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Kevin W. H. Tai is Assistant Professor of English Language Education
at the Faculty of Education in The University of Hong Kong and an
Honorary Research Fellow at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and
Society in University College London (UCL), UK. He is Associate
Editor of The Language Learning Journal and Assistant Editor of the
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
This book presents the methodological framework of combining
Multimodal Conversation Analysis (MCA) with Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to interpretively analyse translan-
guaging practices in educational contexts.
Beginning with an overview of the three uses of translanguaging—
translanguaging as a theory of language, as a pedagogical practice,
and as an analytical perspective—the book goes on to critically exam-
ine the different methodological approaches for analysing translan-
guaging practices in multilingual classroom interactions. It explains
how MCA and IPA are useful methodologies for understanding how
and why translanguaging practices are constructed by participants in
the classroom and discusses types of data collected and data collection
procedures. The author, Kevin W. H. Tai, shows how combining these
approaches enables researchers to study how translanguaging prac-
tices are constructed in multilingual classrooms and how teachers
make sense of their own translanguaging practices at particular
moments of classroom interaction.
This detailed and concise guide is indispensable for students, practi-
tioners, policymakers, and researchers from across the globe, particu-
larly those working in the fields of applied linguistics and language
education.
Multimodal Conversation Analysis
and Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis

Qualitative and Visual Methodologies in Educational Research
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Titles in the series include:
Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis
A Methodological Framework for Researching Translanguaging in
Multilingual Classrooms
Kevin W. H. Tai
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
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Multimodal Conversation
Analysis and Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis
A Methodological Framework for
Researching Translanguaging in
Kevin W. H. Tai

First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2023 Kevin W. H. Tai
The right of Kevin W. H. Tai to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
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identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-39714-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-39715-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-35104-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003351047
Typeset in Times New Roman
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)

List of Illustration vi
List of Classroom Extracts vii
About the Author viii
1 Introduction 1
2 Methodological Approaches in Researching
Translanguaging in Multilingual Classroom Settings 7
3 Multimodal Conversation Analysis for Investigating
the Process of Classroom Translanguaging 33
4 Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
for Investigating the Causes of Classroom
Translanguaging 52
5 Triangulating Multimodal Conversation Analysis
and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis for
Researching Classroom Translanguaging: Examples
from Secondary English Medium Instruction
Classrooms in Hong Kong 65
6 Conclusion 106
Appendix: Multimodal Conversation Analysis
Transcription Conventions 112
Index 114
Contents

Figures
1.1 Continuum of different multilingual education
programmes (adapted from Thompson and McKinley,
2018) 4
3.1 Lin and Wu, 2015: 304–305 43
3.2 Jakonen et al., 2018: 38 45
5.1 Combining Multimodal Conversation Analysis (MCA)
with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) 70
5.2 Pedagogical Model for Creating Translanguaging
Sub-Spaces 101
Tables
4.1 A set of relationships which can be employed to interpret
the data (adapted from Smith et al., 2013: 28) 56
4.2 Stages that are involved in the IPA analysis 58
5.1 Video-stimulated-recall interview 82
5.2 Video-stimulated-recall interview 95
Illustration

Extracts 1
Part 1 76
Part 2 77
Part 3 78
Part 4 78
Part 5 79
Extracts 2
Part 1 87
Part 2 88
Part 3 89
Part 4 90
Part 5 91
Part 6 92
Classroom Extracts

Kevin W. H. Tai is Assistant Professor of English Language Education
at the Faculty of Education in The University of Hong Kong and
Honorary Research Fellow at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and
Society in University College London (UCL). Additionally, he is
Associate Editor of The Language Learning Journal (Routledge),
Assistant Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education
and Bilingualism (Routledge) and Managing Guest Editor of Learning
and Instruction (Elsevier).
Kevin W. H. Tai has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from UCL, and
his doctoral research was fully funded by the UK Economic and
Social Research Council (ESRC). He completed his doctoral course-
work in educational research at the University of Cambridge, where
he was Hughes Hall Hong Kong Alumni Scholar. He holds an MSc
degree in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition
from the University of Oxford. His research interests include lan-
guage education policy, classroom discourse, translanguaging in
multilingual contexts, and qualitative research methods (particularly
Multimodal Conversation Analysis, Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis, and Linguistic Ethnography). His research has appeared in
international peer-
reviewed journals, including Applied Linguistics,
Language Teaching Research, International Journal of Bilingual Education
and Bilingualism, System, Language and Education, Linguistics and
Education, Classroom Discourse, Applied Linguistics Review, and Research
in Science Education.
About the Author

DOI: 10.4324/9781003351047-1
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Translanguaging refers to the process which speakers draw on their
full linguistic and semiotic resources to make meaning (Li, 2018; Ho
and Li, 2019; Lin, 2019). It differs from code-switching by decentering
the focus from the code to the speakers who are constructing complex
destructive practices. Translanguaging aims to transcend the bounda-
ries between different named languages and also between different
modalities (e.g., speech, sign, gesture). Since translanguaging practices
are complex in nature, it is necessary to have a flexible methodological
framework that can integrate multiple theoretical orientations, meth-
odologies, and data sources to understand the complexities of trans-
languaging practices (Li, 2018).
This book is the first book in the field of applied linguistics which
presents in detail the methodological framework, namely combining
Multimodal Conversation Analysis (MCA) with Interpretative
Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to interpretively analyse the trans-
languaging practices in educational contexts (Tai and Li, 2020, 2021a,
2021b, 2021c, 2023; Tai, 2022, 2023a, 2023b; Tai and Wong, 2022).
MCA offers a detailed analysis of classroom interaction which allows
researchers to get at the question of ‘how’ from the participants’ per-
spectives, that is, how teachers draw on multiple linguistic, multimodal,
and spatial resources to shape their pedagogical practices and how the
students themselves treat these practices. Additionally, using IPA
allows researchers to take an emic approach in order to explore how
the teachers understand and make sense of their translanguaging
practices in the classrooms. Hence, triangulating MCA and IPA
affords researchers the ability to study how translanguaging practices
are constructed in multilingual classrooms and how the teachers make
sense of their own translanguaging practices at particular moments of

2 Introduction
the classroom interaction. This methodological approach allows
researchers to go beyond doing structural analysis to identify the fre-
quent and regular patterns. This redirects the researchers in focusing
on how language users break boundaries between named languages
and nonlinguistic semiotic systems in particular moments of the class-
room interaction (Li, 2018, 2011).
The case study and data collection methods in this book are based on
my doctoral research project on translanguaging in Hong Kong English
Medium Instruction (EMI) secondary classrooms. Although this book
refers to examples of research on translanguaging in EMI contexts,
they are merely illustrative of the research methodology used in the doc-
toral project and the implementation of a model of practice and analy-
sis. The focus of this book is the employment of both MCA and IPA in
understanding translanguaging in multilingual classroom contexts, how
it came into being, and how it is now used in research studies.
Therefore, it is hoped that you will gain a better understanding of
how MCA and IPA can be methodologically combined together to
capture the complexities of translanguaging practices in multilingual
educational contexts. This, in turn, can prompt the policymakers to
recognize translanguaging as an empowering tool for maximizing
opportunities for students to employ their full linguistic and semiotic
resources in knowledge construction. You should also understand the
data collection and data analysis procedures in MCA and IPA, as well
as their theoretical frameworks.
In this book, I use the term ‘multilingual classroom’ for referring to
classroom settings with students who may speak more than one language
at their disposal, who may have various linguistic and cultural back-
grounds, be learning the language of instruction as a foreign language, or
learning the content subjects through second language (L2) as the
medium of instruction. Since the book focuses on the methodological
approaches in investigating translanguaging practices in multilingual
classroom contexts, it is hoped that researchers who conduct translan-
guaging research on linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms will
benefit from reading this book. The book aims to raise the researcher’s
awareness of the potential of combining MCA and IPA together in
understanding the capacity of translanguaging as a resource for peda-
gogical scaffolding and maximising both content and language learning.
1.2
Different Types of Multilingual Education Programmes
With the different variants of multilingual education programmes,
scholars have attempted to identify the similarities and differences.

Introduction 3
These educational approaches are different from each other regarding
the goals, teachers’ and students’ profiles, historical and sociocultural
contexts, educational policies, pedagogical practices, curriculum
design, and the involved named languages (Cenoz et al., 2014). For
example, immersion programmes originated from the Canadian
immersion programmes, which aim to facilitate the process of learning
French, one of the official languages in Canada, for Anglophone chil-
dren (Lambert and Tucker, 1972). Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL), a label which is typically used in Europe, is defined
as ‘an educational approach in which various language-supportive
methodologies are used which lead to a dual-focused form of instruc-
tion where attention is given both to the language and to the content’
(Coyle et al., 2010: 3). According to Marsh (2002), CLIL programmes
should have a dual focus on both language and content, even though
the proportion is 90 percent versus 10 percent. Such a flexible defini-
tion can lead to a wide variation in CLIL instruction. Content-Based
Immersion (CBI), on the other hand, refers to ‘instructional approaches
that make a dual though not necessarily equal, commitment to lan-
guage and content-learning objectives’ (Stoller, 2008: 59). Moreover,
EMI has been defined in various ways in the literature, but Macaro
(2018) offers a succinct definition that reflects its specific features. He
states that EMI is ‘the use of the English language to teach academic
subjects (other than English itself) in countries and jurisdictions where
the L1 of the majority of the population is not English’ (p. 19).
Although they come from different names and different practices, such
as EMI, CLIL and CBI, they do share a common feature which
involves the use of the students’ L2 as the medium of instruction when
teaching and learning content subjects. It is also worth noting that
English as the Specific Purpose (ESP) and English as the Academic
Purpose (EAP) are classes where the English language is taught as an
individual subject itself. In theory, other variants, such as CLIL, CBI, and
immersion education, allow schools or teachers to select any language as
the medium of instruction. Nevertheless, it has been observed that
Englishispredominantlythelanguageused,particularlyintheEuropean
CLIL (Dalton-Puffer et al., 2010; Macaro, 2018). Figure 1.1 demon-
strates the continuum of content and language learning aims in different
educational programmes. In the continuum, the differences lie in
whether the difference is on content or language per se. Such differences
can be noticed in the programme’s learning outcomes, pedagogical prac-
tices, and assessment of the learning outcomes. For example, the empha-
sis of EAP and ESP programmes is placed on the language-oriented
domain since students will learn general academic language skills and

4 Introduction
will be assessed on their English proficiency. Alternatively, EMI pro-
grammes are placed towards the content-oriented domain since EMI
has content learning as the main goal, and English acquisition is sec-
ondary. Students are assessed on their content knowledge in English
(i.e., L2), rather than their English proficiency.
1.3
The Structure of the Book
The book begins with discussing the concept of translanguaging from
the perspectives of bi/multilingual pedagogy, languaging, multimodal-
ity and multilingualism. Chapter 2 also reviews relevant literature on
translanguaging as a pedagogical resource in multilingual classrooms.
It then discusses the nature and guiding principles of classroom trans-
languaging research and invite readers to critically examine the differ-
ent methodological approaches for analysing translanguaging
practices in classroom interactions.
The third and fourth chapters explain why MCA and IPA are con-
sidered as useful methodologies for understanding how and why trans-
languaging practices are constructed by participants in the classroom.
The chapters further explain the data collection procedures and the
types of data that will be collected, analysing the data. These types of
data include classroom video recordings and video-stimulated-recall
interviews.
The fifth chapter refers to a doctoral research project that was con-
ducted by me in order to illustrate how MCA and IPA can be triangu-
lated for demonstrating the complexity of classroom participants’
translanguaging practices. It also focuses on the methodological issues
that researchers will encounter when using MCA and IPA for analys-
ing their research findings. The final chapter explains the methodolog-
ical implications to research in applied linguistics and future directions
for research.
By exploring these issues, this book aims to offer methodological
implications to the field of applied linguistics. This book is indispensa-
ble for researchers, education policymakers, higher education educators,
Figure 1.1
Continuum of different multilingual education programmes.
(adapted from Thompson and McKinley, 2018)
EMI Immersion CLIL CBI EAP/ESP EFL
Focus on
language
Focus on
content

Introduction 5
as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in the
fields of applied linguistics, language education, and teaching English
to speakers of other languages.
References
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stock and looking forward’. Applied Linguistics 35 (3): 243–262.
Coyle, D., P. Hood, and D. Marsh. 2010. CLIL: Content and language inte-
grated learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dalton-Puffer, C., T. Nikula, and U. Smit. 2010. ‘Language use and language
learning in CLIL: current findings and contentious issues’. In C. Dalton-
Puffer, T. Nikula, and U. Smit (eds.), Language use and language learning in
CLIL classrooms. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins, 279–291.
Ho, W. Y. J. and W. Li. 2019. ‘Mobilising learning: A translanguaging view’.
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Lambert, W. E. and G. R. Tucker. 1972. The bilingual education of children:
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struction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain’. Journal of
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Linguistics 39: 9–30.
Lin, A. M. Y. 2019. ‘Theories of translanguaging and trans-semiotising:
Implications for content-based education classrooms’. International Journal
of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 22 (1): 5–16.
Macaro, E. 2018. English medium instruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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medium instruction western history classroom: A translanguaging view’.
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6 Introduction
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DOI: 10.4324/9781003351047-2
2 Methodological Approaches in
Researching Translanguaging in
Multilingual Classroom Settings
2.1
Translanguaging: Transforming Boundaries
2.1.1
Translanguaging as a Pedagogical Practice
The term ‘translanguaging’ was first coined by Williams (1994) in the
context of Welsh bilingual classrooms in reference to the deliberate
alternation between languages for receptive or productive purposes,
which is reflected in the practice of reading and discussing a topic in
one language and then writing about it in another in Welsh revitalisa-
tion programmes. Here, the alternation between languages is not spon-
taneous but rather strategic and deliberate, involving ‘using one
language to reinforce the other in order to increase understanding and
in order to augment the pupil’s ability in both languages’ (Williams,
2002: 40). In other words, it aims to employ the stronger language to
help learners to develop the weaker language in order to contribute to
the balanced development of the student’s two languages. Whilst
translanguaging promotes the flexible use of multiple languages and
other meaning-making resources, it seems to go against the basic
premise of monolingual education policy, such as English Medium
Instruction (EMI). The reality though is that in many if not all EMI
classes, the use of languages other than English is actually very com-
mon. This is similar in many ways to the situation that Williams (1994)
observes in the Welsh-medium classes where the teacher, following the
school policy, tries to teach in Welsh only, but most pupils respond in
English. Rather than seeing it as a barrier to revitalising Welsh,
Williams views translanguaging as a way to realise and maximise the
pupils’ learning potential. Williams (1994) in the original conception
wants to advocate a translanguaging pedagogy in order to assist learn-
ers in scaffolding one language with another. The term ‘scaffolding’
means that the ‘expert’ offers assistance to the novice through support-
ive dialogue to allow them to undertake tasks that they cannot manage

8 Methodological Approaches in Researching Translanguaging
to complete alone (Lantolf and Aljaafreh, 1996). Although there are
studies on the deployment of scaffolding techniques by teachers in
multilingual classrooms, a lot of them pay attention to the teacher’s
use of the target language for scaffolding students’ language learning
in the classrooms (e.g., Donato, 1994).
However, recent translanguaging literature has paid attention to
teachers’ deployment of multiple linguistic resources for scaffolding.
The findings of the studies (e.g., Hornberger and Link, 2012; Li, 2014;
Lin and He, 2017) typically indicate that the teachers encourage stu-
dents to draw on their multiple repertoires in the classroom, which
consequently can facilitate the students’ development of multilingual-
ism. According to García and Li (2014: 3), the ‘trans’ prefix in trans-
languaging refers to the following aspects of language and education:
1 ‘trans-system and trans-spaces, in which translanguaging is going
between and beyond socially constructed languages, structures
and practices;
2 transformative nature of translanguaging, as traditional under-
standings of language practices are generated, this leads to the
emergence of different discourses and voices that have been
disregarded.
3 trans-disciplinary consequences of language analysis, offering a
tool for understanding not only the nature of the language prac-
tices but also other aspects of socialisations, human cognition,
learning, social relations and structures.’
Later expansions and theorisations of the notion have emphasized the
potentially transformative nature of translanguaging for multilinguals
to bring in different sociocultural dimensions, including the speakers’
social identities, life histories, beliefs, and their knowledge of the wider
institutional environment, as resources in the process of meaning-
making (García and Li, 2014). García and Li (2014) propose that
translanguaging practices are transformative as they have the poten-
tial to remove the hierarchy of languages in a society that is seen as
more valuable than the others. They argue that translanguaging is
viewed as a new language practice which allows the flow of fluid dis-
courses in a different social, cultural, and political context and provides
a voice to the speaker’s linguistic identities that have been suppressed
within the fixed linguistic ideology adopted by nation-states. In this
way, translanguaging challenges the existing dichotomy of separating
languages into first language (L1), L2, or Lx. Translanguaging is con-
cerned with the entire repertoire of speakers instead of the structural

Methodological Approaches in Researching Translanguaging 9
knowledge of particular languages separately. Hence, translanguaging
encourages teachers and students to deploy their available multilin-
gual and multimodal resources as a way to challenge the traditional
configurations, categories, and power structures; equalise the hierar-
chy of languages in the classrooms; and allow students’ full participa-
tion in constructing new meanings and new configurations of language
practices. This can potentially give voice to students who are silenced
by the monolingual policy in multilingual classrooms. Hence, trans-
languaging can be a way for promoting equity and social justice.
Studies have illustrated that translanguaging is not only a multilin-
gual and multimodal practice, but it can offer pedagogical and inter-
personal functions in the classrooms (Cenoz and Gorter, 2011; Allard,
2017). It plays a role in deepening students’ understanding of the cur-
ricular content, establishing students’ identity positions, promoting
inclusion and students’ participation in the classrooms, preventing
communication breakdown, and maintaining fluency and mean-
ing-based interactions (Creese and Blackledge, 2010; Lewis et al.,
2012; Palmer et al., 2014; Tai, 2022a). It can also provide teachers and
students the options to develop their ‘linguistic security and identity
investment’ (García, 2009: 157) and offer examples of ‘dynamic bilin-
gualism’ when teachers draw on their students’ linguistic and multi-
modal repertoires to respond to specific sociocultural contexts (Allard,
2017). Translanguaging also enables creativity and criticality in the
multilingual users, which allow them to draw on their multiple com-
municative resources (Li, 2011). Furthermore, translanguaging has
the potential to promote social justice since it eradicates the L1/L2
dichotomisation, challenges the existing hierarchies of different ‘lan-
guages’, and ‘liberates the voices’ of multilingual students (García and
Leiva, 2014). Several studies have demonstrated that translanguaging
can lead to students’ uptake of content knowledge (Licona, 2015) and
improve students’ language proficiency and build rapport (García et al.,
2012). The translanguaging literature indicates that translanguaging
has transformative effects on pedagogy and students’ development of
multilingualism, as illustrated in the next section.
2.1.2
Translanguaging as a Theory of Language
In this section, I will explain how the concept of translanguaging as a
theory of language is informed by the work on ‘languaging’ from the
sociocultural perspective and ecological psychology perspective, and
the concepts of multimodality and multilingualism. This section will
also explain how translanguaging as a theory of language can inform

our understanding of the complexity of the creative and dynamic
practices language users engage in with multiple linguistic and semi-
otic resources.
2.1.2.1
The Sociocultural Perspective of Languaging
Under the sociocultural perspective, knowledge is constructed through
social interactions where learners bring into relevance their sociocul-
tural histories and communicative resources (Vygotsky, 1978). García
(2009) notes that an individual’s use of language is affected by social,
cultural, political, and economic situations. Therefore, meaning-making
processes are not the same in various sociocultural contexts. Individuals’
literacy practices are culturally determined and are employed for par-
ticular cultural and communicative purposes. Moreover, language
should not be characterised by systematicity since speakers constantly
change their use of language according to different social contexts.
Extending this concept, Swain (2006: 98) introduces the term ‘lan-
guaging’ as ‘the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge
and experience through language’. It is also linked to Becker’s (1991)
attempt to shift away from conceptualising language as a noun that
has been accomplished to language as a verb or an ongoing process.
As learners employ language for making meaning and problem-solving
in interaction, language becomes the tool which allows speakers to
construct the idea that they are hoping to convey. Swain (2006: 97)
argues that ‘language serves as a vehicle through which thinking is
articulated and transformed into an artefactual form’. This relates to
the internalisation process which entails the learners externalising
their thoughts through social interactions and then allowing learners
to reflect upon these externalisations in order to make refinements
accordingly. Swain (2006: 98) concludes that ‘languaging about lan-
guage is one of the ways we learn language’. From this perspective, it
can be illustrated that Swain perceived language learning as a process
rather than an outcome, which entails the negotiation and co-con-
struction of meaning. Furthermore, Gynne and Bagga-Gupta (2015:
512) conceptualise languaging as ‘ways-of-being-with-words’ which
emphasise the idea of ‘language as a process, and product of the social
activity, or a practice of interactional agency’.
All these conceptualisations of languaging share the similar idea
that multilinguals strategically employ language as a tool to learn and
accomplish one’s communicative intentions. Swain (2006) draws on
Wantanabe’s (2004) analysis of an English-as-a-second-language
classroom interaction and demonstrate how the learners acquire

different aspects of a target language by ‘talking-it-through’ and spe-
cifically how the learners employ language as a mediational means to
mediate their cognition in order to solve a language-related problem.
Languaging, as Swain (2006: 105–106) suggests, ‘mediated the stu-
dents’language learning by drawing their attention to language-related
problems they had, and by giving them the tools to reason with, to
solutions’. This implies that languaging allows learners to develop
their metalinguistic awareness so that learning becomes more explicit.
2.1.2.2
Ecological Psychology Perspective of Languaging
It is important to note that translanguaging is informed by a dialogic
and distributed perspective of language. Scholars, such as Nigel Love
and Paul Thibault, perceive languaging as a ‘distributed and heteroge-
nous biocultural resource that is spread over persons, environmental
affordances, artefacts, cultural patterns, and values’ (Thibault, 2011:
240). From their perspective, languaging refers to ‘an assemblage of
diverse material, biological, semiotic and cognitive properties and
capacities which languaging agents orchestrate in real-time and across
a diversity of timescales’ (Thibault, 2017: 82). In other words, the con-
cept of languaging rejects the idea of dividing the linguistic, paralin-
guistic, and extralinguistic perspectives of human communication
since languaging involves the orchestration of multiple bodily
resources to construct meanings. Particularly, it highlights the signifi-
cance of social factors including ‘feeling, experience, history, memory,
subjectivity and culture’, ideology and power (Li, 2018: 9).
Language is perceived as a system which originates from the speak-
ers’ situational behaviours. This perspective questions the old and
established perspective of language, which assumes separate linguistic
systems as pre-existing realities. The multiple linguistic and semiotic
resources that speakers deploy during social interactions are seen as a
product of ‘first-order languaging’. Specifically, Thibault (2017: 74)
notes that first-order languaging ‘is an experimental flow that is enacted,
maintained, and changed by the real-time activity of participants’.
Based on the perspective of first-order languaging, language is social
and dialogic instead of a pre-existing code. Thibault further notes that
first-order languaging ‘includes a whole range of bodily resources that
are assembled and coordinated in languaging events together with
external (extrabodily) aspects of situations’ (p. 215). These multiple lin-
guistic and multimodal resources are later codified and labelled as var-
ious named languages (often due to historical, political, or national
forces). Thibault (2017: 80) employs the notion of ‘second-order

language’ to refer to the ‘reified products of first-order languaging’.
That is, these different languages are considered as second-order reali-
ties rather than first-order realities. Second-order language consists of
lexicogrammatical patterns which represent ‘attractors—future
causes—that guide and constrain first-order languaging. They are sta-
bilised cultural patterns of longer, slower cultural timescales’ (Thibault,
2011: 216). In other words, speakers are always languaging when they
are engaged in meaning-making processes; that is, speakers are being
led and constrained by former stabilised cultural patterns, which come
under the various names of social languages, linguistic varieties, regis-
ters, and so on. From this view, languaging involves the orchestration
of the whole range of bodily resources, which are multilingual, multise-
miotic, multisensory, and multimodal (Li, 2018).
The languaging view on language learning perceives the novices
adapting their ‘bodies and brains to the languaging activity that sur-
rounds them’, and by doing so, the novices ‘participate in cultural
words and learn that they can get things done with others in accord-
ance with the culturally promoted norms and values’ (Thibault, 2017:
76). Thus, language learning is viewed as a process of resemiotisation
(Iedema, 2003), referring to actions which allow learners to construct
new meanings when they are engaging in the process of transforming
a sign from one semiotic mode into another. It is also a process of
participation since individuals employ multiple resources that are
acquired over the course of their life trajectories through participation
in different sociocultural settings (Creese and Blackledge, 2010).
Hence, the concept of languaging reinforces language as a process
instead of as an object. Languaging is constantly being jointly con-
structed between individuals and their environments. It reconceptual-
ises language as a ‘multi-scalar organisation of processes that enables
the bodily and the situated to interact with situation-transcending
cultural-historical dynamics and practices’ (Thibault, 2017: 78) rather
than reducing language to ‘linguistic objects’ with corresponding for-
malism, including phonemes, words, and syntax. Moreover, the estab-
lished notions of multilingualism, which emphasise achieving a certain
level of proficiency in multiple different languages (Ellis, 2008;
Rothman, 2008), have gradually been replaced by a perspective in
which language users will deploy any kinds of linguistic resources that
are useful and accessible to them for facilitating the meaning-making
processes. Nevertheless, García and Li (2014) argue that it is necessary
to have translanguaging as a notion which can better capture the com-
plexity of the multilingual language users’ language exchanges since
the term ‘languaging’ mostly concerns the speakers’ knowledge of

particular structures of specific languages separately. It does not fully
highlight how the multilinguals draw on their entire linguistic and
multimodal repertoires to construct hybrid language practices in order
to mediate their thinking and meaning-making processes (Li, 2018).
By adding the ‘trans’ prefix to languaging, Li (2018) reinforces the idea
of crossing boundaries and acknowledging fluidity and flexibility
between linguistic structures, systems, and various modalities.
2.1.2.3
Translanguaging and Multimodality
Translanguaging aims to challenge the boundaries between named lan-
guages, and indeed between language varieties, which are social and
political in nature (Otheguy et al., 2015; Li, 2018), which can be manip-
ulated by the language users for strategy use in meaning-making.
However, scholars (e.g., Li, 2018; Li and Ho, 2018; Ho and Li, 2019; Li,
2020; Tai and Li, 2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2021c, 2023; Tai, 2022a, 2022b,
2023a, 2023b) further conceptualise translanguaging as breaking the
boundaries between linguistic and semiotic resources. By embracing
the social semiotic view of multimodality, scholars problematise the
ideological biases that privilege conventional linguistic codes in mean-
ing-making. As Li (2020) argues, linguists tend to focus on linguistic
aspects in communicative practices, including investigating syntax,
phonology, and morphology in linguistics research. They typically pay
little attention to other semiotic resources that create meaning in real-
life social interactions. However, social interaction is highly multi-
modal, and meaning is never only conveyed through verbal utterances
and writing in everyday human communication. Kress (2015) makes a
similar argument, and he argues that focusing only on speech and writ-
ing in the field of applied linguistics will prevent researchers from
understanding the communicative practices in contemporary society.
Hence, a multimodal turn in applied linguistics is required:
Language, as speech or writing, remains an anchoring-point in
thinking and working in Applied Linguistics. Here, however, the
reference-point to be discussed in multimodality. Its material
resources are many and varied; they go well beyond speech and
writing. ‘Material’ in the sense employed here refers to those phe-
nomena which are accessible to and for engagement by the ‘senses’,
the sensorium. All of these “material resources” impinge more or
less closely on the present domain of Applied Linguistics, in ways
both distinct yet closely connected.
(p. 51)

There are three theoretical assumptions related to multimodality. The
first assumption is that ‘all interactions are multimodal’ (Norris, 2004:
1). Jewitt (2009) further argues that ‘multimodality describes approaches
that understand communication and representation to be more than
about language, and which attend to the full range of communicational
forms people use […] and the relationships between them’(p. 14). In this
sense, language is only considered as one of the communicative modes,
which is of equal significance with other modes, including gestures and
verbal speech to contribute to meaning. The second assumption is that
‘each mode in a multimodal ensemble is understood as realising differ-
ent communicative work’ (Jewitt, 2009: 15). Since different communica-
tion modes have different potentials for constructing meaning, each
mode has its own situated meaning in a specific sociocultural context in
which it is employed. Therefore, it is vital to understand that one cannot
analyse social interaction holistically by just focusing on only one mode.
All modes, including language, are part of a multimodal ensemble that
has to be understood in its entirety (Kress, 2015). Furthermore, the
third assumption is that ‘people orchestrate meaning through their
selection and configuration of modes’ (Jewitt, 2009: 15). Although dif-
ferent modes perform various functions in social interactions, they do
not work individually. Rather, they are orchestrated to create meanings.
As argued by Jewitt (2009), different modes ‘co-present’ and ‘cooperate’
with each other to create meanings in human communication.
In recent years, there are more research studies in applied linguistics
that pay attention to some form of multimodality, mostly on studying
the role of gestures, to investigate the processes of L2 teaching and
learning. As Smotrova and Lantolf (2013) argue, both gesture and
speech form a unit that is necessary to be analysed as a whole in order
to understand the role of gestures in enhancing speaking and thinking.
As a result, gestures have an important role as a mediational tool in L2
learning and development, particularly in relation to vocabulary
explanations (e.g., Smotrova and Lantolf, 2013; Tai and Brandt, 2018;
Tai and Khabbazbashi, 2019a, 2019b), grammatical forms (e.g.,
Matsumoto and Dobs, 2017) and pronunciations (e.g., Tai and Poon,
2016) that are not familiar to learners. Despite such research develop-
ment, Block (2014) criticises the fact that such research only focuses
on one communicative mode, notably gestures, while other semiotic
modes are not well-recognised. He invites researchers to ‘take on
board this wide range of modes more explicitly and more completely,
examining how they form ensembles to communicate meaning in dif-
ferent contexts’ (p. 70). Additionally, researchers should not only rec-
ognise multimodality as a phenomenon in everyday social interaction

but should also ‘embrace the potential paradigmatic shift that the
notion of multimodality can bring to our understanding of commu-
nicative practices’ in order to prevent producing hegemonic discourses
that favour the conventional role of language (Adami, 2017: 3).
As shown, multimodality has drawn researchers’ attention to the
multimodal means which are previously neglected in the literature.
Williams’s (1994) original discussion of translanguaging as a pedagog-
ical practice has included modalities of reading, writing, listening, and
speaking. As the notion has been further developed as a theoretical
concept, translanguaging embraces the multimodal view that sign
makers can draw on the wider repertoire of multimodal resources at
their disposal to create meaning. Li (2018) further extends the notion
of translanguaging as multilingual, multisemiotic, multisensory, and
multimodal practices that individuals use for thinking and expressing
thought. From a translanguaging perspective, this emphasises the
need to look beyond the conventional conceptualisation of named
languages as different codes of speech and writing, specifically, the
embodied and multimodal aspects of communication.
2.1.2.4
Translanguaging and Multilingualism
A multilingual is someone who can speak more than one language.
The term ‘bilingualism’ is often used in the literature, which typically
refers to a speaker who can speak two languages. However, in the con-
text of education, ‘multilingual education’ is often employed as an
umbrella term which includes bilingual education (Cenoz, 2013).
Moreover, the prefix ‘multi-’ does not simply refer to two or more lan-
guages. It has a broader meaning which refers to the ‘complex linguis-
tic interactions that cannot be enumerated’ (García and Li, 2014: 3).
The concept of multilingualism can be divided into two levels: individ-
ual and societal. Individual multilingualism is often used interchange-
ably with the term ‘plurilingualism’. Plurilingualism is defined as ‘the
repertoire of varieties of language which many individuals use’
(Council of Europe, n.d.). In this sense, ‘some individuals are mono-
lingual and some are plurilingual’. Such a perspective differs from the
concept of societal multilingualism, which refers to ‘the presence in a
geographical area […] of more than one variety of language […] in
such an area individuals may be monolingual, speaking only their own
variety’. Although bilingualism is typically deployed at the individual
level, multilingualism is normally employed at the societal level as a
way to describe social groups that deploy more than two languages
(García and Li, 2014).

There has been a tendency for languages to be conceptualised as
separated and bounded entities. This perspective has shaped the early
definition of bilingualism and multilingualism and it promotes the
ideology of monolingual norm. Bi-/multilinguals are considered as
deficient and lacking language competence, as implied by the notions
of non-native speakers (e.g., Cook, 1999), interlanguage (Selinker,
1972), and fossilisation (Selinker, 1974). These notions refer to the
multilinguals’ incomplete and incorrect linguistic usage. Such a deficit
perspective of bi-/multilingualism is summed up by Grosjean (1985:
468–470):
• ‘Bilinguals have been described and evaluated in terms of the flu-
ency and balance they have in their two languages
• Language skills in bilinguals have almost always been appraised in
terms of monolingual standards
• The contact of the bilingual’s two languages is seen as accidental
and anomalous.’
The monolingual perspective of bi-/multilingualism has been criticised
by sociolinguists who provide a different view of understanding bi-/
multilingualism. As Blommaert et al. (2005) argue, rather than per-
ceiving what languages the multilingual does or does not know,
researchers should focus on how different languages which are known
by the multilinguals can be useful resources for learning and facilitat-
ing social interactions. It is fundamental to recognise that translan-
guaging is concerned with the full repertoire of the language users,
instead of the users’ structural knowledge of particular languages (Li,
2018). The perspective that it is necessary to separate different lan-
guages in the classroom so that they will not ‘interfere’ with each other
has received lots of criticism from applied linguists. Such a monolithic
view is challenged by the dynamic bilingualism framework which
goes beyond the idea that there are two languages that are interde-
pendent […] instead, it connotes one linguistic system that has
features that are most often practised according to societally con-
structed and controlled ‘languages’, but other times producing
new practices.
(García and Li, 2014: 14)
This framework emphasises the fluidity of languages that are employed
by bi-/multilinguals and that the languages are often identifiable but
inseparable. It treats the bi-/multilinguals’ ability to speak multiple

languages as an asset instead of a hindrance affecting their learning
processes. In other words, the goal of language teaching and learning
should be developing students’ multilingualism, instead of conform-
ing to monolingual practices, which limits their multilingualism to two
or more separate autonomous languages.
2.1.2.5 Translanguaging Space
Li (2011, 2018) theorises the notion of ‘translanguaging space’, which
refers to the space that is created by and for translanguaging practices.
As argued previously, a translanguaging perspective would interro-
gate the traditional divides between the linguistic, the paralinguistic,
and the extralinguistic aspects of human communication as nonsensi-
cal. Nevertheless, space is not simply about its physical properties.
The idea of ‘socially produced’ space is suggested by Lefebvre (1991),
and this idea has led to subsequent scholarly work on spaces and
places. The key assumption of the notion of ‘socially produced space’
is that space is socially constructed, and that social interaction is a
social practice. Therefore, engaging in translanguaging practices can
create
a social space for the multilingual language user by bringing
together different dimensions of their personal history, experience
and environment; their attitude, belief, and ideology; their cogni-
tive and physical capacity, into one coordinated and meaningful
performance.
(Li, 2011: 1223)
In other words, this translanguaging space can be transformative
because such a space allows individuals to create and combine new
identities, values, and practices. The notion of translanguaging space
is different from other conceptualisations of language since translan-
guaging space aims to go beyond the boundaries between spatial and
other semiotic resources as it views spatial positioning and display of
objects as semiotic and socially meaningful.
Li (2018) further argues that the concept of translanguaging includes
two notions which are essential to bilingual education: creativity,
which refers to the ability to ‘push and break boundaries between
named language and between language varieties and to flout norms of
behaviour’ (p. 15), and criticality, which refers to the ability to use
‘available evidence insightfully to inform different perspectives of cul-
tural, social and linguistic phenomena and to challenge and express

ideas through reasoned responses to situations’ (p. 23). From a trans-
languaging lens, bi-/multilinguals are provided agency to employ vari-
ous linguistic and semiotic resources creatively and critically to
challenge the traditional configurations, categories, and power struc-
tures, and construct new meanings through interactions (Li, 2014; Zhu
et al., 2017). As Li (2011) argues, the two notions of creativity and
criticality are intrinsically connected since one cannot break bounda-
ries (i.e., being creative) without being critical, and ‘one’s criticality is
one’s creativity’ (p. 1223).
2.2
Guiding Principles of Classroom Translanguaging Research
Prior research studies on classroom discourse are mostly case studies
which adopt the structural-functional linguistic analysis approach
(e.g., Duarte, 2019; Probyn, 2019; Wang, 2019). It can be argued that
using Discourse Analysis (DA) as a methodological approach pre-
vents researchers from conducting a detailed, line-by-line, and fine-
grained analysis of the classroom talk in order to analyse the functions
of translanguaging served in the classrooms. It is noted that DA
serves as an umbrella term with a focus ‘on talk and text as social
practice, and on the resources that are drawn on to enable practice’
and the logic of DA consists of a rhetorical move and a norm (Potter,
1996: 31). The rhetorical move is related to categorization and the
norm to accounts or sanctions. The central concept of DA is func-
tion. Functions are speech acts, in that functions are concerned with
‘what that piece of language doing, or how the listener/reader is sup-
posed to react’ (McCarthy, 1991: 9). Additionally, particular units are
related to language forms, including grammatical, lexical, and pho-
nological ones (McCarthy, 1991). In this sense, in DA, there is a
form–function mapping. Furthermore, DA favours a ‘coding and
category system’ (Psathas, 1995: 9) which requires researchers to ana-
lyse classroom discourse in structural-functional linguistic terms.
Nonetheless, the DA approach massively oversimplifies the social
interaction since the interaction has to be coded as a single instruc-
tional sequence or as a single move in order to fit into the coding
scheme (Seedhouse, 2004).
Wang (2019) suggests that classroom translanguaging research
should adopt an ethnographic approach in order to better capture the
complexities of translanguaging practices in various classroom con-
texts. Hence, Wang (2019) proposes five guiding principles for research-
ers in designing a research project on translanguaging in multilingual
classrooms:

1 Classroom translanguaging research should be descriptive instead
of prescriptive in order to illuminate the ways in which classroom
participants employ their full linguistic and multimodal reper-
toires for constructing knowledge and facilitating meaning-mak-
ing processes in the classrooms.
2 Classroom translanguaging research should focus on how class-
room participants employ translanguaging for achieving commu-
nicative or pedagogical purposes, rather than focusing on how the
use of translanguaging fits into the structural-functional coding
schemes.
3 Classroom translanguaging research should analyse both teach-
er-led and student-led translanguaging practices in order to cap-
ture how all classroom participants engage in translanguaging to
accomplish learning and communicative objectives.
4 Classroom translanguaging research should adopt both the etic
and emic perspectives in analysing the data. Doing so allows the
researcher to integrate the perspectives of the classroom partici-
pants on their ways of using various linguistic and multimodal
resources for meaning-making. In this book, I particularly focus
on how researchers can integrate MCA and IPA, both of which
methodologies focus on the emic perspective of participants, in
understanding the complex multilingual and multimodal resources
employed by the interactants in co-constructing meanings through
translanguaging in the classrooms.
5 Classroom translanguaging research should adopt an ethno-
graphic research design in order to afford researchers to collect
different kinds of qualitative data, such as interviews, fieldnotes,
audio/video data, and stimulated recalls. This, in turn, can enable
researchers to triangulate different data sources for capturing the
fluidity and complexity of translanguaging practices in the multi-
lingual classrooms.
2.3
Research Studies on Translanguaging in Multilingual
Classroom Contexts
2.3.1
Using Interview Data Only to Explore Translanguaging in
A growing body of work in multilingualism has revealed that translan-
guaging is not only a multilingual and multimodal practice, but it can
offer pedagogical and interpersonal functions in multilingual class-
rooms (García and Li, 2014; Tai and Li, 2020; Tai, 2022b, 2023a,

2023b; Tai and Wong, 2022). For instance, Woodley (2016) illustrates
how translanguaging in a highly diverse elementary classroom pro-
motes participation. By constructing multilingual resources, including
labels and signs and posters, in multiple languages; offering select
home language translations; grouping students with the same L1s; and
encouraging language comparisons when explaining new vocabulary
items, the teacher successfully leverages students’ multilingualism
while communicating with his students in English. However, the find-
ings of this study are generated from the teacher’s interview data and
fieldnotes. Without a detailed analysis of the classroom discourse, it is
unclear how translanguaging enables inclusion in multilingual
classrooms.
Similarly, Doiz and Lasagabaster (2017) examine the EMI teachers’
beliefs regarding their translanguaging practices at a Spanish univer-
sity. It is important to be aware that although the paper emphasises
translanguaging as the research focus, the authors switch to the term
‘use of L1’ in their research questions. The study organises focus
groups with the EMI teachers to capture and analyse their ideological
discourses. A total of 13 teachers teaching economics, engineering and
communication are involved in this study. The findings illustrate that
the majority of the teachers believe that using L1 is detrimental to the
goals of EMI and it will hinder the creation of an English-only class-
room environment. Only two teachers support using languages flexibly
to develop students’ multilingualism. As this study does not observe
the teachers’ actual practices in the classrooms, the authors advocate
future research to observe EMI classes in order to identify any mis-
match between beliefs and practices.
2.3.2
Using Functional Discourse Analysis to Explore
Translanguaging in Multilingual Classrooms
Nikula and Moore (2019) present an exploratory study of translan-
guaging in various secondary CLIL classroom settings (biology in
Finland, technology in Spain, and history in Austria). The authors
argue that they have conducted the first representative studies which
explored translanguaging as a complex, fluid, and momentary practice
rather than a straightforward systematic alternative of languages. The
authors employ qualitative discourse analysis as the primary method
to analyse the classroom talk. The analyses are similar to Lin and Wu’s
(2015) and Lin and He’s (2017) findings that teachers and students
employ translanguaging practices to fulfil different communicative
intentions, including engaging in language play, orienting to pedagogical

and interpersonal concerns, and delivering classroom instructions.
The authors argue that their classroom findings are beyond the
old-fashioned definition of translanguaging which only conceptualise
translanguaging as a deliberate switch of languages for input and out-
put in the classrooms. This study contributes to the wider literature on
translanguaging by demonstrating translanguaging as a locally situ-
ated practice in various geographical CLIL contexts. Nevertheless, the
study’s discourse analysis of the classroom talk was simplistic and
brief, which was different from Tai and Li’s (2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2021c,
2023) studies where they conducted a fine-grained analysis of the
classroom talk in order to analyse the functions of translanguaging
served in the Hong Kong (HK) EMI classrooms.
Duarte (2019) employs sociocultural discourse analysis to analyse
instances of classroom interaction in content-focused mainstream
classrooms in Germany. Duarte employs a simple coding system for
analysing the classroom talk, which includes the individual speech act,
named languages, and different types of talk. The findings have shown
that translanguaging is used to construct meaning and allow students
to jointly solve the classroom tasks. For instance, translanguaging
plays a role when students are making sense of the task. This includes
moments when they are paraphrasing the task and describing relevant
knowledge for solving the task. Translanguaging also has a role to play
when students are co-constructing answers. This entails moments
when they are hypothesising the answer, negotiating meaning, showing
disagreement/agreement,orprovidingcounterarguments.Nevertheless,
as Duarte also acknowledges, adopting such a simplified coding sys-
tem to analyse translanguaging practices creates some methodological
constraints since it fails to capture the complexity of translanguaging
in the classroom interactions.
2.3.3
Using an Ethnographic Approach to Explore Translanguaging in
One of the most pertinent studies which illustrates the creativity and
criticality of the students’ translanguaging is by Li (2014). Using inter-
actional sociolinguistics, Li focuses on classroom interactions between
the children and their teachers in the UK Chinese heritage language
classroom, where the teacher and students both understand Chinese,
and illustrates the ways in which participants switch freely between dif-
ferent varieties of Chinese and English and different modes of commu-
nication. Moreover, Li also demonstrates that the students bring
together not only their multiple linguistic skills but also their knowledge

of the social world, particularly their awareness of the history of the
community to which they belong and their positions in it, as well as their
attitudes and beliefs during the process of learning. Li argues that the
students’ creative and critical expressions of meanings in their school-
work indicate their agency in constructing their sociocultural identities,
attitudes, and values and challenges the dominance of Mandarin as the
Chinese lingua franca. Such translanguaging practices go beyond peda-
gogy and learning and can potentially have an impact on the students’
development of identity, social relationships, and values.
Lin and He (2017) conducted an ethnographic study to investigate
how translanguaging is employed as a pedagogical strategy by an EMI
science teacher to motivate South Asian ethnic minoritized learners
from Pakistan, Nepal, and India to utilise their multilingual reper-
toires. Ethnographic naturalistic observations of the classroom inter-
actions in a year 9 HK EMI science classroom are carried out to
analyse the participants’ translanguaging practices, and interviews are
conducted to help the researchers to understand the meanings of the
learners’ use of Urdu phrases in the classrooms. The findings indicate
that several learners employ both their knowledge from their home
language expressions (Urdu) and English, as well as their body and
gestures to display their understanding of the human digestive system.
It is also noticeable that the teacher draws on her prior knowledge of
Urdu that she has learnt previously from her learners to give the
instruction in the learners’ L1. The authors suggest that although the
teacher and learners come from different linguistic and cultural back-
grounds, their willingness to learn from other’s linguistic and cultural
resources have created a space for learning to take place where learners
are motivated in learning the subject content through the L2 and
developing their linguistic repertoires for communication. This study
provides important pedagogical implications for EMI education as it
offers new insights into how translanguaging can function as an effec-
tive pedagogical scaffolding strategy in EMI classrooms, particularly
with learners of multilingual backgrounds, to motivate learners’ con-
tent and L2 learning and facilitate the meaning-making processes. It
fills in the literature gap where the participating teachers and students
in most of the EMI studies shared the same L1 and uniquely explored
how the teacher and students who have different L1s and cultures ful-
fill the classroom tasks in the same L2, English.
Although several studies (e.g. Li, 2014; Mazak and Herbas-Donoso,
2015, Woodley, 2016; Wang, 2019) have illustrated that fluid language
use in the classroom could result in a beneficial impact on students’
well-being, identity formation, and confidence, there is a need to

consider whether translanguaging in the classroom will be effective in
various classroom environments as this will ‘depend on the socio-polit-
ical and historical environment in which such practice is embedded
and the local ecologies of schools and classrooms’ (Creese and
Blackledge, 2010: 107). Some educational studies (e.g., Rampton,
2006; Charalambous et al., 2016) have illustrated that translanguaging
may lead to a decrease in well-being and students may not perceive
translanguaging as an empowering tool to recognise linguistic diversity
in society. Charalambous’s et al. (2016) study is one of the few studies
which illustrates how translanguaging might not be helpful in valoris-
ing linguistic hybridity in particular contexts. The ethnographic study
examines how a primary school teacher introduces Turkish, which is
the home language of students with Bulgarian backgrounds, in a
Greek primary classroom. It is found that despite the teacher’s effort in
embracing her students’ superdiversity and encouraging translanguag-
ing to promote mutual understandings and maximise communication,
the teacher’s pedagogical practices do not encourage the suppression
of Turkish-speakerness since the students fear that ‘speaking Turkish’
could be seen as ‘being Turkish’ (p. 327) as Turkishness is associated
with negative historical indexicalities in Greece. The authors note that
in some communities, ‘discourse of conflict creates unfavourable ecol-
ogies for hybrid linguistic practices’ (p. 327).
Similarly, Allard’s (2017) ethnographic study examines the pedagog-
ical functions of the teachers’ translanguaging in a beginner-level ESL
reading class and a beginner-level ESL science classroom in a US high
school. The ESL students are Spanish speakers, and they are expected
to develop their English proficiency in order to be promoted to the
mainstream content classes. The ESL teachers can speak Spanish, and
they both share similar Spanish proficiency. Based on the data derived
from the classroom observations and teachers’ interviews, the teach-
ers’ use of translanguaging is aimed to facilitate communication
between low-proficiency ESL students and teachers, acknowledge stu-
dents’ existing linguistic repertoires, and assist students in understand-
ing the curricular material and encourage their participation in the
lessons. Nevertheless, from the students’ perspectives, translanguaging
is perceived as a hindrance to the students’ English language develop-
ment as they receive insufficient exposure to English. Due to the stu-
dents’ beliefs in the importance of language purity in the classroom,
this weakens the power of their teachers’ translanguaging, which con-
tributes to students’ low engagement with their studies, unwillingness
to participate in the classrooms, and fraught student–teacher relation-
ships. Furthermore, the school does not have a unifying language

policy to celebrate multilingual diversity. Based on the ethnographic
observations, the linguistic landscape in the school’s areas (e.g., corri-
dor walls) reflects the dominance of English monolingualism. Hence,
although the teachers’ translanguaging facilitates communication
between teachers and students and affords students greater access to
content, the teachers’ translanguaging is not a transformative peda-
gogical practice due to the monolingual language ideologies reflected
in students’ beliefs and the absence of a coherent language policy in
the school.
Therefore, it is important for translanguaging researchers not to
presume that translanguaging itself can necessarily give back voice,
release bilingual subjectivities, raise well-being, and ultimately trans-
form the unequal community into a fairer world (Jaspers, 2018). This
is because it is necessary to consider the local circumstances and the
predominant discourses in the particular contexts before introducing
specific linguistic resources in the classrooms in order to avoid result-
ing in negative influences on students’ learning outcomes.
2.3.4
Using Mixed Methods to Explore Translanguaging in
Multilingual Classroom
Makalela’s (2015) mixed-method study is one of the few studies that
explored the impact of translanguaging on learners’ vocabulary devel-
opment and oral reading proficiency. Results indicate that the trans-
languaging experimental group outperforms the monolingual control
group in vocabulary development. However, the use of translanguag-
ing does not influence oral reading proficiency in the experimental
group. Although this study demonstrates the positive effects of trans-
languaging on the acquisition of an indigenous African language as
an additional language in the university language classroom, the
results should be interpreted with caution as there may be several con-
founding variables. First, there is no information given regarding fidel-
ity to condition as it is unknown how multiple discursive resources are
actually employed in the experimental group. Second, the definition of
translanguaging in this study is limited; the author only focuses on the
linguistic aspects of translanguaging, and throughout the paper, the
author does not acknowledge the multimodal, multisensory, and mul-
tisemiotic nature of translanguaging. Third, the author designs the
pre- and post-tests to assess the students’ lexical and reading develop-
ment. However, he does not explain whether and how he validates the
pre- and post-tests in order to confirm that results of the research are
valid and reliable.

Sah and Li (2022) conduct a critical discourse analysis of teachers’
and students’ language use in two EMI classrooms (social studies and
health and population classrooms) in a multilingual public school in
Nepal. The majority of the students speak the Newari language as
their L1, which is an indigenous language in Nepal, and there are stu-
dents from Nepali, Gurung, and Limbu speaking communities. The
authors collect various data sources, including classroom observa-
tions, teacher interviews, and focus group discussions with students, to
understand the ways translanguaging takes place in the EMI class-
rooms. The authors first conduct a quantitative analysis of the lan-
guage use in the EMI classrooms, and the findings illustrate that both
teachers and students employ Nepali and English variably in different
classrooms. Notably, the number of Nepali words that are used by the
teachers and students are more than English words in both classes in
order to support students’ content knowledge acquisition. The critical
discourse analysis of the classroom interaction reveals that both teach-
ers and students translanguage between English and Nepali, and this
facilitates students’ participation and content comprehension to a cer-
tain extent. However, the authors argue that the teachers’and students’
uncritical adoption of translanguaging practices reproduces the hier-
archy of named languages by privileging the national languages (e.g.,
Nepali) above the indigenous languages for minoritized students (e.g.,
Newari). It is further argued that ‘unequal languaging practices create
a discriminatory learning space for linguistic minoritized children’ (p.
17). The study provides useful pedagogical implications for teachers
and reinforces the need for EMI teachers to be critical when engaging
in translanguaging and to have an awareness for promoting equal inte-
gration of minoritized languages. Nonetheless, the study only concep-
tualises translanguaging as switching between named languages, and it
suffers from several methodological limitations. The study’s critical
classroom discourse analysis does not illustrate the connections
between the classroom discourse and societal and cultural processes
and structures (Fairclough, 1992). The authors also attempt to com-
pare two different classrooms’ language use through conducting a
descriptive statistical analysis. I argue that the author could not be
sure that any differences between the language uses is not a result of
the characteristics of the school, teacher, or students.
Based on the review of the research studies, it is revealed that the
notion of translanguaging emphasises that it does not only go between
different linguistic structures, systems, and modalities but also go
beyond linguistic codes. It challenges the perspective that there are
boundaries between different named languages, linguistic varieties,

and other communicative means. Translanguaging ‘signals a trans-se-
miotic system with many meaning-making signs, primarily linguistic
ones that combine to make up a person’s semiotic repertoire’ (García
and Li, 2014: 42). It is a process of meaning-making which entails the
speakers strategically as well as spontaneously drawing on their one
linguistic and semiotic repertoire in an integrated manner without
focusing on ‘languages’ as distinct and separate codes. This does not
imply that the speaker is unaware of the structural constraints of par-
ticular named languages. In fact, Li and Ho (2018) argue that the
speakers are fully aware of these facts, but the speakers are capable of
deploying this knowledge to strategically achieve their communicative
intentions.
2.4 Summary
In this chapter, I have given a detailed overview of the concept of
translanguaging as a pedagogical practice and as a theory of language.
I have explained several guiding principles of classroom translanguag-
ing research and reviewed studies on translanguaging in bi-/multilin-
gual classrooms.
I have argued that in order to fully understand the construction of
translanguaging, researchers cannot merely rely on Conversation
Analysis (CA) or DA or interview data as the primary method because
external factors, such as beliefs and personal history, can be illustrated
through ethnographic interviews, but they may not emerge from the CA
or DA or interview data analysis directly (e.g., Antaki, 2012; see Chapter
5 for more information). Lin and He’s (2017) ethnographic case study is
a rare example of employing the ethnographic method to capture trans-
languaging practices in EMI science classrooms. It is important for more
research to attempt to integrate fine-grained classroom analysis with eth-
nographic approach (e.g., Creese and Blackledge, 2010; Li, 2014; Allard,
2017) to study the nature of translanguaging in multilingual classrooms.
Since translanguaging practices are complex in nature (different
sociocultural factors, such as personal history, life experience, identity,
or beliefs, can potentially play a role in affecting our use of mean-
ing-making resources in the process of constructing knowledge), I
argue that it is necessary to have a flexible framework that can inte-
grate multiple theoretical orientations, methodologies, and data
sources to understand the complexities of translanguaging practices.
Hence, I propose combining MCA along with IPA to study how trans-
languaging practices are constructed in multilingual classrooms and
how the teachers make sense of their own translanguaging practices at

particular moments of the classroom interaction (see Chapter 5). This
methodological approach allows researchers to go beyond from doing
structural analysis to identify the frequent and regular patterns. This
redirects the researchers in focusing on how language users break
boundaries between named languages and nonlinguistic semiotic sys-
tems in particular moments of the classroom interaction (Li, 2011,
2018). This echoes Li’s proposal of moment analysis (see Chapter 5 for
more information), which aims to investigate the spontaneous acts of
creativity and criticality in everyday social interactions. Moment anal-
ysis focuses on what prompts a particular social action at a particular
moment of the interaction and the consequence of the action. In this
sense, the researcher is concerned with how a specific moment of the
use of various linguistic, multimodal, and multisemiotic resources is
being noticed or remarked upon by the participants and what may
have resulted in a particular action at a specific moment of the interac-
tion (Li and Zhu, 2013).
In the next chapter, I will provide a detailed account of MCA and
explain how researchers can use MCA as a method to identify and
analyse instances of translanguaging in classroom interactions.
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Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content

Trying to save souls, and they're practically starving. They'll be down in a
few minutes and we'll feed them well!
Crash went a plate! Venna turned to see Stella standing, a picture of sudden
fear, pale as death.
You—don't—mean—the Mormons—are in—this house? she gasped.
Why, Stella! What on earth has frightened you. Of course, I do.
O ma'am, last night at the party, everybody's man or maid was informed
about those awful men. Aren't you afraid? I'll never sleep under the same
roof with them, ma'am, that I won't. What will Mrs. Halloway say?
Look here, Stella, I'll have to tell you what I told Bud. I know one of these
men. It's all talk. They're awfully good. Now hasten to prepare for my
friends.
Stella's color gradually returned. Are you sure, ma'am? Of course, if
you've known them before I won't listen to others—but it's awful strange
business, ma'am, it is—yes, I'm not glad they're here. Won't they go,
ma'am?
Not if I wish them to stay! replied Venna with dignity.
Stella always knew what that tone meant and in silence set the table
lavishly. However, within her, there were throbbings of her poor heart that
she had never experienced before and strange sensations of unusual chills
crept up and down her being.
It may be all right, but—and she shook her head doubtfully.
Meanwhile Bud delightedly made his way to the store. There were a few
villagers buying anything from a two-cent stamp to a bag of chicken feed.
Boss Holden was not rushed. Afternoon buyers were always leisurely. Now
was Bud's opportunity. He entered the store noisily.
What d'yer think? he asked, with both hands thrust deep into his pockets.

Too warm to think, Bud, replied Boss Holden, smiling.
Not w'en yer correctin' error, returned Bud, with serious importance,
looking from one to the other.
Error? That's some word for you. Bud! What's up now? You're as good as a
'Daily.' Why don't you print yourself black and white? said Holden, with a
laugh.
Cause the print 'ud stick and news is allus changing. Yer know the talk
about the mer—Mormon fellers? Well, every one's twisted. They're alrighty,
I tell you.
Mr. Allworth contracted his Methodist brows into a slow frown.
Who's been deceiving you, my lad? The Mormons themselves maybe?
Stay clear of them. They'll do you no good.
It's not themselves, returned Bud quickly. It's Mrs. Hadly. She ses they're
her friends. They're going ter stay wi' her. So they're alrighty, eh? What yer
say ter thet?
Mrs. Hadly's friends! exclaimed Miss Harriet Haskell, dropping her sugar
to the floor in a general spill.
I said it! returned Bud decidedly. An' the hull town's bin slammin' her
friends. Nasty, mean, eh?
Mr. Allworth never cared much for Miss Harriet, but this was a trying
moment when all Christian hearts should be united. He looked at the old
lady beseechingly.
What can we do about this. Miss Harriet? Their evil influence will even
spread to the children!
Isn't it awful? came in almost frightened response. Suppose—suppose
we unite the forces of our churches to stay this evil. It's really a menace!

Now I see why Mrs. Hadly loved girls. I always had my suspicions of her.
And now! Oh, it's too awful to think of!
There were various degrees of fear expressed on the faces of the listeners.
Bud's cheeks were puffing out with fiery redness. At last he exploded.
If anyone's goin' ter slam Missus Hadly, I'll make it hot fer them!
Shame o' yer. Bud! I'll tell yer mother o' yer impudence! spoke up one
shrewd-eyed little widow who received scraps from Miss Haskell's larder.
I'm not ashamed! You bet, I'm not, defiantly returned Bud. She's the best
'un in this mean old scrap-heap, where a feller can't lose a button 'thout
every one a' knowing it!
Damn it, you're right. Bud! exclaimed Boss Holden, bringing his fist
down suddenly upon the counter. Mrs. Hadly's one fine little woman. She
shan't be talked over in my store!
Mr. All worth gasped.
Miss Harriet paled.
The on-lookers smiled.
This was the limit of endurance.
My dear man, said Allworth on recovering, if you can't join a church, at
least be respectful.
And keep your swearing for other company, please! added Miss Harriet
sharply. Come, Mr. Allworth, let us leave this place and talk the matter
over like Christians!
Exeunt the leaders of the flock.
Boss Holden drew a deep breath and laughed.

Bud jumped up on the counter and slapped Holden's arm.
Bully! Boss! Yer good stuff!
So are you, Bud. Here! and Holden's big hand transferred some bright
alluring gum drops to the little outstretched, ever-ready one.
To hell with their gossip! exclaimed Boss to the onlookers.
Them's my sentiments, too! added Bud joyously.
While Bud was playing the hero at Holden's store, Bessie was doing her
part with the girls. However, she was fortunate in finding no opposition.
If they're Mrs. Hadly's friends, they'll pass, all agreed.
What are they like? Are they good-looking? Are they pious? were the
questions thrown at Bessie with girlish impatience.
They're just ordinary men, rather pale and tired, of course. Don't suppose
they'll come out to-night. We'll all drop in to see Mrs. Hadly to-morrow,
accidentally, you know. What fun! Let's plan to scare the 'fogies' in town!
And instead of rehearsing, the girls planned.

CHAPTER VIII.
If Dame Gossip enjoyed revelling in the good
instead of the evil, what universal joy her
tongue would give!
Venna was late to her entertainment. Anna Halloway had telephoned that
business would delay them in New York for several days. Would Venna
mind if she were alone that long? If so, Anna told her to come in with Stella
and the baby.
Venna answered that she would rather stay in Ashfield, and told Anna not to
worry about her. Everything was all right and baby fine. She did not say
anything about her new visitors—it wouldn't be easy to explain over the
phone. She knew Anna would have done the same thing.
Brother Johnson and Brother Hallock (Venna thought it was odd but rather
nice for them to call one another Brother) certainly had enjoyed the meal
Venna prepared. She enjoyed watching their delight with everything. The
mother in her was touched.
Think of them having no one to take care of their meals, and just eating
anything they chance to get!
After they had joyfully feasted, Venna excused herself and hurried her
duties through as quickly as possible. Nevertheless she was late. The girls
were all a trifle excited when she arrived, but the curtain soon went up, and
the unusually large audience was quiet.
The play was a great success and Venna never played her violin more
wonderfully. Mr. Soffy sat in a front seat and Venna felt his dark eyes
watching her constantly. His admiration seemed to stimulate her to do her
best. But withal the atmosphere of the evening was disquieting. So much
whispering in the audience, so many furtive looks cast upon her.

What was unusual? Venna felt a strangeness but couldn't explain it.
After the entertainment was over, she did not come forward as usual, but
busied herself with the girls clearing things up, and did not notice their
suppressed giggles.
Mr. Soffy had lingered behind to escort Venna home. He always found an
excuse for this, if she were alone. Miss Harriet and Miss Mary lingered, too,
with the intention of not leaving him in danger, but he thwarted their good
intentions with a bland smile.
Now, don't you bother waiting for me. Miss Mary, he said in his
pleasantest tone. I wish to consult Mrs. Hadly regarding the picnic, and
seeing her now will save me a call, you know.
Oh, very well! returned Miss Mary. We will be going on then.
And as they were going on Miss Mary's head nodded with satisfaction.
The dear boy! You see, Harriet, my advice has been timely. He's trying to
cut down his calls!
About time! replied Miss Harriet sharply. But it's her fault—not his!
At this moment Mrs. Hadly found herself hurriedly kissed by her girls.
Quick, girls! They'll be up the hill before we catch them, exclaimed
Bessie impatiently. The girls all laughed.
What on earth are you up to? asked Venna, smiling.
We'll tell you later—some good joke! exclaimed Bessie, as she and her
companion rushed out of the hall, throwing kisses back to her as they went.
Be careful! she called after them.
Alone with Mr. Soffy, Venna felt unusually embarrassed. There was a
selfish pleasure in knowing he loved her, but the knowledge was disquieting
to her conscience. She should be sorry, not glad. How weak she was in her
loneliness!

The world seemed all wrong to her to-night. Here was Mr. Soffy with an
impossible love, and at home were her guests with their impossible religion.
Everything seemed in the wrong place.
As they left the vacant hall together, the moon was up in all her glory. The
road before them was lit with a soft radiance.
Let us walk awhile before I take you home, said Mr. Soffy. The night is
wonderful, and I want to talk to you.
I think not to-night, Mr. Soffy, unless—you really must talk to me, Venna
answered, her feelings as contradictory as her words.
Yes, it is for your good, he replied quietly.
Venna was relieved—and with the relief, she condemned herself. The idea
of her having a shade of a thought that he would speak of love.
They walked on in silence for a few moments. The night was wonderfully
alluring.
A perfect night for lovers! thought Mr. Soffy, glancing at Venna, who was
drinking in the beauty of the scene with a rapt expression. How beautiful
she is!
If human hearts were only as peaceful as nature! remarked Venna quietly.
You forget, Mrs. Hadly. To-night is wonderfully serene, to-morrow may
bring a storm that will transform nature into wildness.
That is very true, returned Venna. After all, there is a great analogy
between the spiritual and the material. I can see how the Christian Scientists
can stretch the point and believe one is but the expression of the other. I
wish I could accept all their doctrines. You don't know, Mr. Soffy, how I
long for real concrete thinking on religious questions. If I only possessed a
strong, sure belief!
Oh, I think you believe enough—more than I do even. I think there is
greater pleasure in freedom of thought. Let your mind wander at will—

you'll get more out of life. Strive to be broad, not narrow.
Yes, I know that is the idea in the religious thought of to-day. But it doesn't
somehow satisfy me. Truth is like a river, having a source and a destination.
If the river broadens too much, it overflows the banks and ruins the very
limitations that give it beauty.
You ought to be a Catholic, returned Mr. Soffy, smiling.
No, then the river would be so choked with rocks and weeds, that its
course would be turbulent and without freedom.
What would you be then? asked Mr. Soffy, laughing. Please don't start
another sect in the Christian world. There are only hundreds now!
Never fear, she returned, but I shall always long for truth, even if I never
find it. What is it so important you wish to say to me?
It is in the way of advice and I know you will not be offended. I'm too
interested in you to have you talked about. I wish to warn you.
Venna looked her surprise.
Yes, of course, you're surprised. Women like you never see anything
except through their own conceptions. It is a sure sign of your innocence.
But really you must be more worldly wise.
I don't understand you, she said, laughing. What awful thing have I
done?
Simply a kind Christian act, but it won't go in Ashfield. It's all over town
that you are housing two Mormon preachers, as your friends, too. This
labels you with everyone as 'Doubtful.' I wouldn't have a breath of scandal
attached to your name, but already the village is buzzing.
You don't mean that—, but words failed Venna and she stopped short in
angry embarrassment.

I mean you are the subject of gossip. Gossip grows like a weed here. I hate
to wound you, Mrs. Hadly, but it's for your own good. Didn't you notice
your girls hurrying off to-night? They take it as a big joke, and without
meaning it, they'll make things worse for you. I overheard them planning to
be the first to tell Miss Harriet and Miss Mary how fine the Mormon
preachers were and how they were all going to call to-morrow. They take a
delight in shocking the old ladies, who won't stand shocking. I know them. I
live with them, you know.
So this is the real character of the simple life I admired so much!
exclaimed Venna, in a tone more sad than angry. How disappointing
human nature is!
Not if you expect little—then you find a great deal of good in people. You
should never start life with too high a standard for people to measure up to.
The idealist is always disappointed. The 'simple life' attracted you. You
didn't realize any 'hidden depths' here, did you? Wherever man is, city or
country, there will you find his same old weaknesses side by side with his
nobler aspirations. You must learn to guard your actions more carefully than
your thoughts.
What would you advise me to do? she asked seriously. She felt a
happiness in his protecting interest in her welfare.
Get rid of those fanatic Mormons first thing to-morrow, and laugh off the
rumor that they are your friends.
Oh, but I have asked them to stay for a week and thoroughly explain their
beliefs to me. They claim they can give me proof of their doctrines from the
Bible. They're real tired, too. Their visit would do us mutual good.
You don't mean you have planned such a thing with strangers—and men
that are talked about as they are! replied Mr. Soffy with real concern.
Why, you haven't the least idea what people will say of you.
Is the world so evil-minded? returned Venna. Then of what value is the
world's opinion? What would you think of me, Mr. Soffy?

Mr. Soffy smiled with pleasure. Does my opinion count more than the
world's? I would say, you're the truest-hearted little woman in town!
I only care for the opinion of good people—like you, she added softly.
Thank you, he returned seriously.
There was a moment's silence in which both were very thoughtful.
At last Venna said quietly, Thank you for your advice, Mr. Soffy. It was
well meant. But I wish to hear what these good young men have to say. I
shall keep them with me one week, regardless of Ashfield. Come, we will
not walk more to-night. See, the clouds are beginning to come already. As
you say, to-morrow may bring a storm.
They walked back to the house in silence again. Mr. Soffy was anxious to
speak of his love to her. It was an ideal night, an ideal time. But something
held him back. He was not sure of her love yet. She was too friendly, too
frank. He might spoil it all. It was hard to wait, but he must be sure. So he
reached the little white gate without the avowal he had intended.
Frankly she held out her hand to him.
Good-night, Mr. Soffy. Call and see my friends, won't you? she said,
smiling.
I certainly will. I'd like to hear them myself. I may step in to-morrow.
Any excuse was worth while, to see her, he thought.
And so they parted for the night, she with increased admiration for his
goodness, and he with increased passion for her beauty and personality.

CHAPTER IX.
To be popular in the religious world today,
one must smile upon any creed; believe
nothing absolutely, and regard Truth as too
delicate a thing to be handled.
The next day did bring a storm. It was just after lunch, and Venna was
sitting in the living-room with the two preachers, earnestly discussing
points of doctrine. Baby Anna sat in her high chair, happily surveying the
party, as each one of whom gave her occasional amusement.
Just think of a dear babe like that being considered a sinner, remarked
Brother Johnson with a tender smile at Anna.
Anna smiled her approval at this remark and held out her chubby hand to be
kissed.
You're right, returned Venna, kissing the tiny fingers. She's a little angel
—all babes are. It's a repulsive thought to connect them with the sins of this
world.
Then it won't be hard for you to accept our doctrine of pre-existence, said
Brother Hallock. It is a beautiful revelation, given to us, I think, to inspire
us to live up to our origin. We know that we are the spirit children of our
heavenly Father and that we come to this world fresh from His loving care.
Babies need no baptism. The early Church never thought of such a thing.
Infant baptism came along with other man-made doctrines, when the
Church began to apostatize from the truth.
You will not have to persuade me of that doctrine. It is so natural and you
have given me enough verses in the Bible to prove it. Let us take up the
future existence.

At this moment, the bell rang and Stella opened the door to Mr. Soffy. He
entered with a genial smile to all. Venna was delighted. How fair-minded he
was not to share everyone's prejudice concerning the Mormons!
We're so glad you have come, Mr. Soffy, she exclaimed happily, after the
usual introductions. We are just discussing doctrines.
Don't let me disturb you; I shall enjoy listening.
Both young men looked pleased.
Now, said Venna, we were talking of the future existence. You say there
is more than one heaven? Was that a revelation, too?
Yes, but the Bible substantiates this revelation as it does the others.
Brother Hallock gave a number of scriptural texts, and then turned to Mr.
Soffy for his opinion.
Your arguments are good, Mr. Soffy answered, but I couldn't conceive of
more than one heaven. I think I would have to see them to believe.
Couldn't you take the word of St. Paul who did see? You know the Bible
tells us that Paul not only saw Paradise, but was carried to the third heaven.
Have you ever thought of that statement of Paul's?
Yes, I have, returned Mr. Soffy seriously But when it comes to those
mystical experiences couldn't those early Christians have had delusions?
You don't believe, then, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God?
Not entirely—no, that is rather an old-fashioned belief.
Then, said Brother Hallock, seriously, it is no use for us to discuss. If
one believes in the inspiration of the Bible, he can easily believe in
revelation. Those two beliefs coupled together lay the foundation for our
proofs. There is only one other way that you could accept our truths. That is
by the testimony of the Holy Ghost.

That is rather vague testimony, returned Mr. Soffy, smiling. I must
confess, much as I like to hear your beliefs, there is small chance of my
accepting any of them. I belong to the new class of thinkers who pin their
understanding to very little.
Venna was watching the two and feeling the contrast of character. Brother
Hallock's face shone with the power of strong convictions. Mr. Soffy smiled
with the tolerance of a wandering faith.
However, added Mr. Soffy pleasantly, Mrs. Hadly is a firm believer in
the inspiration of the Bible from cover to cover, so she will be more apt to
grasp your ideas.
Yes, indeed, Venna said with a quiet reverence; the Bible is God's Word
to me. I have a testimony within me of that truth. I can't entirely explain it,
but I know that testimony is of God, too.
Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, returned Brother Hallock.
Thank God, you have that testimony to build upon.
Again the bell rang and Stella opened the door to the girls. They were all
together, a pretty, laughing bunch. On seeing Mr. Soffy, they stopped at the
door, suddenly quiet.
You're not afraid of him? Bessie disdainfully whispered.
Come in, girls, called Mr. Soffy, pleasantly. So the girls came in, feeling
somewhat abashed, now that they were really there.
Venna welcomed them, and introduced them one by one.
We hope we are not intruding, said Bessie demurely.
Oh, no, returned Venna, I want you to meet my friends. We were
discussing doctrines of their Church. You may learn something.
Oh, how interesting! returned Bessie, the other girls remaining bashfully
silent.

The storm has made it very dark. Let us pull down the shades and light
up, said Venna.
They were soon all cozily seated, oblivious to the storm without.
Mrs. Hadly, said Brother Hallock, earnestly, we are all Christians here.
Would you not like us to have a little cottage prayer-meeting? I think it
would help us all to discern truth.
Yes, indeed, answered Venna.
And so the girls came for fun and found only two very earnest young men
whose very presence seemed to bring one nearer to God. Mr. Soffy opened
the meeting with prayer, after which Brother Hallock and Brother Johnson
spoke alternately upon the faith of the Mormons. Venna listened hungrily.
Every word they uttered fell with a decision which spoke of absolute
conviction. There were no may-bes or waverings here. Inspired by their
religion, their words flowed easily and surely.
The girls listened with wonder, not understanding everything perfectly but
feeling the power of the speakers.
Mr. Soffy watched them in pleased surprise, appreciating their personalities,
but scarcely considering their beliefs.
The Spirit of God is with them, Venna said within her heart. She was the
only one who was searching the truth of their words. But with this
eagerness for truth, came the powerful testimony to her soul, that here at
last she was to find it.
God works in mysterious ways. The searcher for truth may follow Reason
until he is lost in a maze of doctrines. Hopeless he stands, but if the Faith of
God is in his heart the everlasting promise is fulfilled at last, and the
testimony of the Holy Ghost carries the soul beyond all of Reason's
confusion. Then the soul looks back upon the intricate trodden paths, and
from its heights it views Reason in a true perspective, and can choose the
way to be retrodden in safety.

Oh, if the world could only realize the value of that spiritual uplift that
illumines Reason, and without which Reason is a snare.
When the closing prayer had been said by Brother Johnson, there was a
hushed silence for a few moments. All felt in some measure the power of
the moment.
Mr. Soffy was the first to speak. He held out his hand to Brother Hallock.
Faith like yours is worth having, he said earnestly. I hope you can always
keep it. I could never possess it, but it commands admiration.
Both the young men flushed with pleasure as they took his hand.
This from a minister of the orthodox church is indeed a happy surprise,
returned Brother Hallock.
We are not all narrow, returned Mr. Soffy, even more pleasantly as he
noticed Venna's evident approval.
Meantime, out in the storm, returning from some parish calls, were Miss
Mary and Miss Harriet in their buggy. As they neared Mrs. Hadly's home,
both peered out curiously.
All the shades are drawn. I wonder what's going on inside, remarked
Mary.
I've a good mind to drop in accidentally and see for myself, returned Miss
Harriet briskly. You just hold the reins, Mary.
For an old lady, she was unusually spry. She jumped from her carriage and
ascended the steps with her head held high. Sharply she rang the bell. Stella
opened rather cautiously. She didn't like the tone of the bell.
Oh, it's you, Miss Haskell, is it? Come right in, said Stella.
Who did you think it was? queried Miss Harriet suspiciously.

I don't know, returned Stella nervously. They're all in the living room.
Go right in, Miss Haskell.
All! Who's all? thought Miss Harriet.
But she lost no time in conjecture. She reached the door of the sitting-room,
and there she stood, dum-founded. She could hardly believe her senses,
she told Miss Mary afterwards.
Mr. Soffy was holding the hands of both Mormons, Mrs. Hadly and the girls
were beaming upon them, while her boy was saying,
We are not all narrow.
Evidently! came sharply from the thin lips.
The little group turned. The thin face of Miss Harriet looked down upon
them with a spirit in sharp contrast to what they had been enjoying. Anger,
disgust, intolerance were expressed in her cutting glance.
Mr. Soffy flushed like a truant school-boy. The girls looked pleased, the
young strangers serious.
Venna controlled herself with an effort.
Won't you come in. Miss Haskell? I want to introduce you to my friends.
With this the girls smiled outright.
Miss Harriet eyed them with increased anger.
I don't care to meet your friends she returned, icily. Mr. Soffy, will you
kindly escort me home?
Mr. Soffy turned to Venna. Will you kindly excuse me, Mrs. Hadly?
Certainly, returned Venna, thinking how wonderfully kind he was to Miss
Harriet when she was so rude.

Miss Harriet turned without another word, and majestically sailed out of the
house, followed by Mr. Soffy.
Brother Hallock followed the minister with a keen glance.
As the door outside closed, Venna turned to the girls who were exchanging
glances.
I guess, dears, you had better go now. It is getting late, and your mothers
might be looking for you.
Bessie spoke up indignantly, It's a perfect shame for that old fogie to insult
you and your friends. We will tell our mothers all about it and she'll be
treated cool by us, anyway.
Don't make trouble, dear. Just act as though nothing happened. After such
a lovely meeting we must bear no ill-will.
Not on our account, surely, said Brother Hallock. We are so used to such
treatment, we feel only pity for our enemies.
So the girls left, promising to come again.
Outside, Bessie turned to her companions.
I thought it would be a great lark to have just this happen, but somehow it's
not much fun to have those men treated so. Aren't they wonderful? Let's
defend them all over town.
We sure will! the girls answered.
And so youth and old age started at precisely the same moment, to arouse
opposite sentiments in Ashfield, for Venna's Mormon friends.

CHAPTER X.
To a materialist, a miracle is an impossible
contradiction to Nature. To the spiritually
minded, it is the expression of that Higher
Power which controls Nature.
Until Anna and her husband came home, Venna found herself entirely alone
with her visitors. Those were two days to be remembered. It was steadily
storming without, so they all stayed indoors, and talked and discussed from
morning until night. Doubts in her mind that had remained unanswered for
years, these two young preachers answered satisfactorily, always going to
the Bible to show the authority for their claims.
Venna's interest pleased them and they never tired of her constant queries.
You have great patience, said Venna, smiling.
It takes no patience to answer questions, returned Brother Hallock. The
patience is required when no one is interested enough to ask them.
The third day brought Mr. and Mrs. Halloway home. Venna's explanations
about the Mormons quite satisfied them.
Of course, you were right, dear, said Anna in her big-hearted way. The
very idea of their being treated so! Why, we met a number of Mormons
when we were West. They are very fine people, indeed. But don't let them
take your thoughts away from Christian Science. I don't know much about
'Mormonism' but I imagine it's not at all spiritual.
On the contrary, returned Venna, very enthusiastically, it makes one live
in a wonderfully spiritual atmosphere!
I'm afraid you're being influenced, said Anna anxiously.

I'm afraid I am, admitted Venna, smiling.
Oh, dear me! We must place their belief side by side with Christian
Science. I'll keep them here until you see I can prove to them they're wrong.
We'll have some good arguments—respecting one another, of course!
No one could help respecting you! exclaimed Venna, delighted with the
thought of delving deeper into truth.
But the discussions were unfortunately postponed.
The day after Anna's arrival, baby Anna became very ill. Mr. Halloway and
Venna both wanted to send for the doctor, but Anna wouldn't hear of it.
Do you think God will forgive me if I refuse to trust my precious lamb to
His care? she asked, trying to be calm and true to her Christian Science
teachings. This is my test—my first test of faith!
All day, and all night, Anna knelt by her babe in prayer.
The next morning, little Anna was worse.
Mr. Halloway had to go to the city, and for the first time, he was angry with
his wife.
Anna, you see to it that you have a doctor today. I insist upon it! and so he
left her.
Anna buried her head in the bed-clothes and wept.
O God! she murmured, tell me—should I obey?
It was an agonizing morning for Anna. She did not admit even Venna to the
room, but prayed unceasingly. Her momentary doubt had left her as soon as
her husband's presence was gone.
Downstairs, Brother Johnson and Brother Hallock tried to console Venna.

Oh, but if baby Anna dies without a doctor, it is too awful to think of,
exclaimed Venna. What ought I to do? Compel her to have one?
It is her child, said Brother Hallock seriously.
Yes, but she will never forgive herself afterwards.
I can't advise you, Mrs. Hadly. It is very sad, indeed. When Mr. Halloway
comes home, I think he will take the matter in his own hands.
There was a sound of crying outside, and Venna recognized Bud's tearful
tones and Bessie's soothing voice.
Venna stepped to the door to admit her young friends.
Bud, dear, what is the matter? she exclaimed as Bud entered in sobs, with
Bessie's protecting arms about him.
My—my—cat—Missus Hadly—my cat—she died of salvation—way out
in the woods—with me—here—an' never knowin'!
What does he mean? asked Venna of Bessie, who was trying to look
sympathetic.
Why, Bud's pussie got lost in the woods, and never came back for weeks.
Now he's found her dead, so he thinks it was starvation killed her.
Yes, an' I'll never—pump—the organ in Mr. Soffy's church again, 'cause I
don't like religion any more. I prayed that Flip would come home, an' a lot
o' good prayin' does!
Bud was inconsolable. Venna told him he must not talk that way. God knew
why Flip had to be taken from him.
That's jes' it! An' that's why I won't pump that organ any more!
Venna turned to Bessie.
I can't visit with you now, dear. Did you know baby was very sick?

Baby is sick, is she? spoke up Bud. How'd you feel if she died?
Venna trembled at the suggestion.
We must all pray for her to get well. Bud.
A lot o' good prayin' ull do! declared Bud defiantly. Did it help Flip? You
better git the doctor hustlin' or she'll be a goner, too. Seems ter me there's
lots a dyin' goin' on.
There, there! Bud! Run along and ask Stella for some real sugar cookies.
They'll change your thoughts.
Never! Think I'm thet mean ter eat sugar cookies the day Flip died o'
salvation? Ter-night—yer may see me helpin' round. Good-bye!
Her visitors gone, Venna excused herself from the young missionaries and
went upstairs. Perhaps she could persuade Anna.
Gently she knocked at the door, but there was no response.
She quietly opened it. There upon the floor lay Anna, white and motionless.
Trembling, Venna knelt by her side.
Anna, dear Anna! she exclaimed, shaking her gently.
But there was no response.
Venna hurried downstairs and phoned for the doctor to come at once.
May I go up and try to revive her? asked Brother Hallock.
Together they went up to Anna's room. Brother Hallock looked from the
prostrate mother to the moaning babe.
My! This is sad! he exclaimed. But don't worry. Let us bathe her head.
She has fainted with exhaustion, that is all.

Anna soon opened her eyes, and looked around with a dazed, helpless
expression.
Baby! baby! Where is she, Venna? Have they taken her away?
No, dear, she is right here on the bed. We'll help you to the couch and you
must lie perfectly still. I'll take care of baby. The doctor is coming, Anna.
As you say, returned Anna, too weak to resist, and again she swooned as
she was being helped to the couch.
Venna felt great relief when the bell rang and the old village doctor
appeared. Entering the room brusquely, he made a general survey. First he
went to Anna.
Revive her again quickly, and give her plenty of hot milk. Worn out, that's
all.
Then he went to baby Anna. After a careful examination, he turned to Venna
and slowly shook his head.
I need a consultation here. This is a serious case—very serious.
Venna paled.
O Dr. Jensen! consult with the best doctor you know. Is there time to get
one from New York?
No! declared Dr. Jensen, she must be attended to quickly, or you'll lose
her to-night. It may be paralysis.
Venna's heart beat wildly.
Oh, no! no! Don't say it is that awful disease!
She had been reading the papers, telling of the little ones dying daily in
New York.

We'll hope not. I'll not lose a moment. I'll go myself after Dr. Becker. And
he hurried off.
Brother Hallock looked at the babe in serious thought. This was a time
when the Lord could show these good women the power given to His
servants.
Venna was speaking soothing words to Anna, who was again regaining
consciousness.
O Venna, if baby should die, I would never forgive myself, she murmured
brokenly.
Venna's ready tears came.
My dear Anna, be brave. God can save her even now. Have faith.
What has my faith done for me? she asked bitterly.
Brother Hallock quietly withdrew and joined his companion.
It seemed a long time before Dr. Jensen returned. In reality it was only half
an hour.
The two doctors consulted long and earnestly.
In the adjoining room Venna and Anna awaited their decision fearfully.
Finally they were called and looked into the serious faces of the two doctors
with anxious questioning.
Dr. Jensen cleared his throat and then spoke huskily.
My dear ladies, we regret to tell you, there is no hope. The child cannot
live many hours. It is paralysis.
Dr. Jensen caught Anna as again she swooned.

Don't think of the child, he said brusquely, turning to Venna. We must
attend to the mother, she's in bad shape.
Dr. Jensen then gave directions to Venna, who immediately went downstairs
to get the required restoratives.
Brother Hallock met her in the hall. Quickly she told him the sad news.
Have the doctors given her up entirely?
Yes, returned Venna, striving to keep back her tears.
Then may we administer to the child?
For what? asked Venna puzzled.
For recovery, returned the young missionary. You have sought man's aid.
Will you refuse God's?
But Anna tried faith? returned Venna.
Sometimes faith is so strong that it works even in error. But it is not God's
way. God's commands are sure. If you do not believe we have His divine
authority to heal, will you let us have permission to try?
Venna looked into Brother Hallock's earnest gray eyes and felt the power of
his convictions.
Yes, she answered simply.
The doctors gone, Venna sat by Anna's bed, soothing the tired head in its
restless forced sleep, the result of Dr. Jensen's quieting medicine.
In the next room she heard the missionaries, moving quietly as they
administered to baby Anna.
A great unaccountable peace suddenly came over her, and she felt the
presence of Divinity surrounding her.

Surely there are guardian angels, as Brother Hallock teaches, she thought
with a sudden great joy.
She looked up. Brother Hallock stood in the doorway. He motioned her to
come. She arose and followed him to the bed of baby Anna.
Could it be possible? Was she dreaming? There lay the wee babe, looking
up at her with its sweet, winsome baby smile.
You have saved her, exclaimed Venna in joyous gratitude.
We have done nothing. God has saved her. We are but the humble
instruments in His hands!

CHAPTER XI.
I wonder if St. Peter at the Gate of Heaven
will distinguish between the 'Pious' and the
'Godly'?—Irony of Boss Holden.
Bud lost no time in circulating the news that baby Anna was sick, and
would doubtless die like Flip. Due to the character of the simple life, most
of the women forgot their prejudices and only thought that some neighbor
was in trouble, so those that did not immediately run up to the house, at any
rate phoned to see what they could do.
Brother Hallock and Stella were kept busy answering the phone or door
bell, and delivering messages to Venna.
How kind hearted they are after all! exclaimed Venna, gratefully.
When Dr. Jensen came back to see Venna about quarantining the house, he
was amazed to find her all smiles.
O Dr. Jensen, she said joyously, admitting him, baby is fine and Mrs.
Halloway is almost in hysterics with joy.
I don't understand you, said Dr. Jensen, looking dazed.
Come and see! exclaimed Venna.
He followed her upstairs to the room he had left such a short time ago.
Here in the little bed lay baby Anna, laughing at her toes. Beside her, sat
Anna, with tears of joy streaming down her face.
I'll be—! But he checked his exclamation as he looked at Venna,
dumfounded.

You may well be surprised. Doctor. But with God nothing is impossible.
I—I must have made a mistake—but yet—we were both so sure; strange!
It's beyond me!
Then Venna told him about the young preachers' gift of healing.
Pooh! Nonsense! exclaimed Dr. Jensen. Don't let yourself believe such
nonsense! Well, I must hurry off to the Board of Health and confess that we
made our first mistake. It couldn't have been paralysis!
So Dr. Jensen reported his error to the authorities, but Anna and Venna
thanked God for the miracle.
When Mr. Halloway returned he was told the wonderful story. But, contrary
to their expectations, he was not at all sceptical.
I saw her this morning and I see her tonight, he said, very much
impressed. That is what I call proof!
Anna and Venna asked the young preachers to prolong their stay.
Both of us—and Mr. Halloway also, want to understand your beliefs
thoroughly.
So the young missionaries consented to stay until they had given their
message to its fullest extent.
When Bud spread the story of baby Anna's miraculous recovery, sentiment
swayed like a pendulum, and the prejudice, temporarily overcome by
sympathy, now asserted itself with greater force. Mr. Allworth was seen
talking to groups of his parishioners and always gravely shaking his head.
It is the work of Satan, he declared more than once.
He even felt it his duty to call upon Miss Haskell and consult with her upon
this awful menace that had entered Ashfield!

Is there no legal way of putting these young men out of town? asked Mr.
Allworth.
Not unless you can persuade Mayor Holden they are doing mischief. It's
hard to convince a man like him who is so worldly and not in touch with the
Lord.
Yes, spoke up Miss Mary piously, but we might pray before attempting
to convince him.
You are right, said Miss Harriet with decision, I'll go to him myself.
Though he did insult me in his store, I'll show him I'm not afraid of him!
So the trio prayed, after which Miss Harriet set out upon her dutiful
errand. It was in the afternoon, so she would have a chance to see him
alone. Sure enough, as she entered the store, there sat the postmaster,
proprietor and Mayor, making out his monthly post-office report for
Washington. Not a soul was in the store.
Boss Holden looked up with an inward groan. His monthly report was
anything but pleasant, and here was Miss Harriet! He could tell by her
expression that she had official business to transact!
What can I do for you? he asked, with rough kindness.
I've come, Mayor Holden, to enter a protest against those young Mormon
preachers remaining in town!
What have they done? asked Holden, laying down his pen, and settling
back in his chair comfortably.
His simple question and keen glance disconcerted Miss Haskell for a
moment. Then she felt the fighting spirit rise within her.
What haven't they done. Mayor Holden? They've gained such an influence
over the young girls, I believe they'd all leave for Utah tomorrow, if asked,
and they're spreading around town that they saved baby Anna from certain
death. If they did, it was, because Satan helped them to it. Are all our labors

in the churches to come to naught, while you sit calmly by and say nothing,
'till it's too late?
Boss Holden smiled unpleasantly.
To put the complaint in a nutshell. Miss Harriet, they've really done
nothing yet, except get themselves liked and saved a baby! Can't oust them
on that!
You refuse, then, to put them out? asked Miss Harriet, stiffening with
righteous scorn. I can plainly see, Mayor Holden, how you never could
enter a church! If you encourage evil influence here, you have no right to be
Mayor of Ashfield!
Perhaps you'd like the job? asked Mayor Holden, with rising anger.
When women get the vote, they may have such opportunity, returned
Miss Harriet, sharply. I ask you again, do you refuse?
Damm't, I do! And I hope those decent fellows will stay here long enough
to hand out their influence. To hell with all this gossip!
Miss Haskell shuddered.
Such language in the presence of a lady! I might have expected it. Well,
Mayor Holden, if you won't do your duty, I shall!
And with great dignity she left the store.
Holden mopped his brow with his handkerchief.
What fool trick will she be up to now? he muttered. Join that church
bunch? Guess not, Holden! You have too much respect for yourself, he
chuckled.
Miss Harriet, Miss Mary and Mr. Allworth united forces in their great cause
of duty toward Ashfield. They sent out notices to their neighbors, writing
both mothers and fathers to attend meetings, in which the trio took turns in

disclosing the awful evils in the Mormon Menace. No children or
young girls were admitted. The parents were horrified at the disclosures.
At these meetings, Mr. Allworth exerted his influence in true Methodist
style. With tears and pleadings, he begged the people to Beware! The
response was quick and decisive. They forbade their girls to go near Mrs.
Hadly. The girls sullenly obeyed, but openly defended The Mormons.
This intensified the impression of the diabolical influence they possessed.
Meanwhile, all unconscious of the village murmurings, Venna, Anna and
her husband were enjoying their visitors to the utmost. Anna's deep
gratitude for the recovery of her babe helped the young missionaries in their
convincing arguments.
Both Venna and Anna demanded Biblical proof for all doctrines. But Mr.
Halloway accepted Mormonism after a few short talks.
You go on reasoning, Anna, he said kindly, but I've got enough proof
right here in these two young men themselves. If ever God was with men.
He's with these two. Haven't I seen enough of the world to know they have
something different to other men? I've led the practical life and have
learned to know men directly I meet them. They couldn't fool me. These
men are not doing Satan's work. How do I know it? Because I know men.
Now, if they're not of Satan, they have to be of God—or how did they save
our babe? That's all the reasoning I want. I'm ready to have them teach me
religion now. Thank God, there's some real religion in the world—
something substantial to work on!
Venna wondered at the girls' absence, but was too busy to give it much
thought.
Toward the end of the week Bud came in the back door with a mysterious
caution.
Say, Stella, don't yer squeal I've been here. I want ter see Missus Hadly
alone!

Come here. Bud, called Venna from the sitting room, as she heard his
voice.
Bud entered cautiously, his eyes round with wonder.
An' yer sitting here so calm like! he exclaimed in open admiration.
And why not, Bud dear? she asked, laughing.
Yer too good for Ashfield, Missus Hadly! said Bud, gingerly touching one
of her curls. The divil's got holt o' this place!
What do you mean, Bud?
I mean I come ter warn yer an' yer friends. There's goin' ter be a des-tin-
ation ter-night.
Destination? You've got your big word wrong again. Bud. Use a smaller
one.
I tho't a big game ought ter hev a big word. Well, there's goin' ter be a
show down o' feeling.
Oh, you mean demonstration. I see—well, a demonstration of what
feeling. Bud?
Feeling agin the Mormon fellers! Outside yer house ter night! I overheard
Mister Allworth talking wi' Miss Harriet. I'll never like a minister again!
Nasty, mean, isn't it?
Venna looked serious. Tell me everything you heard, Bud.
Heard only words now an' then. I almost fell off the roof a' listenin'.
Mother'll paddle me if she finds me here. Must be goin'. This house is got
an awful name—all for nuthin', jes 'cause angels like you ain't the style no
more.
Venna put her arms around Bud and hugged him close.

You blessed lambie—if all the world were as fair as you! she exclaimed,
kissing both his round cheeks, much to Bud's pleasure.
Run along now, dear. Don't get in trouble about us. You're good to warn us
—we'll be prepared? Sugar cookies in the kitchen, you know!
When Bud left her, Venna stood for a moment in troubled thought. Is it
possible that Christians can do these things to those who love the same
God? she asked, for the first time coming in conflict with the religious
intolerance of the day. She had blissfully imagined that religious intolerance
was a thing of the past. But Venna was only upon the threshold of religious
experience.

CHAPTER XII.
When we undertake to defend Christendom
we often assist the devil.
It was almost dark when the Halloways, Venna and the missionaries had
finished their evening meal. Venna decided to say nothing about Bud's
information, as doubtless the warning grew out of his own imagination after
hearing some unfavorable comments upon the Mormons. No doubt the
village was hating them. Brother Hallock said most of the Eastern people
believed the lies circulated about the Church.
Venna felt a little uneasy as they all went into the sitting room. Suppose
Bud had spoken the truth?
Oh, it couldn't be, she decided.
She pulled down the shades and turned on the lights. She felt a strange
comfort tonight in shutting out the outside world. Soon she was entertaining
them with her violin. Never did she play better. Her music expressed her
mixed feelings—now sad, now questioning, now joyously triumphant.
Brother Hallock watched her with a wrapt expression, entirely lost to his
surroundings.
At last her notes died away in a gentle trembling pianissimo. No one spoke
as she laid down her violin. For a few moments each one enjoyed the spell
of her genius.
Venna seated herself by the window and, drawing the shade aside, looked
out. Suddenly she started. Coming down the hill, she saw a large group of
about forty villagers, led by Mr. Allworth and Miss Harriet. What did it
mean? She thought of Bud. She watched them as they approached. They
were all talking excitedly.

Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis First Edition Kevin W. H. Tai

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