Chaoran Wang, Beth Lewis Samuelson, and Katherine Silvester
In this action research study, we explore how translingual resources can support creativity in a multilingual freshmen composition class in a US public university. We explore the efforts of two Chinese international students and their Chinese graduate student instructor to represent their linguistic and cultural identities within established pedagogical practices using translingual semiotic resources. They explore together how they can use their first language as a resource for academic writing, and in the process develop metalinguistic insights about the roles that their linguistic and cultural proficiency can play in academic communication. Our examination of the written artefacts and interviews with the students and instructor reveal how a translingual pedagogy can inspire multilingual speakers of English to make use of their own cultures and languages as resources for writing and teaching. We conclude with implications for teacher professional development and suggestions for actively developing critical awareness of language through creative use of all of students’ linguistic and cultural resources.
