I just need somebody to check and correct my English sentences. Please correct it with red words.Translanguaging in the Podcast Program
Bilingual News
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of Bachelor of English
by
Yuka Okajima
Department of English
School of Humanities
Hokusei Gakuen University
Spring 2021
Abstract
This research study examines translanguaging (Wei 2018) phenomena in the
podcast program Bilingual News. The purpose of this study is to describe some of
the translanguaging phenomena found in the news program run by two English
and Japanese bilinguals. The translanguaging phenomena observed in the data
include: (1) showing speakership and agreement with and empathy for the other
speaker; (2) using multilingual resources to explain culture-related matters and
concepts; (3) taking turns and participating in interaction; and (4) making
meaning through the translation of technical words.
It was found that the participants of the podcast program were making
meaning, giving and gaining knowledge, and maximizing communication through
translanguage.
Keywords: translanguaging, bilingual, multilingual, linguistic resources, podcast
program
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Contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..3
2. Previous studies…………………………………………………………………………..3
3. Research questions……………………………………………………………………….4
4. Data…………………………………………………………………………………………4
4.1 Bilingual News………………………………………………………………………..4
4.2 History of Bilingual News…………………………………………………………..5
4.3 Mami and Michael……………………………………………………………………5
5. Method of the present study……………………………………………………………6
6. Analysis……………….………………………………………………………………….6
6.1 Showing speakership, agreement, and empathy…………………………..6
6.2 Communicating culture in another language…………………………………..9
6.3 Turn-taking and participating in interactions……………………………….…12
6.4 Making meaning through translation…………………………………………..15
7. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………18
8. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………20
References……………………………………………………………………………………21
Internet materials………………………………………………………………………….21
Transcript conventions……………………………………………………………………22
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1. Introduction
Translanguaging (hereafter, TL) refers to the use of two or more languages
as linguistic resources, and, unlike code-switching or code-mixing, the use of
alternating languages in conversation is considered a positive behavior. Wei (2018)
writes “translanguaging has emerged as a research perspective in recent years as
an insightful way to understand and analyze the post-multilingualism phenomena
and challenges” (p. 23). TL has been discussed not only as a pedagogical practice in
the educational contents, but as “the process of using language to gain knowledge,
to make sense, to articulate one’s thought and to communicate about using
language” (p. 23). Through TL, bilingual speakers are able to exchange their
thoughts with others. In the present study, in order to examine TL phenomena
closely, some conversational segments were chosen from the podcast program
Bilingual News, then transcribed and analyzed.
2. Previous studies
The concept of TL was first proposed by Cen Williams in 1996. In its original
use, the term referred to a pedagogical practice where students alternate
languages for receptive and productive use. Later, García (2009a) identifies TL’s
theoretical significance and argues that TL is “the act performed by bilinguals of
accessing different linguistic features or various modes of what are described as
autonomous languages, in order to maximize communicative potential” (p. 140).
García (2009b) additionally claims “the concept of translanguaging makes obvious
that there are no clear-cut boundaries between the languages of bilinguals” (p. 47),
and argues that bilinguals use their languages as their resources to “make sense of
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their bilingual worlds” (p. 45). Baker (2011) then defines TL as “the process of
making meaning, shaping experiences, gaining understanding and knowledge
through the use of two languages” (p. 288). TL thus refers to bilingual speakers’
use of their linguistic resources as communication tools.
3. Research question
The purpose of this study is to describe some of the TL phenomena by looking
at interactions among people who speak different mother tongues. It is hoped that
this study can shed light on how multilingual speakers alternatingly use their
autonomous linguistic resources to make meaning and maximize communication
in an increasingly globalized society.
4. Data
4.1 Bilingual News
Bilingual News (hereafter, “BN”) is a podcast1 program run by two English
and Japanese bilinguals2, Michael and Mami, which offers news commentaries on
various topics in the two languages. In their program, Mami mainly speaks in
Japanese, and Michael speaks in English, but they sometimes use the other
language in their talk. After the program is started in May 2013, a famous
Japanese comedian, Hikaru Ota of Bakusho Mondai, talked about BN in his radio
program. Since then the number of listeners of BN has rapidly increased, and at
the time of writing it ranks as the most popular program on iTunes. BN is not
Podcast is an audio file available on the internet.
In the present study, ‘bilingual’ refers to people who can communicate freely in a
second language.
1
2
4
supported by any commercial sponsors because Mami and Michael think that
relying on private businesses would restrict their freedom of speech.
4.2 History of Bilingual News
Before Mami and Michael started BN, they have been listening to the podcast
program The Joe Rogan Experience, which is run by Joe Rogan in the United
States. Rogan invites experts in various fields as guests, and they discuss various
topics in the program. Mami and Michael who used to have discussions on a
variety of current topics, felt inspired by Rogan’s program and decided to start BN.
Michael then proposed it would be interesting if they alternatingly spoke in
English and Japanese in BN.
4.3 Mami and Michael
Mami was born in 1986 and brought up in Japan. She learned and practiced
English actively because she had relatives living in the United States and she
wanted to be able to communicate with them. After graduating from a university
in Japan, she worked at a foreign-affiliated company as a communication
consultant but quit the job because BN became popular, ranking as the number
one program on iTunes. She currently runs BN while working as a freelance
consultant. She got married in 2015, and is the mother of a child.
Michael was born in 1987 and also brought up in Japan. He has an American
father and a Japanese mother, and spent some time in the United States in his
childhood. As he went to an international school in Japan where students were not
supposed to speak Japanese, he can understand what people say in Japanese but
his oral proficiency in the language is limited. He went to the same university as
Mami, but they became friends at a party several years after graduating from it.
5
He now runs his own IT company, develops applications, and improves contents for
BN.
5. Method of the present study
Several episodes of BN were chosen, transcribed and analyzed. As in the
cases of other radio programs, we cannot hear the listeners’ reactions while
listening to BN. Therefore, analyses of the present study focus on how the hosts,
Mami and Michael, and their guests make use of their multilingual resources
while talking with each other.
6. Analysis
6.1 Showing speakership, agreement, and empathy
Excerpt 1 shows a conversation between Mami and Michael. As the co-hosts
of the news program, they have the role of sharing new information with their
listeners. The conversation in Excerpt 1 is about some smartphone applications
with which people can find songs even when they do not know the names of tunes.
Excerpt 1
01 MM: Mukashi: >tatoeba
an utterance within the brackets is speeded up compared to the
<
surrounding talk
<
>
an utterance within the brackets is slowed down compared to the
surrounding talk
hh
audible out-breath
.hh
audible in-breath
=
no break or gap in speech (latched speech), or continuation of
the same turn by the same speaker on another line in the script
The following abbreviations are used for glosses, based on Mori (2020)
A. Content and function words
CP
copula
H
hesitation marker
LK
linking particle
N
nominalizer
O
object marker
PT
other particle
Q
question marker
QT
quotation marker
S
subject marker
TP
topic marker
B. Speech styles, tense and aspect, and other relevant conjugation forms
CONT
continuous
NG
negative
PLN
plain
POL
polite
PST
past tense
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