Maintaining Connections, Cultivating Community: The Role of Transnational Translingual Literacy Sponsorships in One Adolescent’s Literacy Practices

Context: Transnational emergent multilingual (TEM) adolescents are young people who maintain emotional, social, economic, and physical connections and networks to more than one country, often a home country and a host country. Because of their linguistic identities and varied schooling experiences, when they enroll in U.S. public schools, many are designated as English Learners and subsequently positioned as “illiterate” or having “limited” linguistic and literacy skills through additional labels such as “limited/interrupted formal schooling.” Such linguistic and cultural erasure mirrors the systematic invisibility and intra-racial stereotyping that many adolescents, particularly those from Indigenous backgrounds, faced in their home countries. However, despite such positionings, many TEMs are highly literate and engage regularly in complex literacy practices. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to showcase the kinds of literacy practices that one TEM adolescent, Paula, engaged in, how, and to what end, as well as how those literacy practices reflected unique aspects of her multifaceted identity as an Indigenous transnational being. The languaging and literacy practices that TEMs like Paula engage in allow them to maintain their cultural and linguistic identities and social ties in multimodal, local, and transnational dimensions; yet, such practices and skills are not recognized or built upon in schools. As findings of this study indicate, TEMs’ engagement in such practices is also made possible through the support of both local and transnational “sponsorships” from individuals, including family, with whom TEMs actively maintain or establish relationships; yet, this kind of familial engagement often goes unrecognized by schools. Research Design: This article draws on ethnographic data gathered through sustained participation in the field. Data collection occurred across one school year and consisted of ethnographic observations, interviews, and artifact collection at a combined middle/high school newcomer school in an urban community. This article draws on a subset of data centered on Paula’s out-of-school literacy practices. Data analysis drew directly on the theoretical framework: Literacy sponsorship theory was used to identify who, if anyone, facilitated Paula’s participation in literacy practices and in what ways; translanguaging theory was used to identify how translanguaging was evident in the ways language was used and discussed; and border theory was used to identify the social significance of the literacy practices in Paula’s daily life, as well as how they embodied and represented her transnational identity. Such an analysis allowed for the understanding of how the literacy practices Paula engaged in reflected her life experiences as an Indigenous TEM, not only in terms of how she engaged in them, but also in terms of the significance they held in her day-to-day life. Conclusions: Findings indicate that Paula engaged in multimodal literacy practices, across languages, cultural contexts, and national boundaries, that were personally, spiritually, and intellectually sustaining. Outside the classroom, Paula was positioned as a sophisticated communicator who leveraged language and literacy knowledge to build relationships and meet the responsibilities of her daily life. Yet, the wherewithal and critical thinking visible in Paula’s life in her community were rarely visible or elicited in the classroom. As such, findings provide insights around how teachers and school personnel can better bridge the diverse community and classroom spaces TEMs navigate, thereby making school a more welcoming space for students and their families.