Translanguaging in digital learning: the making of translanguaging spaces in online English teaching videos

Language learning through online platforms is becoming increasingly popular. The technological affordances of YouTube provide a translanguaging space for learners and teachers alike to bring their different identities, experiences and histories and create a coordinated performance (Li 2011, “Moment Analysis and Translanguaging Space: Discursive Construction of Identities by Multilingual Chinese Youth in Britain.” Journal of Pragmatics 43 (5): 1222–1235). Nevertheless, the existing literature on translanguaging space predominantly focuses on multilingual encounters in which language users draw on a repertoire of linguistic resources in making meaning, and more attention is needed to understand the role of translanguaging space in the light of the orchestration of different modalities (Zhu, Li, and Jankowicz-Pytel 2020, “Translanguaging and Embodied Teaching and Learning: Lessons from a Multilingual Karate Club in London.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23 (1): 65–80). Drawing on two online English lessons and their comments, we focus on how the online teachers draw on different registers, styles of speaking and strategically orchestrating a range of multimodal resources to teach English vocabulary by means of role plays. We employed multimodal analysis and qualitative content analysis to unpack how two different yet interrelated translanguaging spaces are constructed in these online video classrooms. We argue that in such kind of digitally mediated learning setting, two translanguaging spaces are created: the ‘interactional translanguaging space’ and ‘performative translanguaging space’. The study also offers some pedagogical implications to inform the future directions of developing teaching and learning materials in digital platforms.