Multilingual Scaffolding in GFL Courses— An Interactional Analysis of a Teacher’s Translanguaging Practices

The case report describes the translanguaging practices used by a non-native foreign language teacher as a scaffolding strategy in a course teaching German as a foreign language, Level B1.1, in Jordan (in cooperation with the German Jordanian University). Both the teacher and the learners speak Arabic as their first language and English as a second language. Using Multimodal Interactional Analysis, this in-depth analysis of a case study shows that translanguaging is used in the classroom discourse for different purposes and as a scaffold. Various practices of translanguaging can be identified in the data, such as using cues and listener signals for continuity of discourse, translating isolated words or sequences and expanding utterances, questions, descriptions or explanations. While the teacher mainly communicates in the target language German during classroom interaction and uses translanguaging very carefully for individual learning support, the learner’s resort to translations and complex linguistic acts, such as explaining or describing. This makes it clear that multilingualism is used in this lesson for deeper learning and cognitive engagement.

Keywords: Multilingualism; Translanguaging; Scaffolding; German as a Foreign Language; Arabic; English; Non-Native Foreign Language Teacher

Teachers and learners use their multilingual resources in classroom interactions in diverse ways and to varying degrees. The concept of pedagogical translanguaging [1-3] has recently gained prominence in foreign language acquisition research and didactics. The communicative goal from the socio-pragmatical view lies at the forefront of classroom discourse [4]. Furthermore, the pedagogical concept of translanguaging has attracted significant interest [5,6], as it does not foreground learners’ linguistic competence or treat languages as separate systems, but rather views language as social action in the classroom. State-of-the-art approaches to translanguaging focus on a dynamic and supportive interaction in the classroom. Furthermore, translanguaging is seen as social, meta-conscious and meta-cognitive actions as well as a scaffold for cognitive activation [7]. This case report aims to address this issue by examining the translanguaging practices of a non-native foreign language teacher. It explores how the teacher interacts in the classroom and utilizes his multilingual abilities in Arabic and Citation: Zeynep Kalkavan-Aydın*. Multilingual Scaffolding in GFL Courses—An Interactional Analysis of a Teacher’s Translanguaging Practices. English to help his learners acquire German [8,9]. Scaffolding in the sense of van de Pol et al. [10] means that verbal and interactive learning support takes place in order to help learners reach the next developmental stage in language acquisition (cf. Vygotsky 1978) [11]. On the one hand, this support measure can be built up; on the other hand, it should subsequently be gradually reduced, depending on the individual level of development – which van de Pol et al. [10] refer to as ‘fading’. The six most common scaffolding characteristics that they identify are feedback, cues, instructions, explaining, modelling, and questions.

The case

The case is a non-native foreign language teacher (34 years old) who is teaching German for a university language course at Level B1.1. The teacher comes from Algeria and speaks Arabic (from the Algerian region) as his first language, along with French (at C1+ level) and English (B1/B2 level) as foreign languages. He learned German as a foreign language (GFL). After graduating with a degree in GFL, he also completed further training during his ten years of professional practice. He gained teaching experience as a scholarship holder and taught at a university in Jordan for four years (in addition to the language courses he is teaching).

Filling out a questionnaire, he explains that ‘multilingualism can be a lifeboat in everyday life’. He adds:

‘I suppose it’s always an advantage to be able to speak other languages as a GFL teacher. I don’t just mean English, but other languages like French, Arabic or Spanish. This allows you to demonstrate a kind of linguistic and cultural flexibility towards your target group. In addition, multilingualism allows for appropriate interaction within GFL classes abroad or within culturally heterogeneous target groups in general. Personally, I find it advantageous to be able to speak Arabic, English and French in order to make my lessons as successful, flexible and student friendly as possible. I believe that students feel more comfortable when they know that the teacher understands their language/ culture. The main thing is that it doesn’t lead to neglecting the main goal of the lesson, which is “speaking German”.’

The teacher outlines the relevance of multilingualism in everyday life and also in teaching a foreign language because, he says, multilingualism can help people to understand each other. At the same time, he states that it is important to speak in German because that is the goal of the lesson. One can see his awareness and beliefs about the necessity of multilingual resources for better understanding a new language and culture.

The lesson that was video recorded and analysed for this case study concerns ‘translation errors’ (Figure 1). The teacher begins the lesson in question ‘as always’ (as he says himself) by showing his learners a picture to be described. He is working on Lesson 13 of the textbook “Menschen” and talks to the learners about the translation error in the example and the reasons why this error may have occurred. He also uses the topic to work with translations himself and to discuss language comparisons.

All course participants speak Arabic as their first language, in different varieties (Jordanian, Palestinian, Egyptian, etc.). Al-Fusha is the ‘standard language’, but the teacher and learners primarily use regional varieties in daily and classroom communication. The classroom’s target language is German. English also plays a significant role as a lingua franca in classroom communication. Teacher and learners do also possess knowledge of other foreign languages like French, Spanish or Russian.

Methodological approach

The transcribed video data and interactions are analysed in terms of linguistic acts and multilingual practices using Multimodal Interactional Analysis, which offers a broader insight into classroom events where social interaction is not exclusively verbal but also nonverbal [12]. GAT 2 (a conversation analysis transcription system) and EXMARaLDA software are used for classroom discourse and transcription of the multilingual recordings [13] (Figure 2). The DMG transcription system (Deutsch Morgenländische Gesellschaft, used by the German Oriental Society) was employed to transliterate the Arabic data, taking into account spoken language features [14].

This case study will analyse the video-recorded lesson to determine whether the teacher and the learners use translanguaging during classroom interaction and for what purpose. Sequences in which the teacher used translanguaging practices as scaffolds will be identified.

The following functions of translanguaging as scaffolding strategies in German, Arabic and English, used by the teacher, can be identified (see Table 1):

(1) motivating students by using feedback-strategies.

(2) explaining grammar (metalinguistic explanations and translations).

(3) making meaning by managing comprehension and understanding (e.g. by translating or asking questions, repeating, summarizing).

(4) using cues and signals for discourse continuity.

Overall, translanguaging practices can be seen as scaffolds for feedback, ensuring understanding and promoting communication. It also becomes apparent that inter- and extrasentential translations (here also in the narrow sense of code-switching) are embedded differently into the utterances, both linguistically and morphologically. The ensuing negotiation of meaning is sometimes carried out in Arabic and sometimes in English. The following examples in Table 1 shows how the teacher uses multilingual practices in translations, clarifications, and explanations, for motivation and continuity in classroom discourse [15,16].

Table 1: A teacher’s translanguaging practices as scaffolding strategies (The English translations are directly after the statements and are italicized. For reasons of space, the simple transcripts are listed as examples and not the detailed transcripts.).

It can be stated that the teacher uses translanguaging as a scaffolding strategy and mobilizes his multilingualism in a very appropriate way. The recording reveals that the teacher and learners in the language context of Arabic – German – English utilize various translanguaging practices (e.g. translations of words or sentences, explanations, questions, and listener responses). The teacher adopts these strategies in varying ways and with different intensities not only in classroom interaction but also as a supportive engagement in individual interactions with learners. He also motivates students by allowing them to use their multilingual resources to explain and understand language rules, as well as to compare languages. He makes use of multilingualism potentials in specific situations once he recognizes that learners need additional support, and he feels able to use his first language, Arabic, as well as English as lingua franca to boost interactions and fluency.

The author declares no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

None.

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