Translanguaging in a multimodal mathematics presentation

Abstract

Little research has been conducted on the analysis of PowerPoint design from multimodal and translanguaging perspectives. This chapter describes a presentation by Professor Liu, a visiting mathematics education professor at a university in Hong Kong. We focus on the translanguaging and trans-semiotizing (Halliday, 2013; Lin, 2015) strategies applied during his presentation at a mathematics education seminar. The PowerPoint slides and the audio recording transcript of the presentation were analyzed, drawing on the conceptualization of translanguaging (García 2009), multimodal mathematics discourse (O’Halloran, 2005), and visual grammar (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). A framework of intercultural, bi/multilingual, multimodal mathematics-presentation discourse has been built to discuss the meaning-making process between Professor Liu and the audience by 2 translanguaging and trans-semiotizing via (partially) shared communicative repertoires. The analysis shows that translanguaging and trans-semiotizing strategies interplay to facilitate intercultural communication in the intellectual inquiry of multimodal mathematics discourse at the tertiary level.