Translanguaging assessment in narratives and group conversations of South African adults

Effective speech and language therapy for multilingual people with aphasia is dependent on the language in which the assessment and therapy are provided to the client. Limited language assessment tools are available for these populations. Translanguaging is an approach that allows for multilingual discourse analysis that encompasses speakers' complete linguistic repertoire. The purpose of this study was to characterise the translanguaging patterns of South African adults with an aim of developing best practices for discourse assessment in multilingual adults with acquired language difficulties.

A modified AphasiaBank protocol was used to elicit narratives and group conversations from 19 multilingual South African younger and older adults. Two bilingual background questionnaires, adapted to the relevant languages of the participants, were also administered.

Result indicated that all participants made use of translanguaging, to varying degrees. Older adults used translanguaging, on average, less than younger adults. Neither topic of narratives and conversations, nor language background histories were associated with translanguaging patterns.

The study demonstrated that translanguaging is a useful approach for determining the unique multilingual characteristics of South African discourse. The data can be used as a guide to develop assessment for multilingual adults with acquired language difficulties.