Chapter 14. Language alternation is not always translanguaging

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between language alternation and translanguaging and an attempt is made, via an examination of two different sets of data collected with ethnographic tools from a multilingual and a bidialectal classroom in Cyprus, to examine whether the language/code alternation practices observed in the data can be said to constitute aspects of a pedagogy of translanguaging. The analysis shows that the structuring and distribution of the language/code-alternation patterns in terms of their orientation (participant- or discourse-oriented), directionality, and function within the overall dynamics of classroom discourse do not point to genuine translanguaging, but ultimately reinforce the explicitly stated aim of fostering monolingualism, which is moreover constructed as competence in Standard Greek, the prestige variety.