Multilingual learners' digital book composing: Examining circulation of translingual, multimodal resources in an elementary classroom

Abstract

Multilingual learners (MLs) often attend English-medium schools in the U.S. An important area of research is understanding how teachers can support MLs’ literacy practices, such as translingual composing, in these contexts. This paper draws on theories of translanguaging and multimodality to explore the semiotic choices of second graders as they engaged in digital book composing following instruction that invited translanguaging. Specifically, we ask: 1) What multimodal, translingual resources did students initially deploy when invited to use their full semiotic (including linguistic) resources to compose texts? And 2) How were these semiotic resources used across time, resulting in students’ creation of multimodal, translingual texts? Data come from a qualitative project and include audio/video recordings of instruction and images of student texts. Findings from descriptive and thematic coding illustrate the multiple multimodal, multilingual resources, including text, image, and audio, that students used to compose their eBooks. Findings also show how students created these texts over time through discussion about and use of translingual and multimodal resources. Implications for translanguaging theory and pedagogy are discussed.