Translanguaging within the Context of Dominican College Pedagogy
Author: Tavarez Da Costa, Pedro
Date: 2021-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Code Switching (Language),Second Language Learning,Universities,Foreign Countries,Global Approach,Educational Change,Second Language Instruction,Immigration,Social Change,Tourism,Bilingual Schools,English (Second Language),Institutional Characteristics,Language Usage,Spanish,Teaching Methods,Advanced Courses,Classroom Communication,Comparative Education,Cross Cultural Studies,Language Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty

Since the democratic opening of the country (the Dominican Republic), in past decades and the subsequent phenomena of Worldalization, Globalization and the Influences of the Knowledge Society and Computerization, our society and with it the national educational system at all levels has been undergoing a series of changes and influences not ignored in the order for the teachings of foreign languages in our institutions of higher education and specifically at the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo-UASD-. In addition to the social, economic and political phenomena mentioned above, there are also the migrations of millions of Dominicans to mostly to the United States and Europe, which, in addition to the usual contribution in remittances, brings a new dimension of the Dominicanity as a result of the influence of the inevitable cultural and linguistic exchange that this phenomenon entails. Another phenomenon that occupies our attention, in addition to migration, is the recent development of the economic model of the Service industries, that is, free zones and tourism, which, like sugar mills and mining in certain areas of our national geography brought with them the first bilingual schools in the country in the recent past. This has caused a proliferation of language schools and institutes and courses like the English Immersion Programs sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education, that have reaffirmed the imprint of two institutions: The Instituto Cultural Dominico-Americano (now a university) and the School of Languages of the UASD University, as the two of the oldest and leading institutions in the teaching of the English language in our country. In such a way, that a phenomenon that we must comprehend and understand in our students of advanced subjects in the language career (Degree Program), it is that of 'translanguaging' or translanguage, in order to allow the usage of Spanish-original words or expressions , and that occurs in a context where it is assumed that the only language to be expressed is English, as suggested by the most modern methodologies of language teaching that emphasize the unique use of the language to learning (Target language) and in a communicative way within the classroom, that is, the communicative approach is prioritized more than the learning of grammatical norms or rules as suggested by the so-called &quot;Communicative Approach,&quot; (Larsen Freeman, 2011), it is in this exclusive context where it emerges in our students the practice of translanguaging or translanguage, (Not to be confused with Code-switching), which was a term coined by the Welsh pedagogue Cen Williams (1980) as a pedagogical practice in which students are asked to alternate several languages, for a more effective or receptive use, as for example, when they are in the presence of Latinisms or 'cognates' (words that have the same root [Latin] in both English and Spanish) in the English language. But the thing to be explored here it is, that sometimes students are forced in not using those words or expressions in the classroom due to a pedagogical practice in our Dominican context, (EFL Classes),whereas the prohibition or abrupt limitations of such practices in the American or British context are due to different reasons that implies extra-pedagogical motivations up to a point to be considered as rights and constitutional violations, (Bilingual Classrooms),and are consequently being examined here in two comparative cases, since both the Dominican and the Anglo-Saxon case are completely different national settings or scenarios. This research was developed through the examination of three different national cases, as a mean of comparing them in their respective particularities, similitudes, if any, and differences.