Using a Translanguaging Approach to Capture Emergent Bilingual Creativity

The translanguaging theory encourages language teachers to view their learners’ linguistic backgrounds as a resource for creative expression. This article proposes an autoethnographically oriented application of the translanguging approach to studying emergent bilingual creativity in online communication. It includes three steps—storytelling, cultural interpretation, and online research—thus linking personal experiences of bilingual creativity with communal practice. To illustrate the approach’s usefulness, the author applies it to his own observed cases of bilingual creativity in Chinese-English bilingual communication. Pedagogical implications for teaching language, World Englishes, and creative writing courses are provided.