Articles

International Students' Translanguaging Practices in a Multilingual Taiwanese University: A Sequential Analysis

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Abstract

This study investigates the use of translanguaging during a task-based language activity conducted in a multilingual context. The participants in this study were Taiwanese students and international students at a university in Taiwan. Adopting the methodology of sequential analysis (e.g., Sacks et al., 1974; Schegloff et al., 2002) to analyze a small corpus of multilinguals’ interactions, we show that multilingual students employed translanguaging practices as a pragmatic strategy to accomplish specific interactional goals. Specifically, the multilingual speakers in this study integrated Mandarin Chinese into English-language conversations in order to explicitly make themselves understood, to express social solidarity and community membership, and to preserve face. This study’s findings speak to the need for a pedagogical language-learning model that directly addresses the needs of multilinguals who learn a local language as an additional language and who may engage in similar multilingual interactions within their own communities of practice.

Keywords: multilingual interactions, translanguaging, intercultural communication, multilingualism

How to Cite:

Tsai, M., Chiang, Y. & Yang, C., (2023) “International Students' Translanguaging Practices in a Multilingual Taiwanese University: A Sequential Analysis”, Critical Multilingualism Studies 10(1), 36-65.