Modern Language Association 2013 Conference Panel Session 288:
Friday, 04 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Beacon A, Sheraton
This panel takes up movements and calls from within MLA, CCCC, and NCTE more
generally to pursue alternatives to approaches to the teaching and study of writing
dominated by monolingualist concepts of language and language relations.
Program arranged by the National Council of Teachers of English
Presiding: Bruce Horner, University of Louisville
ABSTRACTS
Redefining Form in Translingual Writing
A. Suresh Canagarajah
The Pennsylvania State University
In the context of theoretical advances on writing as translingual practice, teachers of
composition have started asking difficult questions about notions of error and coherence
in classroom writing. When influences of the first language on English are perceived
as voice rather than interference in translingual writing, this realization raises questions
about acceptable grammar in writing. Similarly, when writing is performative, there
are questions on how to distinguish enthymematic responses which give coherence to
writing. Based on a classroom ethnography, I will discuss how a multilingual student
accounted for perceived errors and incoherence in her text. While understanding the
intentions of authors is important, I will argue for a negotiated understanding of error and
coherence. This approach emphasizes the role of both authors and readers in meaning
construction and uptake of performative acts that would redefine form in writing.
“Global Citizens” and First-year College Writing:
Moving Beyond English
Christiane Donahue
Dartmouth College
The first-year writing course in some variant is ubiquitous at United States colleges
and universities. While it can include, or can parallel, courses that attend to the specific
needs of students who did not grow up speaking or writing in English, who have long
been multilingual, or who are unfamiliar with U.S. conventions for college prose, until
recently, it has not included a focus on writing as itself as multi-rhetorical or multilingual,
and not tied to English alone even in an apparently English-speaking-dominated country.
I argue that in addition to any traditional arguments about the inherent value of bi- or
multi-linguality, we must also consider the value of learning to write and being supported
in writing in languages other than English 1) as a way to resist the still-entrenched
notions that language is the transparent medium of thought and that the language in
which we write doesn’t matter to the material communicated; 2) to decenter U.S.
students’ (and faculty’s) sense that “writing” is an “English” subject rather than a way of
constructing and negotiating meaning in every discipline and field, and 3) the underlying
need for translingual ability—the deep, negotiating, humble, ambiguity-embracing,
always-in-translation mindset first identified by scholars including Canagarajah, Horner,
Pennycook, Lu, and others. This ability, crucial to all “good writing,” develops as we
work in, through, and across languages. It is not a luxury or an exotic plus but a key
feature of strong writing today. Developing translingual ability links directly to the
sweeping discussions today about post-secondary education as responsible for preparing
global citizens for the 21st century, and pervasive call for language skills as part of
the “communication skills” as part of the 21st century toolkit.
I will describe four initiatives that suggest how we might begin working in earnest with
students on writing beyond English: Dartmouth’s multilingual writing support initiative;
Dickinson College’s multilingual writing center, Emerson’s trilingual first-year writing
pilot; and DePaul’s Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research. I will end
with the benefits to faculty who work and share with modern language colleagues in
these initiatives while broadening language faculty knowledge of writing instruction and
process. This seconds my own experience with the challenges and benefits of working
across languages in my research.
Voices from the Front Lines:
Student Reflections on Language, Culture and Identity
Juan Guerra, University of Washington
Our conversation about pedagogical and policy approaches to language difference in
the writing classroom has been dominated by scholars and educators who support code
meshing over code-segregation and code-switching. In my presentation, I will bring
into the conversation the voices of 19 undergraduate and 16 graduate students in a
class on language variation and language policy who read the literature; composed two
narratives that examined their language, dialect and vernacular repertoires; and produced
an academic essay that critiqued the three approaches. My goal is to complicate the
conversation by considering the logic that informs a broad range of student responses.
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