Voice without Word: Creating Audio Wordless Picturebooks through Spanish-English

Code-Switching
Yen-Chen Liu
Introduction
In this term paper I synthesize several scholars articles on the Spanish-English codeswitching phenomenon, and then I provide my teaching plan, to put those academic
findings into practice. The articles that I select here have the same argument: SpanishEnglish code-switching is not a lack of proficiency in one of the two languages, but
rather a grammatical competence in both languages. And they all have the same
perspective: Spanish-English code-switching is linked to cultural identity (language
and ideology). First of all, I discover the definition, overgeneralization, and myths of
Spanish-English code-switching. Second, I elaborate the method in teaching Latino
American children Spanish-English code-switching in bilingual education, with the
development of cultural identity. Third, I have suggested students record their voices
in language learning in my weekly responses. I hope to find perspectives from
linguistics, ESL/EFL, multicultural education, bilingual education, and literacy
education, to induce Latino American students cultural identity through SpanishEnglish code-switching bilingual audio wordless picturebooks.
Rationale
There are four reasons for me to choose Spanish-English code-switching audio
wordless picturebooks as my topic. First reason, as a Spanish learner (L3) and a native
Chinese speaker (L1), Spanish and English (L2) has a similarity in vocabulary.
Second, in my country, Chinese-English code-switching usually means adults such as
professors, doctors, or business people showing their English abilities and
international connections, rather than cultural identity. I have never seen any ChineseEnglish code-switching picturebook for children before. Third, in my subjective
observation, while Chinese children silently read stories themselves, it is natural for
Spanish and English teachers to read-aloud (to tell) stories to their children. Forth, I
would like to record children voices to assess their speaking performances in my
weekly responses. Therefore, I would like to explore Spanish-English code-switching
phenomena, with my volunteer experiences in Dr. Denise Davilas Spanish-English
storytelling program at Athens County Library.
The Review of the Literature
There are a great number of viewpoints on code-switching between Spanish

and English. Based on the definition from the Oxford English Dictionary Online,
code-switching is defined as :The hearer is able to perform what communication
engineers call code switching, a process of adjustment to the articulatory habits of the
speaker which permits the listener to learn quickly certain types and degrees of
phonemic deviation (Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2014). In term of the
definition and phenomenon of Spanish-English code-switching, Martnezs article
helps us to clarify some basic concepts of Spanish-English code-switching, or so
called Spanglish. Code-switching is first defined as the juxtaposition within the same
speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical system
(Gumperz, 1982, p, 59). Indeed, laypeople assumes that Spanglish has attributed to
gaps in vocabulary, lack of education, improper control of language, and/or an overall
lack of proficiency in one or both of the language in question (Gumperz, 1982; Lance,
1969; Romaine, 1995). They call it deficit rationales (Martnez, 2009). However,
major scholars state that Code-switching is a valuable linguistic resource that
bilingual speakers utilize for various communicative purposes (Milroy& Muysken,
1995). First, Blom and Gumperz (1972) argue that code-switching occurs in
systematically predictable way (Martnez, 2010, p. 126). Second, according to
Zentella, code-switching is more than a convenient way to handle linguistic gaps.
Code-switching establishes social identity and reaffirm ties with ones community
(Martnez, 2010, p. 126). Third, Kroskrity (2004) (Gumperz, 1982; Lance, 1969;
Romaine, 1995) cites, She have [sic] a brother in the hospital, en el Bellevue (in
Bellevue), and he was crazy is one of many examples provided by Zentella (1997:
96), to claim that Spanish-English code-switching phenomenon does not result from
limited knowledge of the other language, but rather a strategy to emphasize.
Linguistics Perspectives: Semantics
Then we refer to the linguistics perspectives of Spanish-English codeswitching phenomenon. Li Sheng et. (2013) present the semantic development in
code-switching for Spanish-English bilingual children. They use quantitative research
to test 280 Latino American childrens semantic responses, including children from 7
years 3 months to 9 years 11 months. During the testing, code-switched responses
received a primary error code, and a secondary code was attached to indicate whether
the code-switched response led to a semantic response (Sheng, Bedore, Pea & Fiesta,
2013, p. 1039). Their research demonstrates that in the group of children from 7
years 3 months to 9 years 11 months, older Latino American children produced more

Spanish-English code-switched words than younger Latino American children. To

conclude, children are likely to switch from their used language to their more
frequently used language (Sheng, Bedore, Pea & Fiesta, 2013, p. 1036).
Then there are oral and writing parts of Spanish-English code-switching words for
Latino American children in semantics development. In oral uses, Mileidis Gort
(2006) compares Spanish-English code-switching words by Latino American children
with those by English-dominant children: for both groups, code-switching English
and Spanish is used only while creating Spanish texts, yet Spanish-dominant children
use both languages in creating texts of both English and Spanish (Gort, 2006, p. 335).
In writing uses, students generally did not codeswitch to Spanish in English essays
but did codeswitch to English in some of the Spanish essays (Howard and Christian,
1997). Cummins also (1981, 1991) hypothesizes that literacy related aspects of
bilinguals proficiency are transferable or independent (Gort, 2006, p. 341). Overall,
Gort and Cummins these two scholars recognize Spanish-English code-switching
words across languages.
Linguistics Perspectives: Overgeneralization in Phonology and Phonics
There is an overgeneralization phenomenon of Spanish-English codeswitching words in phonology and phonics by Latino American children. This
phenomenon of overgeneralization happens before students master a new language,
making mistakes in vocabulary, grammar, and other language aspects. During the
period of overgeneralization, students observe those language rules and start to create
their own, ignoring other exceptions. Here Bertha Prez (2004) examines the
differences of Spanish and English in phonology and phonics. Prez presents the
method to teach Latino American students to be aware of H in English and in Spanish
respectively. Then, Prez shows that Latino American students have the problem of
overgeneralizing English into Spanish words, such as writing soi (soy), yava (lleva),
jente (gente), and benir (venir), when they start to learn English. In this case, Angie
Zapata (2014) also observes overgeneralization in Spanish-English code-switching.
She mentions that her student Brenda translated Jessica to Yessica and John to Jon in
her bilingual picturebook, since the /J/ phoneme in Spanish is often pronounced as
a /Y/ in English among native Spanish speakers. In addition, Brenda also changes
Johns name to Jon. The example above demonstrates that Brenda understands
phonics and spelling between the two languages (Zapata, 2014, p. 20).
Spanish-English Bilingual Education

Then we turn those theory of linguistics to the application of education. Lori

Oldham (2009) provides us a possible strategy to induce Latino American students to
write down English-Spanish bilingual stories: Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT).
According to Kathryn Au (2006), CRT has five principles in its definition, including
acknowledging students cultural heritage, having a goal of educational diversity,
linking home and school experiences, maintaining home culture and language, and
fostering social justice and equality (Oldham, 2009, p. 81-91). On the other hand, Jim
Cummins (2001) provides us an attitude toward teaching bilingual learners in the
Bilingual Verbal Abilities Tests (BVAT). Cummins mentions that teachers take
account of students bilingual background in interpreting the test, delay assessment to
wait for bilingual students to develop their language abilities, and combine L1 and L2
assessment. The two scholars build a gap between those theories of code-switching
and teaching them to English-Spanish bilingual children.
Making Spanish-English Code-switching Bilingual Picturebooks
In Examining the Multimodal and Multilingual Composition Resources of
Young Latino Picturebook Maker, Angie Zapata (2014) discovers how Latino
American children learn and make Spanish-English bilingual picturebooks, with
focuses on colors and English-Spanish code-switching. Zapata uses drawings and
code-switching as tools, to reflect on students understandings of words and texts. She
uses bilingual picturebook learning and making to view Latino American childrens
language and socio-cultural abilities. She demonstrates that code-switching is
connected to identity for Latino American children. For instance, when Zapata
interviewed a student called Brenda the reason why she chose to write in both Spanish
and in English in her picturebook, Brenda replied that So they can know a little bit
about me. That Im bilingual, that I speak Spanish and English, that my dad is
Mexican American, my mom is Honduran and that Im Mexican-Honduran-Americn
(Zapata 2014, p. 17).
Educational Practice
It occurs to me to make Spanish-English code-switching bilingual audio
(semantics), wordless (phonetics and phonology) picturebooks with Latino American
children. During this semester, I always assign students voice recordings in my
weekly responses (phonetics and phonology), and I think that Spanish and English
speakers can understand stories when words and voice are separate (semantics). To
begin, since there are engaging stories hidden in our ordinary lives for us to explore,

and we can induce them by arts. Here I cite The findings suggest that in addition to
flooding classrooms with well-selected, culturally specific picturebooks, teachers
must guide students through their daily negotiations with the literature and crafting
(Zapata, 2014, p. 25). In this case, I would use artifacts or some stories closed to
their cultural backgrounds, to induce students to share their stories, and then to
illustrate Spanish-English bilingual audio wordless picturebooks.
First, teachers and students discuss about artifacts in Spanish-English codeswitching words at first. Teachers ask students to talk about their Spanish-English
code-switching experiences in their daily life. And then teachers ask students
questions include:
Under what kinds of circumstances do you use Spanish-English code-switching
words?
What categories do those Spanish-English code-switching words belong to? (Among
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or other propositions.)
Then I provide three Spanish-English bilingual picturebooks for students to
brainstorm their bilingual stories. I would like to use Family Picture/ Cuadros de
Familia (1990), I Know the River Loves Me/Yo S Que El Ro Me Ama (2009), and
Little Roja Riding Hood (2014) these three Spanish-English bilingual picturebooks.
First I would use Family Picture/ Cuadros de Familia to invoke children of their life
experiences, since this picturebooks narrates authentic lifestyles of Latino Americans
in Kingsville, Texas. Children are not too much experienced, yet their connections to
their surrounding are unique and powerful. Then I introduce I Know the River Loves
Me/Yo S Que El Ro Me Ama, for this picturebook has a theme on a certain object:
River. We can ask students to bring an object to school and tell a story behind the
object. I suggest children focus on a specific object and then elaborate it as a story.
Third, Little Roja Riding Hood is a code-switching Spanish-English bilingual
picturebooks. This picturebooks demonstrates that Spanish and English can be
intertwined together. They three Spanish-English bilingual picturebooks can be
mentor texts to help students view their own bilingual narrative texts. In addition,
teachers remind children the importance of illustrations, for Color is not only a
composition resource that conveys mood and can add interest but it is also semiotic
material that can help the reader understand there is movement in a still image
(Zapata, p. 25). The passage shows that art can represent both our emotion and
movement. Both narration and pictures compose touching Spanish-English bilingual

audio wordless picturebooks.

Then teachers provide some examples of overgeneralizing Spanish words, such as
soi (soy), yava (lleva), jente (gente), and benir (venir), to remind them of the
phonemic changes from English to Spanish. Y in Spanish sound like I in English, LL
in Spanish sound like Y in English, G in Spanish sound like J in English, and V in
Spanish sound like B in English. And teachers should also be aware that
overgeneralizing is a natural process, so that what we can do is to reduce the period of
overgeneralizing, rather than eliminate it.
Then we can ask students to share their stories. Through sharing those
significant stories to peers, students learn how to narrate them. Teachers can ask them:
If you want to narrate their stories in Spanish and English, which words will you
choose to include?
What do you think about Spanish-English code-switching now? What are the
meanings of Spanish-English code-switching words for you?
And then teachers ask students to record their Spanish-English bilingual narrative
texts through iPhones which are prepared by elementary school, and to make sure that
those recordings are in accordance with those wordless pictures. During the
presentation, each student puts the iPhones on table, displaying their Spanish-English
recordings and Spanish-English bilingual audio wordless picturebooks, and they take
turn every five minutes listening to one anothers stories around the classroom. They
express their feedbacks for every classmate through written stickers in their speaking
performances of semantics (wordless), phonetics (audio), and phonology (audio) of
Spanish-English code-switching. Furthermore, they see if they can understand
classmates bilingual stories by listening audio recordings and reading pictures
separately. They need to self-assess themselves as well.
Teachers apply Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) and Bilingual Verbal
Abilities Tests (BVAT) in this activity. I suggest teachers not to assess children by the
number of words they write or the correctness of Spanish-English code-switching
vocabulary, but their understandings of semantics, phonetics, and phonology, and their
abilities to articulate their works in the recordings. Teachers evaluate students
feedbacks for every classmate through written stickers and their self-assessment as
well. Some of them might tell teachers about their cultural identity in Spanish-English
code-switching bilingual audio wordless picturebooks. To sum up, this activity give
students the opportunity to ponder on the essences of Spanish-English code-switching

and storytelling. The drawings and code-switching that students create in those
bilingual audio wordless picturebooks reflect their understandings, and even more,
their cultural identity.

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