Learning and teaching trans-inclusive language and register hybridity for multilingual writers

Abstract

In multilingual instructional spaces, language use can reinforce or ­disrupt gender disparities. This self-study, situated in the context of a university developmental English writing course, examines how an instructor sought to raise L2 learners’ critical language awareness, operationalized as consciousness of ways that gender disparity is mediated by and through language. It also explores how one L2 Chinese learner, Wesheng, explored transgender themes and register during a curricular unit in this course. Focusing on Wesheng’s written and oral discourse, we illustrate the process through which his instructor developed a deeper understanding of his register-use. Data sources include writing samples, curricular materials, the instructor’s journal and feedback, and a semi-structured learner interview. Analyzing these sources through register and performance perspectives, we show how the learner exhibited hybridity in ‘en-gendered’ and academic registers of English and performed egalitarian and multilingual voices as he interacted with instructional resources. We conclude the article with discussions on the affordances of using register analysis to support critical language writing pedagogies and instructional strategies that teachers can use to cultivate L2 students’ socio-sexual literacies.

ABSTRACT (CHINESE)

摘要

在多语言教学环境中, 语言的使用可以强化或打破性别不平等现象。本自我研究基于大学发展英语写作课程, 探究一位教师如何通过觉知语言对性别差异的支配和影响作用, 来提高二语学习者的批判性语言意识。研究还探讨了一位母语为中文的二语学习者, 威盛, 在该课程的一个单元学习中是如何探索跨性别主题和语域的。通过分析威盛的书面和口头表达, 来阐述了教师深入理解威盛的语域使用的过程。研究使用的数据来源包括威盛的写作样本、课程材料、教师日志和反馈以及与学生的半结构化访谈。通过对数据的语域和表现视角的分析, 揭示该学习者是如何在“性别化”和学术语域中显示出混合特征的, 在与教学资源的互动中, 如何表达平等和多语言观点的。文章最后讨论了使用语域分析来支持批判性语言写作教学的益处, 及可使用的教学策略, 以培养二语学习者的社会性别素养。

ABSTRACT (SPANISH)

RESUMEN

Este ‘self-study’, auto aprendizaje, se ubica en el contexto de un curso universitario que se trata del desarrollo de la redacción en inglés y examina cómo una profesora se empeñó a cultivar una conscentización de lenguaje crítica, concebida como aumentar una concientización del papel que a través del uso de lenguaje se mediaba la desigualdad de género. Este estudio examina cómo un aprendiz chino que estudia inglés como segunda lengua, Wesheng, experimentó con los temas de transgender y de registro lingüístico durante una unidad curricular de este curso. Al enfocarse en el discurso oral y escrito de Wesheng, ejemplificamos el proceso por el cual su profesora desarrolló más profunda comprensión de su uso del registro lingüístico. Las fuentes de datos incluye muestras de sus escritos, materiales didácticas, el diario de la profesora y sus comentarios de retroalimentación para Wesheng, y una entrevista semi estructurada con él. Al analizar estas fuentes de datos, usando perspectivas informadas por al análisis de registro y el análisis de actuación, ilustramos como el aprendiz manifestó hibridismo al producir un género del género y un registro lingüístico académico que en sí crearon posturas igualitarias y multilingüísticas mientras él manejaba los recursos pedagógicos. Concluimos este artículo con una exposición de lo que aporta el uso de un análisis de registro lingüístico para apoyar el desarrollo de la redacción con atención al lenguaje crítica y las estrategias que el docente puede usar para cultivar las literacidades sociosexuales del aprendiz del inglés como segunda lengua.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY

In multilingual instructional spaces, the language we use can either reinforce or disrupt gender disparities. This article reports on practitioner research led by one classroom teacher in the context of ENG101, a university developmental English writing course. It explains how the teacher sought to raise the ‘critical language awareness’ of English as a Second Language (ESL) writers in the course. Here, ‘critical language awareness’ is understood as a process that involves deepening students’ understanding of the ways that power is perpetuated through language. It also explores how one Chinese learner, Wesheng, explored transgender themes during an academic writing unit in this course. Focusing on Wesheng’s written and oral discourse, the article shows how his teacher developed a deeper understanding of his textual practices, which informed improvements in her teaching. Data sources include writing samples, curricular materials, the instructor’s journal and feedback, and transcripts from a semi-structured interview with Wesheng. The article shows how Wesheng exhibited hybridity in gender-inclusive and academic forms of English. It also reveals how Wesheng’s interactions with instructional resources informed his enactment of egalitarian and multilingual voices in his text. The article concludes with a discussion of how register analysis can support second language teachers in implementing critical language pedagogies in writing classrooms. It also identifies instructional strategies that teachers can implement to increase gender inclusivity and support students’ writing development simultaneously.

Keywords:

• critical language awareness
• L2 writing
• register hybridity
• self-study
• gender inclusive language
• SFL

关键词:

• 批判性语言意识
• 第二语言写作
• 混合语域
• 自我研究
• 性别包容语言
• 系统功能语言学

Palabras claves:

• conscientización de lenguaje crítica
• redacción en una segunda lengua
• hibridismo de registro lingüístico
• auto aprendizaje
• lenguaje inclusiva de géneros diversos
• lingüística funcional sistémica

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Hengyi Liu and Xinyue Zuo for translating the article abstract into Mandarin as well as for providing helpful feedback in earlier versions of this article. They would also like to thank the focal learner, Wesheng, for participating in the study and enabling instructor learning.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emma R. Britton

Emma R. Britton currently works in Cornell University’s Language Resource Center, where she collaborates with faculty, staff, and students across the university to develop and institutionalize new models of language learning. She recently earned a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the Department of Teacher Education & Curriculum Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research and praxis centers applications of critical linguistic, sociocultural, and multimodal theories. Her publications have appeared in venues such as the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, Foreign Language Annals, and TESOL Quarterly.

Theresa Y. Austin

Theresa Y. Austin is a professor of Language, Literacy, and Culture in the Department of Teacher Education & Curriculum Studies at UMass Amherst’s College of Education. Her scholarship draws on critical race and sociocultural theories to address equity through examining policies and planning for multilingual learners and their teachers. Her articles have been published in various journals such the Critical Inquiry into Language Studies, the Modern Language Journal, and the International Journal of Sociology of Language, to name only a few.