Language Histories, Community Translanguaging, and Collective Repertoires: Multilingual Language Learning Interactions in a Second‐Grade Writing Workshop

ABSTRACT

Using a community translanguaging lens, this paper focuses on the collective translanguaging practices of second‐grade students who come from multilingual language backgrounds but were attending a school where English was the mandated language of instruction. The research question addressed is: How did students construct and employ a community language repertoire during writing interactions in a multilingual, English‐medium classroom? Data were drawn from a year‐long, qualitative study employing ethnographic and practitioner research methods to examine teacher and students' daily writing practices in one second‐grade classroom. Data were analyzed using descriptive and thematic coding of students' language learning interactions. Findings illustrate how the community repertoire was drawn on and constructed as students: (1) talked about their own and others' language histories, (2) interacted with peers and materials to learn language(s), and (3) at times reproduced historical, macro‐level discourses. Representative, interactional examples are used to illustrate and describe each theme in detail. Implications for theory and pedagogy are discussed, arguing that a focus on community translanguaging offers a more nuanced view of classroom language learning.