Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 44 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving through Dialogue and Melody of Life Dat Bao and Phan Le Ha 6.1 Somewhat Provoking Introduction Proficiency has been one key indicator around which scholarly understanding of multilingualism has been built Indeed, what multilingualism means varies greatly according to how one perceives the question of proficiency (see, for example, Kemp 2009; Dewaele and Wei 2012; Cenoz 2013) Despite the academic consensus that multilingualism refers to the use of two, three, or more languages, there remains vast disagreement concerning whether a speaker is qualified as a multilingual or not, contingent on the degree of proficiency and functional capability against which that speaker is judged It is, in fact, impossible to reach an absolute settlement of the concept Instead, as language and teacher educators and scholars, we find it our intellectual call and responsibility to continue to enrich the understanding and enactment of multilingualism through empirical research, pedagogy, community service, academic discussion, life experiences, and exchanges of ideas With this in mind, in this chapter, we choose to look beyond proficiency, which has been adequately discussed in the dominant discourse, and direct our reflections to less addressed facets of languages in the field They include thought sharing, nuances, resources, bonding, emotions, challenges, and context, among others We not consciously select these ideas to build our themes, but simply identify them as they emerge from real-life multilingual experiences In a way, we are looking into a range of verbal and nonverbal encounters that bring sociocultural meanings to multilingualism, without inspecting ability orientations In this chapter, we would like to echo the growing scholarship on translanguaging and bilingualism/multilingualism (Garcia and Wei 2014; Garcia and Kleyn 2018) and further argue that when a multilingual person is conversing or writing in a language, other languages not switch off or disappear Instead, the multilingual presence persists in a covert, saturated manner, in the same way as marination in the cooking process that might not be visible but delicately caters to the taste The pinecone hand gesture, which is commonly used among many Italians, is an illustration of such dynamics: 44 Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 45 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 45 Figure 6.1 “As toddlers in songwriting, we toy with lyrics and tunes in our playground Music and lyrics become a roadmap of our thinking, whereby multilingual sensibilities unfold beyond words” Although one is speaking English words, the backing of that utterance would arrive in the form of Italian nonverbal language Such covert language gesturing occurs in many other cultures: A Japanese nod, a Vietnamese smile, the Indian head movement, among endless other instances Being multilingual in this sense does not denote a movement from one language to the next; instead, the boundary or binary between languages simply not exist anymore Multilingualism takes on a flowing, effortless, and enjoyable nature, which brings people together, enhances the quality of ideas, and is free from judgments, as will be revealed in our discussion Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 46 46 Dat Bao and Phan Le Ha At the same time, scholarly understandings of multilingualism can both be elusive and constricted: Elusive owing to the lack of consensus of what the term means; constricted owing to the focus on the uttered word(s) We argue that the controversy of multilingualism is often confined within language itself: some emphasise the mastery of more than one language; others consider basic competence of different languages as a sufficient foundation for becoming a multilingual speaker Whichever way the debate goes, both views at the two ends of the continuum choose to look at language per se, without indication of any other dimensions, such as politics, culture, and education Moreover, scholarly mentions of multilingualism, and multi-competence to some extent, also tend to highlight language as the sole dimension of the concept In one definition, for example, multi-competence is defined as the knowledge of several languages in the same mind (Cook 1994) That is, there is hardly any definition of multilingualism in the discourse as embracing, for instance, situated cultural nuances in it Somehow, this unadventurous view makes it difficult for us to comprehend the complex dynamics of multilingualism with its social, historical, political, and contextual totality of all the interrelated and fluid elements shaping the concept With this in mind, our chapter resists the conventional understanding of multilingualism by attempting to display the complex, dialogic, and ecological nature of what being multilingual means, in a context which moves us from Vietnam to Australia and beyond The chain of four vignettes illustrated in this chapter echoes the reality that there are far more multilingual speakers than monolinguals in the world’s population (see, for example, Tucker 1999; Edwards 2004) In addition, these vignettes signify the understanding that someone who sees themselves as a multilingual not only knows languages but also inherits, embraces, and integrates nonverbal components underlying various languages into their social and linguistic whole 6.2 Language Biography in Evolving Dialogues The reflective account presented in this section is shared by Phan Le Ha, one of the two authors It comprises four vignettes that are termed by their main contents: Upbringing, Nurture, Interaction, and Life Appreciation Together they denote the flow of how multilingualism has been imbued in a person through a process of evolvement, from being a child in a sociable, memorable neighborhood to a supportive setting of advanced education; and from interactions with colleagues in varied social and professional contexts to a set of shared experiences as friends for life enjoyment These stories are told by LeHa (given name), followed by comments on the accounts by both authors: Dat (given name) and Le-Ha Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 47 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 6.2.1 47 Upbringing Le-Ha was raised in a housing complex for teachers and professional staff working at the formerly named Teachers’ College for Foreign Languages in Hanoi, Vietnam, and, like her childhood friends in those days, she heard words and expressions and songs in Russian, French, Chinese, and English alongside her mother tongue Vietnamese almost every day Learning to count, greet, thank, and sing in these languages was just a way to socialize among our peers, as each child would pick up some foreign words and songs from their parents and siblings Children sometimes even showed off by saying out loud how many foreign words they knew and would at times repeat without understanding many foreign words (sometimes of evil meaning) after grown-up children had spoken them Le-Ha never thought of this environment as being multilingual at all, as perhaps children just enjoyed and absorbed everything instinctively Multilingual and multilingualism as concepts or talked-about ideology simply did not exist in her language repertoire until she began her study for a Master’s degree in Education in Australia Multilingualism in this scenario occurs in the child’s early exposure to socialization The historical, political, and economic context of Vietnam has left incontestable traces on the linguistic make-up and, to some extent, embedded sociocultural practices of everyday communication in the country Very often, children might not be aware that they know words from more than one language until they are told that their frequently spoken words did not originate from the same root Multilingualism, thus, is subconsciously experienced before it is educationally acquired Despite this, natural use and schooling might not be sufficient in strengthening multi-competence but would need more support from the community of wherever one resides Context, in many cases, does not necessarily refer to one single setting, such as a neighborhood, a city, or a country Instead, context can be internalized in a mobile sense Specifically, Le-Ha’s early exposure to multiple language use began in one location and carried on in another, as characterized by a mentoring process The evolution of the child’s multilingual repertoire, in many cases, stretches beyond a linguistic matter and takes on a social significance, as will be verified by the subsequent vignette 6.2.2 Nurture Le-Ha’s awareness for multilingualism was gradually ignited by many theoretical discussions and readings introduced in her MA program and later her PhD, while her appreciation for it was growing stronger, as she was working more closely with Rosemary Viete, her supervisor for her MA and PhD theses Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 48 48 Dat Bao and Phan Le Ha Le-Ha was inspired by Rosemary’s life experiences, writings, and conversations in the presence of various languages Rosemary not only wrote poetry and short stories in her multiple choices of English, German, and Spanish but was also curious about the languages that her students spoke She loved how Le-Ha enjoyed writing academic English and Vietnamese with a touch of poetry and a sense of multi-tonguedness This mentor would appreciate LeHa’s style of writing and eagerly engaged with her writer voice and identity, as expressed in varied linguistic and sociocultural means, forms, and shapes These inspiring and enriching conversations between Le-Ha and Rosemary somehow made such abstract concepts as heteroglossia, third space, hybridity, and intertextuality feel at home in Le-Ha’s expanding multilingual dictionary Multilingual and multilingualism then were no longer locked in far-removed theoretical debates and readings but became vivid, enjoyable, permeating, and close to her heart Multilingualism as such is well cultivated through the mentorship of a multilingual lecturer with decades’ exposure to international humanities and rich experience with culturally diverse students All of these build a compassionate bond between Rosemary and her students, which sustains inspiration in effortless ways This logic matches the scholarly view that intercultural empathy is a common quality among mentors with intercultural acquaintance and background (see, for example, Garvey and Murray 2004) What counts the most in this scenario are not the resources pulled out from Rosemary’s repertoire but, more importantly, it is her openness and appreciation toward students’ very own linguistic, cultural, and educational resources, so that students know every nuance of their meaning will be nurtured Such bonding occurs on such a deep-seated level as to be instinctively felt beyond formal, conscious pedagogy We argue that the environment for multilingual competence to flourish in someone is more than just the setting but the synergy between the inspiring and the inspired on a sustainable and mutual respect basis, as is evident in Rosemary’s and Le-Ha’s joint-crafted piece on their journey of interactions (Viete and Phan 2007) 6.2.3 Interactions As she became more and more interested in language and education and was working on her first authored book in 2006–2007, Le-Ha crossed path with Viv Edwards, one of the two founding editors of the journal Language and Education and editor of the New Perspectives on Language and Education book series, published by Multilingual Matters Viv’s sociolinguistic approach to multilingualism is both powerful in her scholarship and in her guidance of young scholars and her thoughtful and enriching engagement with speakers of other languages Out of many correspondences between Viv and Le-Ha is one Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 49 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 49 that teaches Le-Ha tremendously, and beyond theoretical knowledge, about the meaning of multilingual and multilingualism A few years ago, while she was being treated in hospital, Viv found herself wondering, observing, and intrigued by the multilingual surroundings “Multilingualism is normal condition,” but “for the most part, taken for granted,” as Viv later wrote in a blogpost in 2018.1 The medical staff, caretakers, patients and their families, and the cleaning staff and technical support team: everyone there was multilingual and interested in learning a new language English was just one of the languages that they all spoke and used to communicate The sociolinguist (and perhaps also the anthropologist-linguist) inside Viv did not miss the opportunity to research and write up a compelling piece on her experience in that multilingual hospital When Viv shared the writing, Le-Ha promptly responded with what profoundly stirred up her multilingual memories that had been subconsciously accumulated from diverse settings Dear Viv, How I love your multilingual spirit! You always live multilingually, breathe multilingually and sense multilingually Not sure if I could ever capture this spirit in any way fully but I am trying :) The people in the clinic must have been so rejoiced with your presence and research :) I love it I read your blog piece and can’t help thinking about so many small conversations I’ve had with friends and strangers in Melbourne Many of them worked as interpreters for medical clinics and courts and immigration services there They told me they often felt a lack of appreciation for multilingualism in places like that They acknowledged that that very lack benefited them financially but worried them at the same time and made them forever feel like a stranger in their new home There were times some relatives of the people whom they were helping even humiliated them because they didn’t sound ‘native speaker‘ enough when speaking English :(, thus questioning if their ‘bilingual capabilities’ were actually reliable This lack of appreciation comes from all possible pockets of the population, at times totally unexpected I remember how delighted I was whenever I bumped into or came across a colleague (originally from Vietnam like me) in Australia and in the U.S who can also speak Vietnamese; but as strange as it may sound, some of them refused to speak Vietnamese in return A few even told me “it’s unprofessional to speak Vietnamese in an English-speaking environment”, when at that very moment we were basically the only two people present :( My kind of ‘multilingual/bilingual excitement and innocence’ has been crushed many times, but so what I walked my girls to school in Melbourne singing the Vietnamese anthem while they were singing the Australian anthem and switching hahahaha languages are here to stay (Phan Le Ha’s email to Viv, 2018) https://channelviewpublications.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/the-multilingual-hospital-confes sions-of-a-sociolinguist/ Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 50 50 Dat Bao and Phan Le Ha Multilingualism in this context is expressed via shared contemplations between two academics Echoing a similar ecological understanding as in the first vignette, personal exchanges between Le-Ha and Viv freeze a moment that our subconscious mind might overlook: We see a still frame representing how multilingual practices constantly yield empirical data Quite often, multilingualism remains so deeply embedded in our experience that we might take it for granted and forget to observe its dynamic and significance on a frequent basis Sometimes research can be as simple as observing and detailing life as it is naturally lived, rather than planning for events to be theatrically staged for data extraction The former method is similar to enjoying an orange to the fullest by eating it; the latter resembles the manipulating act of squeezing juice out of the orange and throwing the fruit away after use The marvel of Viv’s experience is that she did not intend to conduct research while being treated in that multilingual hospital, but it was research that came to her When the process of discovery offers itself to scientists without prearranged experimentation, that discovery is as fresh and genuine as life Likewise, when a new experience joins us without an appointment, that moment exhibits a touch of authenticity that is liberated from formal institutional efforts As can be drawn from the dialogue between Le-Ha and Viv and in Viv’s blogpost, multilingual practice in this hospital context embraces the element of care, because when nurses use the language of their patients to ease out communication challenges, then bonding, voicing compassion, and service represent humanity at its best We argue that such compassion as well as other layers of meanings, intentions, manners, and emotions embedded in interactions and communication are not in any way less important than proficiency or language competence per se For a more holistic understanding of and approach to multilingualism, these very elements ought to be recognized and included theoretically and pedagogically 6.2.4 Life Appreciation For years, while we were colleagues at Monash University in Australia, our (Le-Ha’s and Dat’s) offices were opposite to each other Besides collaborative academic projects, we composed songs on the guitar and performed them as teaching resources in our courses on language, culture, and curriculum Le-Ha would write poems, often in Vietnamese and occasionally in English; Dat would strum the instrument, while both would attempt to sing them in melodies In this way, our multilingual composition began We have been writing and composing together since those days One emerging theme from this collaboration is the conceptualization and theorization of silence as literacy and mobility with multilingual nuances, a literacy that is often undermined in classroom teaching and learning (Bao and Phan 2016) In our latest coauthored article titled “Multiple Classrooms of Life: English, Ideology and Sparkle Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 51 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 51 Moments” (Phan and Bao 2019), ideology is conceptualized in light of moments of weakness and vulnerability, only to sparkle as the authors traveled through languages and varied domains of language in our multiple life circumstances and incidents, both personally and professionally The multilingual element in the context of our life and work composition is unbound by languages or countries For us, the meaning of multilingualism can be renewed and redefined as the interface between the languages of genres, academia, emotions, poetry, music, art, and philosophy Multilingualism, therefore, takes on an innovative stance as installation art when one utilizes poetic words to flavorize an intellectual and/or academic flair For instance, when giving a session on intercultural issues and the role of English, Le-Ha and Dat would sing, Reimagine the world with you and me In this space called English Reimagine speakers in all places without circles You speak your own way I speak mine You borrow my meaning and make it shine I wouldn’t judge it being short or long weak or strong right or wrong (Unpublished song lyrics by Le-Ha and Dat) Scholarship on the cultural politics of English (Phillipson 1992; Pennycook 1998/2017) has demonstrated the vast destruction caused by the hegemony of English and the extent to which the language has divided people and communities through excessive judgments, categorization, and the colonial discourse of Self and Other As multilingual educators at heart, we not only need to resist contributing further to this segregation but also need to resist attributing to the “myth of monolingualism,” as Edwards (2004, p 3) powerfully argues Multilingualism is the norm even in countries and communities where English is the dominant language, reminded Edwards (2008) Language, in its wholesome practice, should be, to adopt Bon Jovi’s words,“an open highway” (Crush 2000), which advocates a breakaway from restriction and boundary in the fulfillment of ideals and passions Multiilingual practice does Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 52 52 Dat Bao and Phan Le Ha not need to divide users between cultural borders, nor should it be confined to judgment of skills or abilities Instead, optimal productive practice of multilingualism happens when multilingual speakers act as their own critics in how well they reach the aims that they are inspired to achieve 6.3 Open-Ended Conclusion Some of the major conceptions that run through this chapter include creative self-resource, evolvement through nurture, empathy as synergy, multilingualism under challenge, intercultural interface, life appreciation, dialogic reflection, language as redefined, and the crescendos of multiple contexts These ideas are not terminology borrowed or retrieved from the existing scholarship on multilingualism, but they emerged spontaneously through our vignettes and interpretations of multilingual realities We feel that there is yet to be a framework in the literature that ties these constructs together In a playful manner (and we beg forgiveness for being stubborn), we resist the idea of employing an intellectual framework to guide and explain life Instead, we would like to attempt the reverse and form a dialogue from life itself, which might set us free from any predetermined model and which begs readers to tolerate the flow of a less structured discussion This is because not everything in life can be settled in a well-ordered construction: Sometimes a complex sequence of experiences will continue to evolve beyond scholars’ attempts to take control of its form We (the authors) are included REFERENCES Ansah, G N (2014) Re-examining the fluctuations in language in-education policies in post-independence Ghana Multilingual Education 4(1), 12 Bao, D and Phan, L H (2016) Silence as literacy and silence as mobility In S Nichols and C Snowden, eds., Languages and Literacies as Mobile and Placed Resources Cornwall: Routledge, pp 170–184 Bon Jovi “It’s My Life.” Crush (2000) AZLyrics Retrieved from azlyrics.com/lyrics/ bonjovi/itsmylife.html Cenoz, J (2013) Defining multilingualism Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33, 3–18 (2013) The influence of bilingualism on third language acquisition: Focus on multilingualism Language Teaching 46(1), 71 Cook, V J (1994) The metaphor of access to Universal Grammar In N Ellis, ed., Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages Cambridge, MA: Academic Press, pp 477–502 Dewaele, J M and Wei, L (2012) Multilingualism, empathy and multicompetence International Journal of Multilingualism 9(4), 352–366 Edwards, V (2004) Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World: Pedigree of Nations Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Comp by: 201508 Stage: Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 53 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 53 (2008) Multilingualism in the English-speaking World: Pedigree of Nations (Vol 5) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Extra, G and Yagmur, K (2004) Language Rights Perspectives Urban Multilingualism in Europe: Immigrant Minority Languages at Home and School Bristol: Multilingual Matters, p 73 Garcia, O and Kleyn, T (2018) Translanguaging with Multilingual Students: Learning from Classroom Moments New York: Routledge Garcia, O and Wei, L (2014) Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education London: Palgrave MacMillan Garvey, E and Murray, D E (2004) The multilingual teacher: Issues for teacher education Prospect 19(2): 3–24 Kemp, C (2009) Defining multilingualism In L Aronin and B Hufeisen, eds., The Exploration of Multilingualism: Development of Research on L3, Multilingualism and Multiple Language Acquisition Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 6, pp 11–26 Pennycook, A (1998) English and the Discourses of Colonialism London and New York: Psychology Press (2017) The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language London and New York: Taylor & Francis Phan, L H and Bao, D (2019) Multiple classrooms of Life: English, ideology, and ‘sparkle’ moments Changing English 26(3), 238–252 Doi: www.tandfonline com/doi/abs/10.1080/1358684X.2019.1590686 Phillipson, R (1992) ELT: The native speaker’s burden? ELT Journal 46(1), 1–-18 (2007) Linguistic imperialism: a conspiracy, or a conspiracy of silence? Language Policy 6(3–4), 377–383 Tucker, G R (1999) A global perspective on bilingualism and bilingual education: Implications for New Jersey educators Journal of Iberian and Latin American Literary and Cultural Studies 2(2), 332–340 Viete, R and Phan, L H (2007) The growth of voice: Expanding possibilities for representing self in research writing English Teaching: Practice and Critique (2), 39–57 ... No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 45 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 45 Figure 6.1 ? ?As toddlers in songwriting, we toy with lyrics and tunes in our... Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 51 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 51 Moments” (Phan and Bao 2019), ideology is conceptualized in light of moments of weakness and. .. Proof Chapter No.: Title Name: Prasadetal Date:15/12/21 Time:17:44:24 Page Number: 49 Multilingualism as Lived, Felt and Evolving 49 that teaches Le-Ha tremendously, and beyond theoretical knowledge,