Marla Katz

From Privileging the Few to Privileging the Many: An Argument for the Movement from Policies of Unidirectional English Monolingualism to Policies of Translingualism

In late March of 2018, consultants from the St. John’s University Writing Center attended the Northeast Writing Center Association (NEWCA) annual conference. The consultants responded to the conference theme, “Closing the Circle: Theorizing Practice, Practicing Assessment, and Assessing Theory,” in a roundtable discussion. The consultants focused on the negotiation of Center practices that is sometimes needed in sessions with translingual students. Translingual students often come into the Center after having received instruction from professors to improve their abilities to compose in standard English. These professors tend to hold English-only ideologies and adhere to policies of unidirectional English monolingualism. As a result, these professors often subject translingual students to inconsistent policies on the use of standard English, inconsistent methods of instruction, and inconsistent assessment. In this article, I will place the roundtable discussion and its main claims into context. I will then reinforce my rejection of policies of unidirectional English monolingualism and validate the need for the systemic adjustment of pedagogical practices in the field of composition. I will argue that the lack of systemic adjustment leads to translingual students’ oft-required use of the St. John’s University Writing Center. I will then recommend that the field establish policies for professors to refer to in their instruction and assessment of translingual students. I will also recommend that the field evaluate and consequently use the strategies proposed by David Schwarzer and his colleagues in “Translingualism: Translingual Education as a Phenomenon, a Methodology and an Ideology to Promote Social Justice and Educational Renewal.”

Marla Katz is an MA Candidate at St. John’s University.