Translanguaging and Trans-semiotising in a Public Relations Writing Course: Exploring Heteroglossic Co-Becoming in a Higher Education Institute in Hong Kong

In this chapter, Phoebe Siu, Pedro dos Santos, and Angel Lin investigate current theories in language and bilingual education that view learning as a dynamic process of meaning-making in which participants draw from their available semiotic resources to engage in classroom tasks, negotiate meanings, and establish their identities. The authors argue that such an approach is a good way to examine English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) classrooms. In Hong Kong, where post-secondary institutions have offered EMI to comply with the language policies and the view of English as the language of internationalisation, such theories can provide fruitful insights into EMI classrooms. As Siu, dos Santos, and Lin show, EMI classrooms are configured as spaces where the monoglossic and monologic desire added to the pressure for the exclusive use of English for completing assessment and learning tasks in academic registers and genres confront students’ frequent use of their home languages.