Translanguaging in conversations for people with aphasia living in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa.

Abstract

Background:  Challenges associated with language assessment in multilingual people with aphasia include the lack of linguistically and culturally appropriate assessment tools. Moreover, most multilingual people with aphasia are assessed in each of their languages separately. However, many multilingual people use elements from their complete linguistic repertoire rather than communicate in one language at a given conversation.

Objectives:  We aimed to examine language production in multilingual speakers with aphasia within a translanguaging approach to assessment, that is, without specifying a single target language. Our four research questions inquired about the characteristics of translanguaging in elicited language production and about the influence of task, topic and individual variables on translanguaging patterns.

Method:  We elicited individual monologues and group conversations from seven people with aphasia living in the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa. We coded their language output in terms of the number of words used and the languages selected.

Results:  Participants used translanguaging to varying degrees. Five participants used both isiZulu and English in their responses; two participants each used only one language (isiZulu or English). Topic and context of conversation did not seem to affect the pattern of language use.

Conclusion:  Seven multilingual people with aphasia demonstrated the use of translanguaging during elicited language testing. An assessment procedure that allows for the use of multiple languages without restricting the conversation to one language is a feasible approach to assessing people from multilingual communities.Contribution: The study introduces an alternative approach to assessing multilingual people with aphasia and demonstrates its feasibility.