“Finding oneself” in another language: understanding translingualism and building tools for dealing with trauma in educational contexts
From Firenze University Press Journal: L’ospite ingrato
Andreina Sgaglione, Università per Stranieri di Siena
In the disjointed context of our multicultural globalization, marked by large-scale mass migrations and a rapidly changing anthropological and cultural landscape, educational settings should provide, in learning/teaching pathways, suitable tools to foster a necessary capacity for multicultural rootedness and recognition. The complexity of the present and the conflicts that characterize it confront us with the urgency of carefully observing the diverse plural histories that identify our societies and of welcoming and valuing the wealth of voices and languages that inhabit the world. Often the situation of disorientation in which immigrant learners, both newcomers and second-generation, find themselves, is not perceived as an integral part of a larger dimension that is that of translingualism, a condition of crossing languages, a significant form of multicultural multilingualism. Translingualism through its articulations, namely translanguaging, translingual writings and translingual imaginary, represents a lens through which to better understand the condition of translingual learners and the possible traumatic component intertwined with the migration experience. This paper will examine translingualism in its fundamental aspects with a focus on those traits that have potential for application in multilingual educational settings. The issue of migratory trauma will be addressed by proposing teaching strategies that help develop some fundamental tools for success in learning, such as resilience and hope, as outlined in some recent internationally tested protocols.
The multilingual reality, a now stable element in Italian educational contexts, but which over time has undergone numerous narrative meta-morphoses, leads us to question the suitability of the teaching/learning processes of Italian L2 underway in the contexts frequented by immigrant learners. While on the one hand there is an undeniable trend towards the recognition and inclusion of plural linguistic repertoires in the scholastic world, there is no shortage of notable critical issues and still unresolved problems linked to the challenges that the current mobile and continu-ously evolving context constantly poses. This study intends to propose a reflection on some points: in section I the complex aspects that character-ize language learning in relation to the new scenarios of globalization are examined; the relationship between educational policy documents at an international level and their impact in the context of teaching Italian L2/LS; the importance of individual linguistic-cultural heritage as a capac-ity for rooting and mutual multicultural recognition; the complexity of the changes that have affected the profile of immigrant learners. Section II analyzes the main characteristics of translingualism, its implications in the context of teaching Italian as a foreign language and the relationship with migratory trauma; translanguaging and related teaching applications; the particularities of the texts of translingual authors and their usability in L2/FL study contexts; translingual writings and translingual imagery as crucial elements for designing new syllables and using different teach-ing strategies. In section III, observations are proposed on the following aspects: trauma and its implications for translingual learners; the contents of specific training on trauma aimed at teachers; the recent protocols successfully tested in educational contexts characterized by the presence of learners who have undergone traumatic experiences. The objective is to offer a different perspective that can be translated into new teaching practices that can generate fair, safe, sustainable study contexts, capable of enhancing the experience of translingualism in all its facets.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/oi-16377
Read Full Text: https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/oi/article/view/16377
