Informed by notions of performativity (Canagarajah, 2013; Pennycook, 2004) and translanguaging (Garcia & Li, 2014; Li, 2011), the qualitative inquiry reports on a group of Uyghur minority students’ language practices and... [ view full abstract ]
Informed by notions of performativity (Canagarajah, 2013; Pennycook, 2004) and translanguaging (Garcia & Li, 2014; Li, 2011), the qualitative inquiry reports on a group of Uyghur minority students’ language practices and identity performance on WeChat, a most widely used mobile-mediated communication tool in China, as they migrate from Xinjiang to study at a top university in Shanghai. Data were collected by online and offline observations and interviews, generally following the virtual ethnographic style. The thematic analysis method and critical discourse analysis were integrated for data analysis. Findings show that the digital tool shaped participants’ language practices in significant ways and provided rich site for them to present their images and expressing identities. While participants experienced an ideological transformation from ‘pure Uyghur language’ to the flexible multilingualism in the host context, they were still faced with pressure from within the ethnic group to practice translanguaging in face-to-face communication. On WeChat, nevertheless, they were rendered more freedom for creative translanguaging practices by agentively and strategically integrating all linguistic and semiotic resources at their command. Participants adjusted to the institutional culture, localized the Uyghur linguistic and heritage resources, and appropriated English as important resource for translanguaging, which not only facilitated their integration in the institution but also enabled them to present a positive collective image. By translanguaging practice, Uyghur students also projected sophisticated and cosmopolitan images, for instance, by expressing their emotions, opinions and responses to life experiences. Moreover, they negotiated alternative interpersonal relations and maintained friendship with peers from diverse cultural background through translanguaging. However, the online context is not evenly distributed as with the physical one and the power relations between participants having differentiated access to linguistic and cultural resources should not be neglected. All in all, findings from the study demonstrate the the digital ‘superdiversity’ (Androutsopoulos, 2014; Blommaert, 2006) and the technological affordances minorities have in the postmodern era for identity construction and representation.
