Leveraging Bilingual Youth’s Translation Experiences for School Literacy Tasks
Lecturer Jacqui D’Warte presented at the International Association of Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) conference, held in Melbourne, Australia July 8-11th. The theme of the conference was: Mediation and Conflict - Translation and Culture in a Global Context. Ms. D’Warte’s presentation “Leveraging Bilingual Youth’s Translation Experiences for School Literacy Tasks” was part of the panel entitled: Child Language Brokering: The "Unseen" Mediators, convened by Dr. Marjorie Orellana of UCLA and Dr. Rachele Antonini University of Bologna, Italy.
Abstract
This paper examined students’ metalinguistic responses to a curriculum that explicitly required them to view their translation skills as a resource to access academic English writing skills. In this curriculum, researchers (including the teacher) collaborated to create lessons that had at their core an understanding that all language practices, and the skills students utilize as competent members of various speech communities, were acceptable in the classroom context. Building on the decade long ethnographic work of Orellana (Orellana, 2001; Orellana, Dorner & Pulido, 2003; Orellana, Reynolds, Dorner & Meza, 2003; Orellana & Reynolds, 2008) that documented the translation skills of children of immigrants, we knew that the Latino students in this community translated with regularity. Translating was therefore highlighted as a skill. Students began to understand that their ability to translate at home, in their community, and in schools could be used as an asset in their schooling. Immediately in this curriculum students began to understand that translation was not only a skill that allowed them to speak English and Spanish throughout their daily practices, but it was also “translation” that allowed them to maneuver and navigate their way around their need to utilize multiple varieties and registers of the languages they speak. These skills were exploited as a resource and made clear to students how they have the ability to shift or “translate” from one register or variety of English, to another, including a standard English variety that is privileged in schools, and required for proficiency in state mandated exams. In initial findings we encountered data that revealed students had the ability to use their linguistic repertories of practice to embark on an understanding of the rules and nuances of written academic English.
