism and bilingual education. You will conduct this research in English and Spanish. However, you will write the paper mainly in Spanish using English when appropriate (for instance, quoting a text or a participant). Detailed instructions are available in Spanish and English in Blackboard. The research paper included three parts: (a) a collaborative writing project including a review of the literature, an explanation of the methodology, and data collection; (b) an individual reflective writing project analyzing the interview data, and (c) a team-led showcase of the research results in the form of an infographic. As this was a multilayered project, I dedicated a class to discussing the instructions in Spanish. Por ejemplo, expliqué y di ejemplos de cómo elaborar la revisión de literatura, un género con el cual mis estudiantes no habían tenido experiencia, por lo que fue importante darles una estructura sólida para guiar su trabajo. Esta estructura incluía preguntas tales como ¿cuál es el tema central?, ¿qué conceptos o ideas contribuyen a explicar ese tema?, ¿qué fuentes usaré?, entre otras. Además, el diseño de esta actividad integraba momentos para que pudieran revisar sus borradores en grupo y de manera individual utilizando unas rúbricas preparadas con este fin. Through examples and targeted questioning, I instructed students how to approach writing a research paper, scaffolding their writing process in the new genre of conducting a literature review in Spanish. Critical in this process were spaces to provide peer review, following a rubric intended to support student teachers’ linguistic knowledge. The inclusion of translanguaging spaces to revise and read each other’s work in Spanish was important for comparing different elements of Spanish academic writing vis-à-vis elements of English academic writing, like the use of punctuation and sentence structure, among others. To provide the opportunity to represent and communicate their knowledge in a graphic manner, I asked students to work in teams to create an infographic. The graphic (Figure 2) showcases student teachers’ learning about content as well as how they embraced translanguaging to communicate knowledge. The infographic uses different language features strategically to inform an audience of families, communities, and/or educators, depending on the group research topic (Otheguy et al., 2015). Figure 2. Infographic created by Sandra’s student teachers. TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 55 5.3. Translanguaging moves During the semester, I purposefully described and explained how languages are resources for learning and how the impact of not allowing students to use their whole linguistic repertoire might affect their achievement. This was a very conscious decision on my part to model and to facilitate their understanding of what it means to leverage language for student learning. My pedagogical moves, or what García et al. (2017) identified as translanguaging shifts, were imprinted with this idea. In one of my initial journal entries I described a classroom event and the pedagogical move that emerged: When discussing the first reflective writing activity, the prompt indicated that they could write it in English, Spanish, or using both languages. My purpose was to open this activity, so they could use the language they felt most comfortable with or that they felt it was more suitable to convey their understanding. But I realized they weren’t sure what it could mean to use both languages. So, we discussed possibilities. Allowing myself to purposefully explore and open spaces for translanguaging in my courses was liberating and empowering for the student teachers and for me. During that conversation, student teachers shared different translanguaging examples, for instance, the use of terms that are difficult to translate, such as open house, due to the strong sociocultural component reflected in an event typical of schools in the United States. I came to the realization that translanguaging practices had been part of my teaching approach as well as of my students’ interactions as they grappled with content. However, in hindsight, I see how I limited the use of translanguaging to scaffold students’ access to meaning as opposed to integrating it as a purposeful pedagogy (García et al., 2017). I recognized the need to incorporate English when delivering instruction in Spanish to support student teachers’ understanding of the course content, as well as to introduce them to specific terminology that they would encounter as future teachers in the realm of schools. For instance, in many of my presentations in Spanish I included references to educational terminology in English, such as English language learner, sheltered instruction, and seal of biliteracy, among other terms that were coined to define the specifics of the bilingual educational landscape in the United States. Interestingly, I did not find the same pattern in the materials I generated for my presentations in English. This exposes the hegemony of English in bilingual teacher preparation. Gabriela’s case illustrates the possibilities of a translanguaging pedagogy from the student perspective. Gabriela is in her thirties and she is a mother of two who is clearly more comfortable speaking in English during class. She identifies Spanish and English as her first languages, and English as her dominant language. She indicates that she uses both languages to communicate with family and friends but she speaks mostly English with her children: “Spanish only when needed, or when speaking to my mother or friends that strictly speak Spanish.” Her writing and reading skills are stronger in English and she did not have any experience in a bilingual education setting during her schooling in the United States. Both of her parents speak Spanish and one speaks English. She is a first-generation college student, as her mother completed an elementary level of schooling and her father completed high school. Her class assignments provide a glimpse into her journey through language and a rationale for her choice to become a bilingual teacher despite her struggles with Spanish. Students wrote four escrituras reflexivas (reflective writing assignments) responding to different prompts designed to demonstrate understanding of concepts, integration of ideas, and connection and application to their experiences as learners or as future teachers. For her first reflection, Gabriela wrote: When it comes to speaking Spanish, it is not highly valued by a lot of people. As a teacher there will be students that can’t speak the language very well. Speaking a second language is not a deficit. . . . Although my Spanish is not very fluent, I consider to have an extra advantage (meaning extra and not less) when it comes to communicating with people with more than one language. . . Although I consider myself bilingual I found that the first week of class was a little overwhelming due to trying to articulate in a second language. Las palabras escolarizadas parecían un lenguaje completamente nuevo para mí. A principios de la segunda semana empieze a pensar como me hería en esta clase, no solo hablando mi lengua menos usada, pero también aprendiendo palabras escolarizadas. Even though I did not mandate that students write the reflections in Spanish, Gabriela made the attempt to use Spanish as she reflected on her use of language. She translanguaged to refer to her struggle with palabras escolarizadas, her term for academic Spanish. Her reflection renders a metalinguistic analysis of MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 56 her language development by demonstrating the importance of leveraging bilingualism while avoiding segregation practices typical in the region. Gabriela notices how bilingual students in the region are separated from “regulars,” or mainstream students, for instruction. This is a practice she observed with her own children and that she explored through the collaborative inquiry project. She recognizes she has a long way to go in terms of mastering the norms of the Spanish language that are expected by teachers, schools, and society. Following a segment of her fourth escritura reflexiva where she describes how she had to navigate Spanish teaching and learning: Al empezar este semestre se me hico difícil hasta contemple cambiar de programa porque, aunque si entendía lo que se dice en español, aunque un poco lento comparados con otros estudiantes que usan español como lengua primaria . . . Me sentía como ese estudiante bilingüe separado de la clase por tener otra lengua primaria. Esto fue el principio del semestre. . . Esta semana que paso ya 8 semanas … le comenté [a una amiga] que, aunque ya sé que todavía necesito bastante practica y enseñanza, pero siento más cómoda en desarrollando la segunda lengua y siento que ha logrado crecimiento en mi segunda lengua con el español académico. Hasta en veces en contexto que no es la universidad se me sale la segunda lengua con personas que normalmente hablo solo inglés. . . . Mi compañera que conocí este semestre por tener todas las clases iguales habla español en su primera lengua. Es como ejemplo bilingual pairs porque en las clases de inglés yo también le puedo ayudar. . . Por eso … pienso que el desarrollo del bilingüismo funciona mejor cuando están los estudiantes juntos y no segregados. Gabriela’s escrituras reflexivas show how she took a stance, too—she embraced her Spanish background and used it effectively to communicate her emotions, thinking, and struggles with palabras escolarizadas in her first reflection, and seamlessly transitioning from English to Spanish to produce a powerful statement. Then, in her last escritura reflexiva, ella vuelve a describir su lucha y sentimientos and how this discomfort with Spanish transforms into some level of comfort with the language as the semester progressed. Her reflections and the collaborative inquiry paper show how she grapples with what she has learned in the course about bilingualism and bilingual programs and the monoglossic ideology that keeps imposing a language separation and devaluing Spanish as a legitimate resource for learning: Cuando las participantes dos y tres contestaron que la mejor manera de adquirir [la segunda] lengua para sus hijos en la escuela contestaron “mezclados” no están totalmente incorrectas. Los programas que se han mostrado más efectivos en disminuir la brecha académica de los estudiantes bilingües son los programas de lenguaje dual. Gabriela explains how parents participating in her research responded that the best way for their children to learn languages is “mezclados,” meaning integrated as opposed to separated. Her narrative demonstrates the rhetorical power of learning with the languages mezclados, and the implicit understanding that there is value to the transligual practices that are a part of the community’s and students’ linguistic repertoire. 6. Discussion and conclusion As we reflect on our respective journeys through the translanguaging corriente, we see the importance of opening translanguaging spaces in our classrooms to leverage our students’ linguistic resources for learning. When educators engage in reflections about languaging, they gain insights that can impact their translanguaging stance and the design of activities and assignments focused on leveraging students’ languages for learning and knowledge-making in equitable ways (Cavazos et al., 2018; García & Kleyn, 2016). A translanguaging pedagogy should not be conceived only as a scaffold to support students' language development or content comprehension; rather, it should be understood as purposeful and strategic (García et al., 2017). Our pathways show important commonalities in disclosing our translanguaging stance, in our instructional design, and in the consequent pedagogical moves that we implemented. However, we also identify tensions and challenges in our experiences, specifically in counteracting the power of English as the perceived language of teaching and learning with the knowledge-making opportunities Spanish offers in educational contexts (Mazak & Herbas-Donoso, 2015). Our personal histories and professional trajectory shape our translanguaging stance. Alyssa's stance grows from her background in language diversity in writing, which impacts her choice to focus on rhetorical TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 57 language awareness (e.g., audience, purpose, genre, and language choices) in the teaching of writing. Sandra's stance grows from her background in teacher education and her work with bilingual teachers, which influence her focus on the pedagogical implications, the moves, and impact on bilingual teacher candidates. A common point in our stance is our commitment to the problematization of language: to making students aware of the monoglossic view of bilingualism by inviting them to reflect on and enact languaging (Swain 2006; Otheguy et al., 2015). Our instructional designs integrate translanguaging spaces that Li Wei (2017) defines as “created by and for translanguaging practices and a space where language users break down the ideologically laden dichotomies between the macro and the micro, the societal and the individual, and the social and the psychological through interaction” (p. 15). Alyssa opens a space for self-reflection through language by designing a translingual autoethnography assignment, which invites students to leverage their language resources in creative ways as they consider audience while exploring their experiences as writers and readers. Sandra uses the preview/view model to show student teachers how to purposefully integrate translanguaging spaces in their own classrooms, so their future students might have access to opportunities to use all their language resources for learning. In agreement with García et al. (2017), our translanguaging designs illustrate key purposes of a translanguaging pedagogy: they provide opportunities to develop linguistic repertoires, create spaces for students' bilingualism and ways of knowing, and support students' bilingual identities and socioemotional development (p. 7). In the process of designing our courses, planning each class, and delivering instruction, we were both confronted with the struggle of a perceived need to return to English when describing our respective pedagogical approaches and leaning expectations in the syllabi and during class discussions of concepts and terminology well-established in the scholarship in English. Sandra noticed that her syllabus was dominated by English despite being a class taught in Spanish. The fact that English was the language of choice conveyed a contradictory message, ultimately legitimizing English as the default language of instruction. While Alyssa also noticed the dominance of English in her course syllabus, she experienced more challenges countering the dominance of English during verbal interactions with students, especially as she attempted to translate concepts in Writing Studies to Spanish, such as rhetorical reading, rhetorical writing, and using sources persuasively. Although Alyssa could use a direct translation of the terms, they would not have the same meaning for the students because they have not been exposed to them in academic Spanish. When Alyssa has conversations with students in Spanish about their writing, she does not necessarily need to translate those or other terms because that is how they appear in the scholarship of the discipline in English. In this way, Alyssa and her students continue to challenge dominant expectations of standardized or correct language use in academic contexts by drawing on all their language resources. Similarly, English became unavoidable in Sandra’s class, especially in relation to terminology that defined specific aspects of the educational bilingual and ESL learning landscape. For instance, Sandra made the decision not to translate terms, such as sheltered instruction or English language learner, among others, as those terms are central to the field and intrinsic to the educational landscape in the United States. These concepts are a part of the academic knowledge required for bilingual teachers and need to be part of their linguistic repertoire. However, Sandra includes, as course content, conversations around translations of key academic terms and the nuances in meaning (e.g., literacy, biliteracy, and dual language programs are terms that have been translated in different ways). This is an important skill that bilingual teachers need to develop and use as they plan spaces for students to build on cross-linguistic connections. The tension between English and Spanish reflects the hegemonic position of English as a language of knowledge and learning (Mazak & Herbas-Donoso, 2015) despite the bilingual and bicultural sociohistorical roots of the community and the region. Drawing from our teaching experiences, within each of our academic disciplines, we see the need to produce and identify scholarship that engages disciplinary concepts in Spanish. By providing spaces for translanguaging, our pedagogical moves reflejan lo que los estudiantes son capaces de producir—critical reflections on and enactments of new ideas using their full linguistic repertoire. If we genuinely believe, as translingual educators and scholars across academic disciplines, that multilingual students operate from one internal linguistic system, then we must ensure that our pedagogy and learning expectations reflect one linguistic system. Rafael's and Gabriela’s respective reflections illustrate the benefits of creating a learning space where students can enact their linguistically diverse agency with a purpose. Gabriela’s reflective writing shows how she moves from acknowledging her feelings of inadequacy trying to express herself through palabras escolarizadas—as she identifies academic language—to embracing escrituras reflexivas as opportunities to construct knowledge in Spanish and articulate her understanding of MUSANTI & CAVAZOS E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 58 bilingual education and bilingualism. Assessing Gabriela’s writing from a standard language position would render her writing as insufficient; on the other hand, acknowledging her production as the enactment of her linguistic repertoire and her efforts to pull from different language features, both in Spanish and English, allows us to see her growth in terms of language nuances and comprehension of linguistic and cultural issues impacting bilingual learners. As with Gabriela, Rafael also uses his full linguistic repertoire to reconnect with Spanish, his native language, as he reflects on his early literacy history, conducts original research on the role of parents in literacy development, and designs useful flyers on literacy support for Spanish-speaking parents. Gabriela and Rafael were both critically aware of when and how they used Spanish as well as their own levels of literacy and fluency in both languages. Their ability to use their full linguistic repertoire leveraged their language learning experiences in the course by strengthening their analytical skills in both languages. Our critical reflections on teaching Rhetoric and Composition I and Foundations of Bilingual Education and ESL, respectively, illustrate translanguaging pedagogies at all academic levels from first-year to upper- level, discipline specific coursework. Our experiences reflect the benefits of engaging in cross-disciplinary conversations to create optimal opportunities for students to reflect on and engage their full linguistic repertoire. As a result of our experiences in this collaboration, we propose higher education faculty should engage in continuous reflection on not only our translanguaging pedagogical approaches, but also on students’ translanguaging reflections and creations, which can lead to new insights on how we might (re)design future iterations of purposeful translanguaging pedagogies. 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Byrnes (Ed.), Advanced language learning: The contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky (pp. 95 –108). London, United Kingdom: Continuum. Tan, Amy (1990). Under western eyes. The Three Penny Review, 315–320. Young, Vershawn Ashanti (2010). Should writers use they own English? Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, 12, 110–117. Van der Walt, Christa, & Dornbrack, Jacqui (2011). Academic biliteracy in South African higher education: strategies and practices of successful students. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 24(1), 89–104. Wright, Wayne E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Caslon https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2012.718488 https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039 https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2014.982442 https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2016.1276028 https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1254151 TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN A HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTION E-JournALL 5(2) (2018), pp. 44-61 61 Sandra I. Musanti, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley sandra.musanti@utrgv.edu EN Sandra I. Musanti is an Associate Professor in the Bilingual and Literacy Studies Department at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos/as, a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Sandra prepares elementary pre-service teachers in the Early Childhood Bilingual Generalist program and teaches graduate-level courses in the bilingual master’s and doctoral program. Her areas of expertise are bilingual pre-service and in-service teacher education. Presently, her research interests focus on bilingual teacher preparation and development across content areas, translanguaging in higher education, and bilingual teacher identity and agency. ES Sandra I. Musanti es profesora contratada en el Departamento de Estudios Bilingües y de Literacidad en la Universidad de Texas de El Valle del Río Grande. Fue becaria posdoctoral en el Centro para la Educación Matemática de Latinos, un proyecto financiado por la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias. Prepara a maestros de educación primaria en formación en el programa generalista en educación bilingüe infantil (Early Childhood Bilingual Generalist) e imparte cursos de nivel posgrado en los programas bilingües de maestría y doctorado. Su área de especialización es la capacitación de maestros bilingües en formación y en servicio. Actualmente, sus intereses de investigación se centran en la preparación y el desarrollo de maestros bilingües en todas las áreas de contenido, el translingüismo en la educación superior y la identidad y la agencia de maestros bilingües. IT Sandra I. Musanti è professoressa associata nel Dipartimento Bilingue e di Studi Letterari presso la University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Precedentemente è stata assegnista di ricerca presso il Centro per l’Educazione Matematica per gli Ispanici, un progetto finanziato dalla National Science Foundation. Sandra prepara insegnanti di scuola elementare in prova nel programma di Prima Infanzia Bilingue Generalista ed insegna corsi post-lauream nel programma di master bilingue e in quello di dottorato. Le sue aree di competenza sono la formazione degli insegnanti bilingue in prova e in servizio. Attualmente, i suoi interessi di ricerca si concentrano sulla preparazione e lo sviluppo dell'insegnante bilingue in varie discipline, sul translanguaging nell'istruzione universitaria e sull'identità e l’agentività degli insegnanti bilingui. Alyssa G. Cavazos, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley alyssa.cavazos@utrgv.edu EN Alyssa G. Cavazos is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies in the Department of Writing and Language Studies at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She teaches first-year writing and upper-level undergraduate and graduate coursework in writing studies. Her pedagogical and scholarly interests include language difference in the teaching of writing, translingual writing, multilingualism across communities, border rhetorics, and Latina/os in higher education. As reflected by her 2017 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, she is committed to designing linguistically inclusive projects and pedagogies, which can lead to students’ academic success across academic disciplines in higher education. ES Alyssa G. Cavazos es profesora de retórica, composición y literacidad en el Departamento de Escritura y Estudios del Lenguaje en la Universidad de Texas de El Valle del Río Grande. Imparte clases de escritura a nivel universitario y de posgrado. Sus intereses pedagógicos y académicos incluyen el uso de diferentes idiomas en la enseñanza de la escritura, la escritura translingüista, el multilingüismo en las comunidades, la retórica en la frontera y las/los latinas/os en la educación superior. Como se refleja en su premio, Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, del año 2017, está comprometida en diseñar proyectos y pedagogías lingüísticamente inclusivas que puedan llevar a los estudiantes a tener éxito académico en todas las disciplinas académicas en la educación superior. IT Alyssa G. Cavazos è ricercatrice di Retorica, Composizione e Studi Letterari nel Dipartimento di Scrittura e Studi Linguistici presso la University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Insegna corsi di scrittura in corsi di laurea triennale, specialistica e post-lauream. I suoi interessi pedagogici e accademici includono la differenza linguistica nell'insegnamento della scrittura, la scrittura translingue, il multilinguismo tra le comunità, la retorica di confine e gli ispanici nell'istruzione universitaria. Come dimostra il premio che ha ottenuto nel 2007, il Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, è impegnata nella realizzazione di progetti e pedagogie linguistiche inclusive, che possono portare gli studenti al successo accademico nelle varie discipline universitarie. 2.1. Translanguaging as pedagogy 4.1. Translanguaging stance 5.1. Translanguaging stance 5.2. Translanguaging design References Alvarez, Steven (2014). Translanguaging tareas: Emergent bilingual youth as language brokers for homework in immigrant families. Language Arts, 91(5), 326–339. Pennycook, Alastair (2010). Language as a local practice. New York, New York: Routledge.