Abstract

Translanguaging is an important part of research in languages and characters, although it has not reached a unanimous definition. It involves in different means of sensory organs, and the use of it may vary according to individual differences among teachers. This paper explores the involvement of different sensory organs and gender differences in translanguaging among 10 excellent English teachers in Chinese secondary schools, based on records on classroom observation sheets. Results show that visual, auditory and kinesthetic organs are involved in classes, and individual teachers prefer different means of sensory organs. Male teachers generally prefer utterances, hand gestures, pictures and walking around in classrooms, and female teachers prefer utterances, walking around in classrooms, hand gestures and pictures. Meanwhile, the involvement of specific means of sensory organs of translanguaging is uneven to different teachers.

Keywords

Translanguaging, Sensory Organs, Gender Disparity

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1. Introduction

Searching results from CNKI Chinese journal articles and dissertations (up to Dec. 31, 2022) reveal that studies on translanguaging in China in the past 30 years revolve around the factors of translanguaging, cultural signifiers in translanguaging, skills of translanguaging, subtitle translation and translanguaging information. Secondary topics cover translation practice, the theory of schema, experience pool, translation of subtitles, communicative contexts, and strategies of translation, etc. The researches in Chinese literature about translanguaging focus on the two major disciplines of foreign languages and characters, and Chinese language and characters.

The understanding of “translanguaging” is not consistent, nor is it unified in published articles. As Li and García (2017) have noted that there is no unanimous expression for “translanguaging”, and terms such as “polylanguaging”, “polylingual languaging”, “multilanguaging”, “heteroglossia”, “hybrid language practices”, “translingual practice”, “flexible bilingualism”, and “metrolingualism” have been used.

Some researchers (Li, 2018; Bao & Li, 2022) held that translanguaging broke the boundaries between different languages. Baker (2021) proposed that translanguaging skills were the ability to construct meaning, organize experiences, gain knowledge, and understand the world in two languages. Lewis et al. (2021) thought that translanguaging skills were a dynamic, functionally integrated way of two languages that organized and regulated learners’ cognitive comprehension processes and literacy development.

Researchers believe that teachers use translanguaging in classes to develop students’ multilingual skills. It can help students gain discourse, establish effective language user identity, and participate actively in meaning negotiation and interaction. Kiramba & Harris (2019) argued that translanguaging contributed to learners’ intellectual and emotional development, social interaction, and academic success. Leonet et al. (2020) found that translinguaging acted as a pedagogical scaffold, enabling students to use a variety of resources to help negotiate meaning with each other, and it allowed them to use multilingual resources to strengthen their identity, promote cohesion, and build harmonious interpersonal relationships.

The theory of translingual practice adheres to the view that language involves in multi-sensory resources, and that language users have an overall multi-dimensional ability to coordinate different resources, and show critique and creativity through translingual practice. Translanguaging involves in different sensory organs, including visual, auditory and kinesthetic organs. However, the present literature has not explored the matter of gender disparity in translanguaging from the perspective of sensory organs, nor explored the specific involvement of different sensory organs by teachers in the course of instruction. Therefore, it is worthwhile to have a discussion.

It is clear that the present literature about translanguaging has not covered the topic of sensory organs involvement in translanguaging, nor gender differences in this case. Therefore, it is necessary to add specifications to “multi-sensory resources” in translanguaging. And it is what this paper aims to do. Specifically, this paper will: 1) make clear the specific use of sensory organs in classes by English teachers in the course of instruction, and 2) reveal whether there are differences between male and female teachers in sensory organs involvement and what differences may appear.

2. Methodology

2.1. Research Hypothesis

According to the theory of translingual practice, language involves in multi-sensory resources and language users may use different sensory resources to express meanings. In classroom instruction, teachers deliver knowledge and communicate with students via students’ mother tongue, or an official language other than students’ mother tongue. To improve the efficiency of instruction, teachers will certainly use translanguaging skills. A teacher’s translanguaging involves in different sensory organs in the course of instruction, and it may vary according to individual differences among teachers. Therefore, a teacher’s use of sensory organs also reflects the gender disparity.

2.2. Research Questions

To achieve the research objectives, this paper will focus on the following two questions: 1) What means of sensory organs are involved in translanguaging? 2) What differences are there between male and female English teachers in translanguaging?

2.3. Sampling

Subjects for this study should be rich in teaching experience and have a high degree of professional development. Meanwhile, they should usually attend to students’ physical and psychological growth and overall development. They should be adaptive in translanguaging use. Since it is impossible to involve all teachers in this study even at the provincial level, it is important to narrow down the quantity of subjects and keep the sampling typical at the same time. Therefore, subjects for this study should meet all the following criteria: 1) they are English teachers in secondary schools from different regions in Sichuan Province, 2) they have worked for more than 15 years, 3) they have a professor-equivalent title, and 4) male and female subjects are equal in quantity.

Finally, we selected a total of 10 (5 male and 5 female) voluntary subjects from different secondary schools. Six of the subjects are working in senior high schools, four are in junior high schools. Contents of lessons cover grammar, reading, writing, listening and speaking, listening, speaking (Table 1).

2.4. Research Method

This case study adopts a combination of quantitative and qualitative classroom observation. According to the objectives, an observation checklist for translanguaging in class has been designed. Then, translanguaging in class is observed and recorded on the observation sheet. At last, the data of translanguaging by teachers are analyzed, and questions are discussed.

2.5. Research Instruments

We have designed a Classroom Observation Sheet to record subjects’ involvement

*Note: All the subjects are coded instead of their names for the sake of privacy.

¹Tables 2-11 and Figures 1-16 are based on original records of the involvement of sensory organs for the ten subjects at “Appendix: Observation Sheets for Subjects”.

The primary data are counted, calculated and analyzed with Microsoft Excel 2013, and charts and graphs are drawn to visualize the results.

3. Results

As translanguaging involves in visual, auditory and kinesthetic organs, and each type of organs involves different means or actions, general results of sensory organs involvement and specific results for the involvement of each type of organs are presented respectively.

3.1. General Results of Sensory Organs Involvement

We collected data of the quantity and counted the frequency of sensory organs involved in subjects’ translanguaging in the course of instruction, and the result is shown in Table 2¹.

¹Tables 2-11 and Figures 1-16 are based on original records of the involvement of sensory organs for the ten subjects at “Appendix: Observation Sheets for Subjects”.

Then, we drew a graph about the frequency of sensory organs involved in subjects’ translanguaging (Figure 1).

In order to further understand the use of translanguaging from the point of sensory organs, we counted and calculated the quantity and frequency of specific sensory types for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic means. The visual means include pictures (P), videos (Vd), tables (T), and graphics (G), the auditory means include utterances (U) and recordings (R), and the kinesthetic means include walking (Wk), viewing (Vw), hand gestures (HG) and writings (Wt). The results are as follows (Table 3 and Table 4).

In terms of visual means, T10 used pictures more than other teachers in the course of instruction, followed by T4, T6 and T3; while T2 and T8 did not use pictures, and T7 and T1 used just a few pictures. Only three teachers, T8, T3 and

T1, used videos in classes. Only four teachers, T7, T2, T3 and T1, used tables in classes. Only two teachers, T5 and T7, used graphics in classes.

In terms of auditory means, except T8, the other 9 teachers spoke much in the course of instruction, with T4 speaking the most. Only four teachers, T6, T2, T10 and T9, used recordings, and none of the other teachers used them.

In terms of kinesthetic means, T8 walked the most around the classroom, followed by T6 and T2, while T9 and T4 walked the least. Only T5 checked students’ practice or self-study occasionally, while T2, T9 and T10 did not check students’ learning and practice. All teachers used hand gestures in classes, and T4 used hand gestures the most, while T3, T8, T6 and T7 used less frequently. T8, T9 and T10 did not write on the blackboard in the course of instruction, and the other teachers wrote a little.

It can be seen that teachers do not use frequently these popular learning aids as videos, pictures, tables and graphics in classes. In addition, teachers rarely organize teaching with hand gestures, and present important contents by writing on blackboards. It is an important means for teachers to check students’ learning results by supervising students’ practice and participation and obtain timely and indirect feedback in the course of instruction. Unfortunately, most teachers just ignored it.

3.2. Individual Involvement of Specific Sensory Organs

We counted the 10 subjects’ use of pictures (P), videos (Vd), tables (T), graphics (G), utterances (U), recordings (R), walking (Wk), viewing (Vw), hand gestures (HG) and writings (Wt) in the course of instruction, ignoring pauses and items with data of 0, and the results are as follows (Figures 2-11).

We can see from the above graphs that the 10 subjects differ from each other in involving specific means of sensory organs in classes, and the quantity of each sensory organs involvement is uneven. T1 involved 8 specific means of sensory organs while T9 involved only 4 means.

4. Discussions

In this part, we will discuss the two questions set for this study one by one, and see what means of sensory organs are preferred by the subjects, and whether male and female teachers have different preferences.

4.1. General Involvement of Sensory Organs

The first question: What means of sensory organs are involved in translanguaging?

From Table 2, we can see that the subjects have used means of visual, auditory and kinesthetic organs in classes, though they differ in the amount and frequency. It can also be seen from Fig.1 that the subjects differ from each other in frequency of involving sensory organs in classes. On the whole, auditory organs are involved more frequently than kinesthetic and visual organs, and visual organs are involved the least. Differences arise among individual subject.

We calculated the sum and frequency, and drew a graphic to further explore differences between the male and the female teachers in the general use of specific means of sensory organs (Table 5 and Figure 12).

From Table 5, we can see that there is a minor difference in using tables while there are significant differences in using other means of sensory organs between male and female teachers. The male teachers used hand gestures, writing and

graphics far more than the female teachers did in the course of instruction. The female teachers used pictures, videos and auditory recordings far more than the male teachers did.

From Table 5 and Figure 12, we can see that the male and the female teachers used utterances the highest frequency, and the biggest difference was in the use of hand gestures. The male teachers used writing and graphics slightly more frequently than the female teachers did, while the female teachers used pictures and videos and walked around the classroom slightly more frequently than the male teachers did.

In addition, we plotted sequences by the frequency of using specific means of sensory organs by the male and the female teachers, and we can see the subtle differences between them (Figure 13).

We can see from Figure 13 that utterances dominate both the male and the female teachers’ class. The male teachers’ use of specific means of sensory organs in class showed four obviously different levels, while the female teachers’ use showed three obviously different levels. For the male teachers, hand gestures are next to utterances and more often than walking around the classroom and using pictures, while the other means of sensory organs are relatively balanced. For the female teachers, the use of walking-around, hand gestures and pictures is clearly less than utterances and more than other means of sensory organs.

In all, the male and the female teachers involved different sensory organs in class, and the involvement of utterances, hand gestures, walking-around and pictures were higher than other means of sensory organs. Both male and female teachers preferred utterances to other means of sensory organs, indicating that explanation is still the favorite means of instruction to teachers.

4.2. Gender Preferences of Sensory Organs

The second question: What differences are there between male and female English teachers in translanguaging?

Since it is certain that male and female teachers involve in different means of sensory organs in the course of instruction, it is worthwhile to discuss the preferences by male and female teachers. To further explore whether there are differences between the male and the female teachers in preferences of sensory organs, we compared and analyzed the number and frequency of different types of sensory organs involved in the course of instruction by three groups of teachers who taught reading, grammar, listening and speaking with the same version of textbook.

First, we made a comparison of the involvement of sensory organs in English reading classes by T1 (male) and T7 (female). The results are shown in Table 6.

There was a minor difference between the male teacher (T1) and the female teacher (T7) in involving visual organs, while the male involved kinesthetic organs more frequently than the female did, and the female involved auditory organs more frequently than the male did.

To make it more impressive, we counted and calculated the quantity and frequency of specific means of sensory organs involved in reading classes (Table 7).

Meanwhile, we also drew a graphic for the frequency of specific means of sensory organs involved in the two teachers’ reading classes (Figure 14).

Both the male (T1) and the female (T7) used utterances and hand gestures more frequently than other means of sensory organs, but neither used recordings. Furthermore, the female did not use videos, and the male did not use graphics; the female spoke and used tables more frequently than the male did, while the male used hand gestures more frequently than the female did, and he walked around the classroom, checked students’ practice and wrote on the blackboard slightly more often than the female did.

It can be seen that in reading classes, the male and the female teachers use utterances and hand gestures much more frequently than other translanguaging

means. Pictures, tables, and board writings are used to help students understand information. Teachers supervise and manage students’ learning by walking around the classroom, and it can improve teacher-student relationship.

Secondly, we made a comparison of the involvement of sensory organs in English grammar classes by T8 (male) and T3 (female). The results are shown in Table 8.

The female involved visual and auditory organs more than the male did, while the latter involved kinesthetic organs much more than the former.

To make it more impressive, we counted and calculated the quantity and frequency of specific means of sensory organs involved in grammar classes (Table 9).

Meanwhile, we also drew a graphic for the frequency of specific means of sensory organs involved in the two teachers’ grammar classes (Figure 15).

It can be seen from Table 10 and Figure 15 that both the male and the female teachers spoke and walked around in classroom more frequently than other means of sensory organs were involved. The female teacher used utterances and pictures much more frequently, and used tables and writing slightly more frequently than the male teacher did. The male teacher walked around in classroom

much more frequently, and used videos and hand gestures and checked students’ learning slightly more frequently than the female teacher did, but did not use pictures, tables, graphics and board-writing throughout the lesson. Neither teacher used recordings.

Thirdly, we made a comparison of the involvement of sensory organs in English listening and speaking classes. As there were one male (T10) and two female (T6, T9) teachers who taught listening and speaking in junior high school, we compared and analyzed the three teachers together. The results are shown in Table 10.

The male teacher (T10) involved visual organs significantly more than the two female teachers (T6 & T9), but less auditory organs. On the other hand, the male teacher involved kinesthetic organs slightly more than one female teacher (T6) but less than the other female teacher (T9). To make it more impressive, we counted and calculated the quantity and frequency of specific means of sensory organs involved in listening and speaking classes (Table 11).

Meanwhile, we also drew a graphic for the frequency of specific means of sensory organs involved in the two teachers’ listening and speaking classes (Figure 16).

From Table 11 and Figure 16, we can see that the three teachers involved utterances, hand gestures and pictures more frequently than other means of sensory organs, but none of them used videos, tables and graphics. The male teacher (T10) did not write on the blackboard, nor checked students’ learning while walking around the classroom. The male teacher used pictures more frequently, but uttered less than the two female teachers did. His use of hand gestures was much higher than one female teacher (T6) but slightly lower than the other female teacher (T9). He walked around in the classroom more frequently than one female teacher (T9) did but obviously lower than the other female teacher (T6) did. He used recordings slightly more than one female teacher (T9) but less than the other female teacher (T6). One female teacher (T9) did not write on the blackboard and did not check students’ learning as she walked around in the classroom. The fact that videos were not used and recordings were used just a little was a bit surprising for these were listening and speaking classes.

From the above comparisons, we can see that utterances, hand gestures and walking-around are on the list of high-frequency translanguaging means used by teachers in reading classes. They are utterances, walking-around and hand gestures in grammar classes, and utterances, hand gestures and pictures in listening and speaking classes. Female teachers speak more frequently than male teachers do, while male teachers use hand gestures or walk around in the classroom more frequently than female teachers do. Is it that the use of gestures or walking requires more physical energy? We know that men are generally physically stronger than women, and it is traditionally accepted in China that men should be masculine and women should be gentle and quiet. The differences in physique and influences of tradition may have something to do with differences between male and female teachers in involving sensory organs in translanguaging.

5. Conclusion

The use of translanguaging by excellent teachers in classes indicates not only individual differences, but also the characteristics of commonality and complexity. Excellent teachers tend to use multi-sensory translanguaging in the course of instruction. Both male and female teachers involve different sensory organs in classes, and utterances, hand gestures, pictures, and walking around in the classroom are more involved than other means of sensory organs. Male teachers usually prefer utterances, hand gestures, pictures and walking around in classroom, and female teachers prefer utterances, walking around in classroom, hand gestures and pictures.

On the other hand, the involvement of specific means of sensory organs of translanguaging is uneven to different teachers. Some teachers tend to involve more means of sensory organs than others, and the frequency of each means of sensory organs varies in the course of class.

All in all, the results and conclusions support the hypothesis for this study.

These findings may bring us something interesting. Different sensory organs involved in translanguaging may have different impacts upon students, and a combination of different sensory organs can enforce the instruction. Meanwhile, individual preferences and gender differences in the involvement of sensory organs may tell us something about a teacher’s personality and habits, as well as his (her) instructional perceptions. Therefore, it is necessary and meaningful to conduct further inquiries about reasons of individual preferences in the involvement of sensory organs and impacts upon students’ academic achievements, interpersonal relationships, and the formation of learning habits.

Acknowledgements

This paper is a primary result of the project “Study on Translanguaging by Outstanding English Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools” [Grant Number: SC21WY014] funded by Sichuan Federation of Social Sciences Associations.

Meanwhile, appreciations should also be expressed to all the teachers voluntary to support this project.

Appendix: Observation Sheets for Subjects

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T1

NOTE: Visual means: P-Picture, Vd-Video, T-Table, G-Graph; Auditory means: U-Utterance, R-Recording; Kinesthetic means: A1-Walking, A2-Looking, A3-Hand gesture, A4-Writing; O4-Pause (silence).

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T2

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T3

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T4

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T5

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T6

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T7

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T8

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T9

Records of the involvement of sensory organs for T10

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

References