A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
“No, I’m Not Reading” : How Two Language Learners Enact Their Investments by Crossing and Blurring the Boundaries of Literacy and Orality (2019)

Ennser-Kananen, J. (2019). “No, I’m Not Reading” : How Two Language Learners Enact Their Investments by Crossing and Blurring the Boundaries of Literacy and Orality. In S. Bagga-Gupta, A. Golden, L. Holm, H. P. Laursen, & A. Pitkänen-Huhta (Eds.), Reconceptualizing Connections between Language, Literacy and Learning (pp. 83-102). Springer. Educational Linguistics, 39. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26994-4_5

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Ennser-Kananen, Johanna

Parent publication: Reconceptualizing Connections between Language, Literacy and Learning

Parent publication editors: Bagga-Gupta, Sangeeta; Golden, Anne; Holm, Lars; Laursen, Helle Pia; Pitkänen-Huhta, Anne

ISBN: 978-3-030-26993-7

eISBN: 978-3-030-26994-4

Journal or series: Educational Linguistics

ISSN: 1572-0292

eISSN: 2215-1656

Publication year: 2019

Number in series: 39

Pages range: 83-102

Number of pages in the book: 279

Publisher: Springer

Place of Publication: Cham

Publication country: Switzerland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26994-4_5

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Abstract

This chapter makes an argument for bridging the gap between Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Literacy Studies from the perspective of so-called transmodalities, i.e. ways of using language that merge and blur the modalities of writing, speaking, listening, and reading. This argument is based on data from a qualitative case study that describes the transmodal practices of two trilingual high school students in a German classroom in the Midwestern US. More precisely, the study investigated how the high school students Jana and Karina (both pseudonyms), users of English, Latvian, and German, engaged in activities that mixed and blurred oral and literacy modalities in their German classroom. In addition, their multiple investments as language learners were examined. Findings showed that it was common for the two students to transgress and blur the boundaries of modalities, especially between writing and oral modes (“writing-speaking”). This helped them enact and display their investment in swift and accurate task completion as part of their good student identities, but could at times also threaten these investments. Transmodalities further played an important role in students’ navigating of their investments in their social standing and peer relationships.

Keywords: modality (linguistics); language learning; foreign languages; qualitative research

Free keywords: modalities; transmodalities; investment; language learning; foreign language; high school; qualitative case study

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2019

JUFO rating: 2