Background and Context: In this theory paper, we explore the concept of translanguaging from bilingual education, and its implications for teaching and learning programming and computing in especially computer science (CS) for all initiatives. Objective: We use translanguaging to examine how programming is and isn't like using human languages. We frame CS as computational literacies. We describe a pedagogical approach for teaching computational literacies. Method: We review theory from applied linguistics, literacy, and computational literacy. We provide a design narrative of our pedagogical approach by describing activities from bilingual middle school classrooms integrating Scratch into academic subjects. Findings: Translanguaging pedagogy can leverage learners' (bilingual and otherwise) full linguistic repertoires as they engage with computational literacies. Implications: Our data helps demonstrate how translanguaging can be mobilized to do CS, which has implications for increasing equitable participation in computer science.
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The Role of Translanguaging in Computational Literacies: Documenting Middle School Bilinguals' Practices in Computer Science Integrated Units
Bilingual education has described a process called translanguaging
by which students use linguistic resources across and beyond multiple
named languages to learn. Here, we examine how bilingual
learners translanguage while learning computer science. These
middle schoolers participated in a curricular intervention which
infused computational thinking into their Spanish-English bilingual
language arts class. Through a descriptive qualitative methodology,
we document classroom moments supporting four claims: 1)
students’ translanguaging blurs linguistic, disciplinary, and modal
boundaries, 2) computational literacies are intertwined with students’
other literacies , 3) students’ attitudes about language and
the contexts around them play a role in their translanguaging, and
4) students translanguage to engage in specific CT practices.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10094069
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SIGCSE '19
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1164 to 1170
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3287324.3287368
