Translanguaging practices in adult education for deaf migrants

ABSTRACT In the last decade, Sweden has received many deaf migrants with very diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds. When arriving in Sweden, they are expected to learn Swedish Sign Language (STS) and Swedish. For this study, we have used data from project Mulder, a four-year research project that aims to generate knowledge about deaf migrants’ multilingual situation in Sweden. The focus is on two folk high schools with programmes designated for deaf migrants. In this article, we describe how adult education for deaf migrants is organised in Sweden and examine how translanguaging practices are formed there. We found that translanguaging is a natural and common part of the multilingual classrooms, but also that the opportunities to translanguage depend highly on the individual’s repertoires and whether particular individuals have one or more languages in common or have a lingua franca. We also found that translanguaging is not always helpful in learning contexts if the teachers are not conscious and insightful when they mix languages.


Introduction
Migration is a common global phenomenon and depends on various factors.Some migrate for educational or employment reasons, while others are forced to migrate because of conflicts, persecution, or human rights violations.United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2020) estimates that there are 79.5 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, and according to World Health Organization Europe, approximately 10% of the European population today consists of migrants.
According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2016), adult education is essential to "equip people with the necessary capabilities to exercise and realize their rights and take control of their destinies.It promotes personal and professional development, thereby supporting more active engagement by adults with their societies, communities, and environments."(p.8).Therefore, it is vital to closely examine how education is provided for migrants in the new country, for example, the way it is systematically organised, what is being taught, its duration, and if there are special requirements such as residence permits or if asylum seekers are allowed to participate.
There are no statistics available on deaf migrants among migrant populations, but it is important to understand that deaf migrants who are refugees are among the most vulnerable groups because of the lack of access to information provided in their sign language, particularly about their current situation (World Federation of the Deaf, 2019).It is also essential to examine if special courses or programmes are available for deaf migrants that take their needs and conditions into account.
Deaf migrants are a heterogeneous group regarding their educational and linguistic backgrounds.Some may have grown up in deaf families, learnt national sign language from birth, and attended school for several years, even reaching university level.However, others may not have had the same experiences.Around the world, deaf children's access to education is often very limited.In countries where deaf education is provided, its quality is often poor.It is seldom a bilingual education with a sign language being the primary language of instruction (Haualand & Allen, 2009).Instead, either spoken language is used, or deaf children are placed in mainstream schools.In recent years, concerns have been raised about the latter issue as mainstream education cannot be considered inclusive for deaf students, for example, because educators lack knowledge about how to support language and social development (see further Murray et al., 2018;Murray et al., 2020;Snoddon & Murray, 2019;World Federation of the Deaf, 2018).In addition to the lack of schools with sign language as the language of instruction, most deaf children have hearing parents who do not know a sign language.These factors contribute to many deaf people growing up without access to sign language and limited knowledge of a national spoken and written language.Consequently, many deaf people have grown up with inconsistent language exposure regarding both sign language and spoken/written language.
In the last decade, Sweden has received a large number of migrants, particularly refugees.According to Statistics Sweden (2021), 772,659 migrants were registered in Sweden between 2015 and 2020; deaf migrants are included in this number.However, Sweden does not record sensitive personal data such as disability, meaning no statistics are available on how many migrants are deaf.Deaf migrants have very diverse backgrounds, experiences, and skills, yet they are expected to learn Swedish, Swedish Sign Language (Svenskt teckenspråk, henceforth STS), and community orientation. 4In this article, we describe how migrant deaf adult education in Sweden is organised and examine how translanguaging practices are formed there.We also explore if possibilities to translanguage depend on the participants' backgrounds and communicative repertoires and if other participants they interact with impact this possibility.

Translanguaging in visually-oriented classrooms
In classrooms with migrants, several languages come into play.The participants may know different languages and have different communicative repertoires.Some may have a shared language, while others may be the only ones knowing a specific language.The teachers also have their communicative repertoires and may be the only ones who (initially) master the language in focus for learning.This makes the classroom multilingual, and the participants constantly negotiate meaning for learning and interaction.This can be understood through a lens of translanguaging whereby we understand the classroom context as having complex language exchanges occurring between individuals who have diverse backgrounds and histories that are experienced as 4. Community orientation include knowledge of human rights; fundamental democratic values; the rights and obligations of the individual in general and; how society is organized.a new whole when they interact (Garcia & Li Wei, 2014).Garcia and Li Wei also note that translanguaging is built on the flexible language practices of bilingual or multilingual students.Translanguaging requires students to take control of their language practices to access knowledge.At the same time, the teachers become facilitators that ensure that the students can expand their meaning-making repertoires (Garcia & Li Wei, 2014).
In recent years, the concept of translanguaging has developed and expanded from its origin in bilingual education.For example, Mazak (2017) mentions that translanguaging can be described as a language ideology, a theory of bilingualism, and a pedagogical approach.Thus, we can discuss translanguaging from different perspectives and levels, from theory to practice.Multilinguals have skills and competence in several languages, which together form a whole, i.e., a common set of resources rather than separate registers (Garcia, 2009).In other words, multilinguals use their whole repertoire to create meaning.Holmström and Schönström (2018) studied deaf-led classrooms in higher education settings where students were also deaf.They found that these classrooms were multimodal and that the languages used appeared primarily in their visual form.STS is a visual language because it is received through the eyes.Correspondingly, for deaf people, the Swedish language is primarily accessible in its written form, which is also visually received, i.e., through reading.In Holmström and Schönström's study there are examples where also spoken languages such as Swedish are made visual through signs, i.e., using the modality of STS but following the structure of Swedish; every Swedish word is signed and uses Swedish word order.Holmström and Schönström labelled this phenomenon intramodal translanguaging, i.e., instead of translanguaging using Swedish in its 'original' modality (oral-auditive), Swedish is put into STS's modality (gestural-visual).Holmström and Schönström found that intramodal translanguaging as a way of making spoken languages visually accessible was widely used by teachers.This was to visualise the spoken language structures and facilitate students' learning.In addition, the teachers used a range of visual resources such as pointing, gestures, pictures, illustrations, diagrams, and enactments.Hence, Holmström and Schönström described these classrooms as visually-oriented translanguaging practices.Such visually-oriented translanguaging practices are of particular interest in this study, as the linguistic backgrounds of the deaf migrants are very diverse.They have very different communicative repertoires, with some knowing several national languages and others relying more solely on gestures and enactments.To be able to translanguage, individuals need to have access to more than one language, although the gestural repertoire is also of great importance, not least when it comes to sign languages.Those with greater multilingual knowledge have more opportunities to learn additional languages or skills through translanguaging.In contrast, those who are not multilingual may struggle more in the classroom context (cf. De Meulder et al., 2019).In this study, we will examine this issue closer and look at participants with very diverse backgrounds to illustrate the strategies used that depend on their linguistic backgrounds.

Education initiatives for adult migrants in Sweden
Among the migrants (hearing and deaf) coming to Sweden, we find there are those who have attended school and learned to read and write and others who have never attended school and are emerging readers.When they arrive in Sweden, they are expected to learn Swedish and about Swedish society.Fejes (2019) mentions that Sweden offers a range of education for migrants to help them become 'full' citizens in Swedish society.Sweden places great trust in education being the best way for migrants to become participating citizens (Fejes, 2019).Therefore, in 2015 when Sweden started to receive a large influx of migrants, there was a need to establish courses designated for the many new arrivals.The Swedish government took the initiative to create the Swedish from day one course aiming to provide newly arrived migrants/asylum seekers with opportunities to learn Swedish and community orientation as soon as possible.The course also gives the asylum seekers something meaningful to do while they await the asylum process.Furthermore, the belief was that the newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers would quickly assimilate into society and the labour market once they were granted a residence permit, if they participated in the Swedish from day one from the start.The course is offered by different education providers in the country and has no time limit regarding the number of hours.For a deeper insight on Swedish from day one course, see Fejes (2019).
In addition to Swedish from day one, there is another programme targeted at certain newly arrived migrants called the Establishment programme.This programme is a labour market policy initiative by the Swedish Public Employment Service.To be eligible for the programme, the migrant has to be 20-65 years old, be registered with the Employment Service, actively seeking employment and have either recently been granted a residence permit as a refugee, be a person that belongs to one of the particular groups with special protection status or be a family member.The programme aims to provide opportunities to learn Swedish, find a job and gain independence.Education is adapted after each individual's needs so that the migrant can simultaneously receive education and look for work.In this programme, the migrant can receive education until they obtain a job (or have full-time parental leave or are sick long-term).The programme, however, lasts a maximum of 24 months.
The third type of education designated for adult migrants in Sweden is Swedish for immigrants (Svenska för invandrare, SFI).SFI is a language learning programme, free of charge, provided mainly by the municipalities and intends to give migrants basic and functional knowledge of Swedish.To be eligible for SFI, the migrants must be registered as residents in Sweden (or be an EU/EEA citizen).SFI aims to enable active participation in everyday life, society, work, and further studies.For migrants who have not learned literacy skills previously, SFI also intends to give them opportunities to acquire reading and writing skills.SFI is divided into four courses (A, B, C, and D) and has three different study paths (1, 2, and 3) depending on the migrants' backgrounds, circumstances, and goals.Study path 1 is for migrants with limited reading and writing skills and consists of all four courses (A, B, C, and D); study path 2 consists of three courses (B, C, and D); and study path 3 is for migrants with good educational backgrounds and consists of only two courses (C and D).The most common time allocation for SFI studies is 15 hours per week, allowing migrants to combine studying with work, vocational training, or other studies.However, each course takes 3-12 months to complete, depending on the study path taken and the individual migrant's background and previous experience.

Folk high schools -independent adult education colleges
As mentioned above, there are several different education providers for migrants in Sweden.Mostly municipalities commonly offer SFI, but other education providers can also offer it.Our study focuses on one common education provider: folk high schools (folkhögskolor), which are independent adult education colleges offering non-formal adult education.Folk high schools have existed in Sweden since 1868 when the peasants needed an alternative to university education, which at the time was too expensive and time-consuming.Folk high schools have been vital for the development of democracy in Sweden, providing education for a large part of the Swedish population, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity (Maliszewski, 2003).Folk high schools aim to provide general civic education based on the student's needs, previous knowledge, and experience.The schools are run by organisations 5 , county councils, and regions.One of the characteristics of folk high schools is that the school can develop the contents and directions of their own courses independently.Students (who are called participants) are not awarded credits or grades; they receive study certificates with assessments.Sweden currently has 154 folk high schools.
All folk high schools must offer a 'general course' (allmän kurs) where participants can complete primary and lower secondary school education (usually after 1-2 years).They can continue on to upper secondary school level within three years.Upon completion, they can qualify for higher education and higher vocational education.However, folk high schools can also develop courses with different content and duration.These are called 'special courses' or vocational training courses that prepare participants for driving tests, ICT courses, and courses for students wanting to learn STS or become an STS interpreter.
5. The organisations varies and includes, for example, non-governmental organisations, economic associations, foundations, religious communities, and sometimes companies with limited dividends.

Sweden's tradition of sign bilingual education
Before we provide further details about education for deaf adult migrants, we need to understand deaf education in general in Sweden.Sweden has a long tradition of sign bilingual education following the establishment of a national curriculum in 1983, which was revised in 1994 and again in 2011.The curriculum includes a model of bilingual teaching through STS and Swedish in schools for the deaf.The languages of instruction form the foundation of the curricula, where STS is used as the main language of instruction and Swedish is primarily acquired in its printed form, even if spoken Swedish has been a flexible option within the curricula for those whose hearing is good enough.STS is an independent subject area in the curriculum.The sign bilingual model is well embedded in Swedish deaf education today (see Schönström & Holmström, 2021 for an overview).
In the decades after implementing the sign bilingual model, several scientific studies have been made on deaf children's bilingualism from a variety of perspectives.Research on deaf people's acquisition of written Swedish was carried out in parallel with advancements in research on STS that started in the 1970s.Kristina Svartholm and Krister Schönström conducted several such studies applying second language acquisition theories.They found that deaf people's written Swedish was similar to hearing second language learners in terms of structure and acquisition (see, e.g., Schönström, 2014;Svartholm, 2008).The studies show that learning Swedish is a challenge for many deaf students, something which the literature on deaf people's literacy development also demonstrates (see Schönström & Holmström, 2019 for an overview).Therefore, a need for more research on bilingual learning of written language was emphasised and advancements in teacher training were needed to better meet the needs of deaf children so they can successfully develop their literacy.When combined, the concept of sign bilingualism is rooted in Swedish deaf education and society today, as we have generations of deaf people that have undergone sign bilingual education.Such sign bilingual education shapes education for deaf adult migrants as the languages of instruction in deaf contexts are primarily STS and written Swedish.

Education for deaf adult migrants in Sweden
Similar to hearing migrants, deaf migrants are expected to attend language learning courses as described above and there are different education providers for such courses.These include a national upper secondary school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students (for those younger than 20 years), folk high schools (for those above 18 years old), municipalities' courses, and educational companies (e.g., Iris Hadar).The education providers offer courses in SFI, Swedish from day one, and the Establishment programme, like those for hearing migrants (see above).The difference is that the courses for deaf migrants are given through STS and that participants learn two languages simultaneously, STS and written Swedish (Duggan & Holmström, 2022).

This study
For this study, we have used data generated from Project Mulder, a four-year research project funded by the Swedish Research Council (2019-02115) that aims to generate knowledge about deaf migrants' multilingual situation in Sweden (Holmström et al., 2021).The focus is on courses given in two folk high schools in four locations (two locations under the name of one folk high school each) with programmes designated for deaf migrants.The schools have similar structures and ethos and provide general courses, special courses, vocational training programmes for deaf participants, and SFI courses.However, School A has an agreement with the Swedish Migration Agency for providing initial instruction in STS and community orientation for asylum seekers.School A also supports the asylum seekers through the asylum process and in their contact with the Migration Agency and other authorities.School A also prepares asylum seekers for the Swedish labour market, and the school has contact with the Swedish Public Employment Service.School B, in contrast, routinely applies for and receives funding from the Swedish National Council of Adult Education to provide education for asylum seekers through Swedish from day one.School B has also commissioned courses in collaboration with the Swedish Public Employment Service, and thus, they offer the Establishment programme for deaf migrants.Both School A and School B offer one special course aimed at deaf migrants, with each course lasting 1-3 years.In School A, this course is called General course: Swedish and Swedish Sign Language for newly arrived and consists of STS, SFI, community orientation, mathematics/personal finance, wellness, deaf studies, and work experience.School B calls the special course Language and Society.The course content is similar to School A and includes STS, Swedish (reading and writing), external knowledge, and understanding of Swedish society.School B also offers opportunities to take SFI tests.In addition, both schools have school-wide activities for participants in all programmes.
The study's data were generated through an ethnographic approach of participant observations in two of the folk high schools' classrooms.Classroom interactions were video-recorded (approximately 45 hours).Additional data were selected from background interviews conducted with the participants and interviews with the teachers.A total of 48 participants and 23 teachers have agreed to be a part of the project.However, we have chosen to focus on 7 participants and 5 teachers for this study.Pseudonyms will be used to protect their identities.In addition, the participants' national (sign) languages will not be named because, as the deaf community in Sweden is small, there is a risk that the participant can be identified by the national language they use.Instead, '[national] language' will be used.
In our analysis of the video recordings, we identified recurring patterns and selected examples of translanguaging themes for further analysis using ELAN (EUDICO Linguistic Annotator), an annotation tool suitable for sign language analysis as it enables us to link video sequences with transcriptions (ELAN, 2021).The annotations allowed us to explore the translanguaging strategies that were used.In classroom discussions where several people participate, it can be difficult to watch everything happening or being uttered.ELAN enables us to focus on each individual in turn and identify when and where translanguaging occurs.Intramodal translanguaging, shifts between different languages, fingerspelling, and mouthing are examples we have highlighted in our analysis.The variety in the use of repertoires had contributed to a variety of translanguaging practices, which will be illustrated in our findings section.However, illustrating the rich translanguaging practices is a challenge when several different languages are in play simultaneously.We use italics for Swedish words and phrases in the examples and CAPITAL letters for signs.However, the signs sometimes represent Swedish word equivalents in ITALIC CAPITALS, while English word equivalents are just in CAPITALS.The use of @b after a word indicates that the word is fingerspelled 6 .In the extracts, the brackets {} are used for explanations or comments.

Findings
This section presents illustrative examples from three themes that appeared in our classroom observations: 1) Dictionaries as translanguaging tools, 2) Translanguaging practices in joint reading activities, 3) Translanguaging in classroom discussions.

Theme 1: Dictionaries as translanguaging tools
In language learning, dictionaries often have an essential role as translanguaging tools that help learners understand and develop their vocabulary.In this study, we found that the participants commonly used dictionaries.However, we also found that the dictionaries provided by different digital websites or apps did not always work well, depending on the participants' linguistic backgrounds and the languages used.For instance, several dictionaries and translation tools can be used between Swedish and English because English is a global language and is often used as a lingua franca by Swedish people in international contexts.However, dictionaries between Swedish and other minor languages, for example, Irish, often are limited and may suggest incorrect equivalents in the vocabulary.Therefore, the users of dictionaries and translation tools have to be conscious, creative, and critical.Users must be aware that there are limitations and errors and that some languages may need a lingua franca such as English to be correctly translated.An Irish speaker who wants to search for a specific Swedish word must first check the Irish-English dictionary and then the English-Swedish dictionary.Such advanced use of dictionaries is possible for advanced multilinguals, 6. Fingerspelling mean that the signer use the manual alphabet in STS and spell out for example names, cities or words/concepts in, e.g., Swedish or English.
while those with limited knowledge of several languages may struggle when using dictionaries.

a. Working use of a dictionary
The participants in this study often use more than one app or online dictionary to search for equivalents in vocabulary or utterances between different languages.Some participants use several sources and languages to find different ways to understand the meanings of Swedish words.In the first illustrative example, we analyse three multilingual participants with similar backgrounds: Maja, Isabella, and Kevin.All of them come from the same European home country, and they have learnt the country's sign language and written language.As young adults, they moved to another country and learnt this country's sign language and written language.Now they have moved to Sweden and are learning STS and Swedish.Maja and Kevin also mention some knowledge of International Sign 7 while Kevin and Isabella report knowing a little English.
Maja, Kevin, and Isabella sit around a table, working individually with Swedish words and phrases.In a clip chosen for analysis, Maja repeatedly checks an app called Glosbe on her mobile phone.Glosbe is a multilingual dictionary that has high reviews in app rankings.Maja wrote the Swedish phrase Vad sa du? [What did you say?] in Glosbe.The app suggested a translation into the [national] language.After scrolling up and down for a short while, Maja turns to Kevin and discusses the translation with him.They switch between STS and the [national] sign language, negotiating the meaning of the Swedish written phrase.Maja then writes an explanation of the utterance in her [national] written language on a sheet (see Figure 2 in Theme 3 below).This procedure continues back and forth during the lesson and shows a working use of the dictionary; Maja writes the word in Swedish, finds out the meaning of the word in [national] written language through the dictionary, and discusses the meaning and STS equivalents with Kevin.Here, Maja learns written Swedish and simultaneously develops her 7.International Sign is a communication method appearing in contexts where interlocutors who do not share the same languages came together.The communication consists of elements from the interlocutors' sign languages, iconic and pantomimic structures as well as pointings.
STS through the discussions with Kevin.In their interviews, Maja and Kevin mentioned that they try to use STS as much as possible, both at home and in school, to develop the new sign language as fast as possible.Thanks to the working use of the dictionary combined with their shared knowledge of several previously learned sign languages, they can create rich translanguaging practices which ensure their shared understanding of the tasks, the languages, the activities, and the phenomenon (see Theme 3 below for further development of this part).
b. Non-working use of a dictionary An illustrative example that contrasts the above come from the same classroom.Here, Paula is working with a paper sheet illustrating the human body.The task is to write the names of the body parts in Swedish in the empty boxes (see Figure 1).Paula is multilingual and has lived in four different European countries before she came to Sweden.She primarily uses sign languages and says that she knows three national sign languages, but she does not mention any written (or spoken) language as one of the languages she knows.In the data, it also becomes clear that she struggles greatly with written languages; the body part-task illustrates this.Paula uses the Google translation app to search for word equivalents between her home country's written language and Swedish.In the example below, Paula tries to find the Swedish word for breast: Closes the app.
This example shows Paula's limited possibilities to use the dictionary between Swedish and her home country's written language.Paula is the only one from her country in the class, and thus, she has no classmate to discuss the vocabulary with and neither of the teachers know this language.However, it is not possible to find out whether it is the dictionary that does not work between Swedish and the national language or if Paula's limited knowledge of the written language of her home country causes the difficulties.However, this illustrative example shows the limited possibilities Paula has for translanguaging due to the lack of interlocutors, limitations of the dictionary as well as own limited skills in written languages.
Paula's difficulties continue during the exercise.She decides to try another box, corresponding to an illustration of a foot [fot].She has already written the Swedish word tå [toe] in the box (but the letter t is very similar to f in her writing).She picks another box with the arrow pointing at the ankle and writes få [get] in this box.She stops again and seems to hesitate.This example has several dimensions.On the one hand, this example shows how unsure Paula is in choosing the right Swedish words for different body parts, and on the other hand, this shows an interesting phenomenon that perhaps can be seen as a mix of two words, fot, and tå, resulting in få.It may also be an example of a difficulty differentiating between the letters t and f in writing, even though Paula grew up in a European country that uses the Latin alphabet.
When the teacher approaches Paula and checks the illustration and words on Paula's sheet, a negotiation about the Swedish words ben [leg] and knä [knee] begins.Paula has written ben in the box for knä.The teacher tries to explain that the word should be different, showing with enactments of touching her leg with her hands and moving them downwards, following the whole leg, and after that, she lifts her leg, pointing at her knee.She asks Paula what the particular word for this body part is.Paula does not remember, and after a short exchange of signing between them, the teacher reveals the correct word by fingerspelling KNÄ@b.This example also shows a limited translanguaging practice.Although the teacher uses enactments and pointing, she finds no other linguistic resource to support Paula's understanding of the Swedish words.

c. Using STS-Swedish dictionary
The participants do not always have opportunities to use a dictionary for various reasons.One such reason is that the participant may not know another written (or signed) language to be able to use a dictionary or that there are no dictionaries between the language the participant knows and Swedish.In the classroom interaction data, we found that STS-dictionaries are commonly used in cases of limited previous knowledge of any written language.This means that some participants use STS to understand and learn Swedish, regardless of their country of origin, previous linguistic knowledge, and educational background.In addition, we found that the teachers often encourage the use of STS-dictionaries and the aims of using them varied a lot.Sometimes it was for understanding the meaning of a Swedish word or sentence and sometimes for learning different signs for, e.g., objects or actions, or for learning how to use signs in various utterances.
An illustrative example of the common use of STS-dictionaries comes from a lesson in Swedish.A deaf woman from an African country, Flora, is working on a reading task.Flora sits at her desk, reading the book, and signs (in STS) word for word the written text (see Picture 1).Flora does not produce STS in this example, although she uses signs.Instead, it is an example of intramodal translanguaging, a visualisation of Swedish following the Swedish structure and grammar.However, the example shows how Flora repeatedly consults the STS-dictionary to find signs for each Swedish word in the text.This sometimes led to misconceptions, confusion in the meaning, and several alternative signs to choose between.It is unclear what Flora benefits from this working process, but, as shown in Theme 2 below, it may be the routines in the classroom teaching that influence how Flora works in individual tasks like this one.However, even though this work can be seen as a translanguaging using STS and Swedish, this translanguaging appears in the new host country's framing, i.e., only languages from the Swedish context are used.Flora is the only one from her country in the class, and thus, she does not share a previous language with any of the other participants.
Flora had great difficulties explaining her linguistic and educational background in the interview, even though they were conducted twice, approximately one year apart, in order to get more precise information after Flora supposedly should have developed more STS to tell her story.Flora's narrative is very unclear and sometimes confusing and messy.She mentioned little knowledge of [national] sign language, English, and STS, but good knowledge of Swedish.She said that she attended school for 15 years, in a deaf class at a hearing school, and mentioned that she has a deaf brother.She then mentioned that her deaf brother and she use STS when communicating.Hence, it appears that Flora has limited opportunities to tell her life narrative and that she does not have a clear picture of what language(s) she has learned before.We have not found her using other languages in interactions with other participants or when performing different exercises in the classroom interaction data.Therefore, in Flora's case, the opportunities to benefit from translanguaging are minimal.

Theme 2 -Translanguaging practice in joint reading activities
During their Swedish classes, the participants often carry out joint reading activities of Swedish texts together with the teachers.The teachers usually lead the reading activities standing in the front of the classroom equipped with a blackboard and a digital screen, and the participants are sitting in a semicircle.An illustrative example from such an activity will be described here.Two teachers are involved in the teaching, one deaf (Jenny) and one hearing (Anita).Both are fluent in STS and Swedish.A page with text and illustrations from the book called Flörten [Dalliance] is apparent on the digital screen.The reading activity follows a structural and repetitive procedure in which one page of the book is visible at a time, and the class reads the few sentences on the page one after another.Anita writes a sentence from the page on the blackboard, and the class reads the sentence on the På lördagen sjunger Ebba and Filip i kören.
[On Saturday, Ebba and Filip are singing in the choir.]Then Anita uses intramodal translanguaging and signs every word of the sentence, i.e., one sign for every word: ON SATURDAY SING EBBA AND FILIP IN CHOIR (it must be noted that the names of the characters from the book usually have sign names).After this, Jenny asks the class how the sentence would be uttered in STS and the participants suggest different solutions.Our analysis of the participants' suggestions shows difficulties with dropping the Swedish word order.
Once the participants have given their suggestions, Jenny presents a solution in STS, and she usually teaches or reminds the participants of different STS grammar rules.In this example, Jenny emphasises that the first part of the sentence should contain information about when something is happening, e.g., SATURDAY EBBA FILIP SING CHOIR.When Jenny has given the suggested STS translation of the Swedish sentence, the participants are instructed to sign the same STS sentence to 'get a feel for it'.There are several discussions about the reading and the possible STS translations on multiple levels during the continued procedure.
A while later in the lesson, Anita writes a new sentence from the book on the blackboard: När Filip ser på Ebba blinkar hon.Flera gånger.
[When Filip looks at Ebba, she blinks.Many times.]Anita repeats the procedure, signing the Swedish sentence word for word: WHEN FILIP LOOK AT EBBA BLINK SHE MANY TIME.Most participants do not show any problems with signing the sentence following the Swedish structure.The difficulties appear when the sentence is to be translated into STS.When Jenny asks for possible translations, most participants continue to follow the Swedish sentence structure.
Here, Jenny suggests a translation that includes constructed action and constructed dialogue, which is prominent in STS (and sign languages in general), i.e., a simultaneous construction that provides 'perspective-taking' of the characters Filip and Ebba while performing the manual signs.Also, the information' many times' is incorporated in the sign BLINK through a morphological feature, reduplication, to express iteration, i.e., repeating the phonological form of movement in the sign.
By the end of the page, when all the sentences have been read and translated into STS, Jenny translates the whole page into STS, creating a fluent and coherent STS narrative.She also summarises the issues that have arisen when the class focuses on one sentence in turn.
We see several different activities in this classroom; a joint reading activity and a set of advanced practices related to the reading.First, the participants have to read and understand the Swedish sentences, and then try to connect the text with STS signs, Finally, they have to try to translate the text into STS.This is a complex process for many participants, especially those with lower Swedish and STS skills.Furthermore, translation is a complex process that requires a higher level of linguistic skills.In addition, metalinguistic discussions of the languages' structures are common.Overall, such reading activities require skilled teachers that can explain and support the migrants at different linguistic levels.The clear division between Anita (hearing) and Jenny (deaf) in the teaching is also of interest.Anita is responsible for the Swedish part of the activity, writing the sentences on the blackboard and signing the sentences word-for-word.At the same time, Jenny is responsible for the STS part by providing STS translations.However, the reading activity illustrated here is an example of a rich translanguaging practice, where STS and Swedish appear in different forms and structures side by side.STS forms a crucial resource for participation in the reading activity and to read and understand the book; intramodal translanguaging is common through the signing of each word in the Swedish sentence.The teachers use this strategy to visualise the Swedish through STS, and thus, STS serves as a bridge to Swedish.
The illustrated examples in Theme 2 show that the teachers' strategies include both the signing that closely follows Swedish, including prepositions and function words, and the full translations of the text's meaning into STS where several words are incorporated in the signs or body as part of constructed action/dialogue.

Theme 3 -Translanguaging in classroom discussions
As translanguaging often appears in groups with bi-or multilinguals, translanguaging strategies depend on the interlocutors.In this section, the focus will be on two group discussions, where one consists of multilinguals with similar repertories and the other of multilinguals with different repertoires.

a. Translanguaging practices among participants with similar repertoires
An example from our study is a group of three participants, Maja, Isabella, and Kevin, presented in Theme 1, alongside a teacher who does not know any of their languages apart from STS and Swedish.The participants are sitting around a table with their papers (see Figure 2) in front of them.The task is to understand the meanings of the Swedish words on the sheet list.In the description below, the focus is on Maja's activity where she uses all of her repertoires to understand the meaning of the Swedish phrase en gång till [one more time]: Looks at the Glosbe app for a translation of the Swedish phrase en gång till {she seems unsure with the translation}  3} {the teacher signs EN-GÅNG-TILL, one single sign, see Figure 4} Copies the teacher's sign EN-GÅNG-TILL {the teacher then gives an example phrase} Signs to Kevin in [national] sign language {she chose a different sign than they previously had agreed on.They agree on this new sign} Writes the word down in [national] language on the sheet Here, Maja started by looking at Glosbe for a translation of the Swedish phrase in written [national] language.Even though she read the phrase in a language she knew, she did not appear fully satisfied with the translation.As Maja and Kevin have similar repertoires, they could discuss the meaning in a sign language they both knew.The teacher could not participate in their discussion because she did not know the [national] sign language being used.However, in this case, the teacher tried to ensure that they understood the meaning of the Swedish phrase by describing what the phrase meant and giving an example of how the word could be used in an STS sentence.Maja and Kevin understood the meaning from the teacher's description and picked a sign in [national] sign language they felt best represented that meaning.Maja then wrote a translation of the phrase in [national] written language.Maja uses all of her available repertoires by i) using a translation app tool, ii) asking the teacher to describe the meaning of the word, iii) discussing with Kevin what sign in their national sign language and what word in their national written language best match the teacher's description of en gång till [one more time].The translanguaging strategy used in this case is a constant flow of switching between different learning tools and languages in order to understand the meaning of a phrase.

EN-GÅNG-TILL [one-more-time]
The index finger, pointed upwards and facing inwards, is moved inwards.
(ID-number: 08404) Source: Swedish Sign Language Dictionary (teckensprakslexikon.su.se)Another example of translanguaging in the same lesson, with a different dimension, is the use of intramodal translanguaging and how it sometimes can create confusion rather than clarity.In the discussion between the teacher and Isabella, the teacher visualised the language structure of en gång till [one more time] by signing word by word, using STS signs while following the Swedish word order (see Figure 3).She then followed this up by showing a single STS sign for the whole phrase (see Figure 4).While explaining the phrase's meaning to Isabella, the teacher used the signs shown in Figure 3 two times and the sign shown in Figure 4 four times.This may create more confusion than clarity for Isabella.
Maja was simultaneously watching the teacher's explanation from afar, and later on, she asked the teacher if Figure 3 was the correct sign for the phrase.The teacher corrected her, showing Figure 4 as the sign for the phrase en gång till.Here, the teacher tried to visualise the Swedish phrase structure by signing word by word, but this created confusion for Maja.Because she was learning Swedish and STS simultaneously, she did not know which sign she should use as the teacher showed two ways to sign one phrase, even though one sign is correct, and the other signs are a way of visualising the Swedish language structure.The teacher's overlapping between STS and Swedish thus creates difficulty for Maja to differentiate between these two languages.

b. Translanguaging practices among participants with different repertoires
Unlike Maja, Kevin, and Isabella, who share several languages, most of the participants do not have the opportunity to interact with peers in their own language(s).Instead, they use various translanguaging strategies to achieve mutual understanding, however, to varying degrees of success.An illustrative example of such a strategy comes from a discussion between a teacher and two participants, Evan and Mark.They come from different European countries, and both have deaf parents, meaning that they acquired a national sign language from birth.Both are multilinguals with different repertoires; Evan reports knowing three different sign languages, two written languages, and little International Sign.Mark reports knowing four sign languages and two written languages.However, the only language they have in common is written English, although this is not their native language, nor do they have native-level skills.
The teacher sits around the table with Evan and Mark who take turns in reading a Swedish book and using STS to sign what is said in the book.Whenever they get stuck on a Swedish word, they use various translanguaging strategies.Three examples are extracted from this group discussion to illustrate the different strategies used.The first example demonstrates the mixed-use of a signed and spoken language, STS and Swedish, and the mixed-use of two sign languages, STS and American Sign Language (ASL).Evan did not know what the Swedish word kompis [friend] meant.The teacher started by using intramodal translanguaging, spelling out the Swedish word using STS fingerspelling, followed by a sign from ASL before using the STS sign for 'friend' to explain what kompis meant (see Table 1).In an interview, the teacher mentioned having knowledge of ASL and some International Sign.However, Evan and Mark did not mention any knowledge of ASL, yet the teacher chose to use an ASL sign.The teacher used a translanguaging strategy of selecting a sign from her own repertoire that is not STS, hoping that this sign would be understood as neither the STS sign nor fingerspelling of the Swedish word was understood by Evan.
Another example that illustrates English mouthing attached to an STS sign is shown in during a group work.The teacher chose not to use the mouth form that matches the STS sign AFFÄR [aˈfaeːɹ] [shop].Instead, she decided to use the English mouthing for 'shop' along with the STS sign AFFÄR but use the Swedish-based pronunciation [ˈɧɔpa] for the English word instead of the English pronunciation ['ʃɒp].This is another example of a translanguaging strategy; the teacher chooses a word from one language (Swedish), a mouthing from another language (English), and a sign from a signed language (STS), all shown simultaneously.
A third example from the same discussion is the use of fingerspelling in one language to visualise the word in another language.Mark tries to explain to Evan what the word sälja means by using STS fingerspelling to visualise the English word 'sell' (see Table 2).Here, he uses written English as a lingua franca because they share this language.However, Mark also uses International Sign for the word 'same'.It seems that by switching between several languages constantly, Mark tries to find out the best way to interact with Evan.

STS
In the two situations analysed here, several examples of rich translanguaging appear.However, the various strategies chosen by the teachers and the participants in these situations highly depend on whom they interact with, i.e., whether the interlocutors have one or several languages in common.

Discussion
The folk high school contexts in this study constitute rich translanguaging practices.The deaf migrants from various parts of the world come together with the goal of learning STS and written Swedish.As mentioned in the introduction, migrants have very diverse backgrounds and varied linguistic repertoires, and thus, it is impossible to treat them as a homogenous group.In this article, we have shown how translanguaging is a natural part of the learning contexts and that the participants constantly negotiate meaning with other participants and teachers.The illustrative examples we have chosen for this paper highlight that translanguaging comes in different forms.As shown in Themes 1 and 3, multilinguals with similar linguistic and educational backgrounds can use their common previous languages to negotiate the meaning of STS and Swedish and support each other in understanding the translations in dictionary apps or the explanations by the teachers.Furthermore, Theme 3 shows how negotiation of meaning is still common in other interactions, where the interlocutors do not share a common previous language.Still, there it is more apparent how participants use their whole repertoire in a more varied way, as they repeatedly try different languages and strategies.They may also have any language as a lingua franca that they can use in any way.
However, we also have shown that multilinguals are not always able to negotiate meaning and use translanguaging to deepen their linguistic repertoire and social knowledge.In Theme 1, we learn that the opportunities to interact with the classmates to create new understanding may be limited due to the participants' very different backgrounds and the teachers' limited knowledge of languages other than STS and Swedish.We found examples that dictionary apps do not always work and that the participants may need more support from teachers to find tools that work better.We have not found examples of situations where the participants used a lingua franca when searching for words in dictionaries.Strategies such as the use of a lingua franca, e.g., English, as a link language between a national language and Swedish would be helpful for the participant's language learning.
In their interviews, several teachers emphasised the importance of only using STS with the participants.They believed that the participants need to learn to use STS rather than depend on their previous repertoires (see Duggan & Holmström, 2022).However, their statements were not reflected in their actions in the classroom.The evidence shows that there have been several attempts of translanguaging, although with varying degrees of success.In Theme 3, the teacher even used a mixture of four languages -STS, Swedish, ASL, and English -to explain what a specific Swedish word meant.Thus, translanguaging can be unintentional, especially in group discussions where individuals constantly negotiate meaning.
One of the teachers mentioned the importance of the participant's ability to draw on their previous repertoires when learning Swedish.However, he specified that he encouraged particularly those who are translanguage, especially in group discussions, depend highly on the individual's own repertoires and whether specific individuals in the group have one or more language in common, or have a lingua franca such as English, ASL or International Sign.We also found that translanguaging may not always be helpful in learning contexts if the teachers are not conscious and insightful when they mix repertoires and use intramodal translanguaging as if the participants have similar backgrounds as those who grew up in Sweden.

Credit Author Statement
We, Nora Duggan, Ingela Holmström and Krister Schönström, hereby declare that there is no potential conflict of interest in this study.We have all participated in study conceptualisation, methodology, study design, data analysis, data collection, and editing.

Figure 1 -
Figure 1 -Sheet for entering body parts in Swedish Takes up the mobile and writes [national word].The app responds sten [stone].{the correct word should be bröst [breast]} Puts down the mobile phone.Starts writing the letter 'h'.Hesitates, stop writing.Looks at the picture for a long time without writing.Picks up the mobile again, looking at the word in the app.Hesitates, removes the [national word], and writes [another national word] instead.It translates as plausor.{an insect} Refreshes the page, hesitates a while, writes the word 'kaja'.The app translates it to the Swedish word kaja [jackdaw].

Figure 2 -
Figure 2 -Using STS-dictionary for reading and writing purposes

Figure 3 -
Figure3-Task sheet with three columns (Swedish words/phrases in the left, English in the centre, and an empty column where participants will translate into a language they know).

Figure 4 -
Figure 4 -STS signs for each of the words in en gång till [one more time].
Looks at the teacher who is explaining to Isabella what en gång till means Looks at the paper on the table in front of her Signs to Kevin in [national] sign language {they appear to be trying to figure out what sign in their [national] sign language best describes en gång till and seem to agree on one} Looks at the teacher again, who is still explaining to Isabella.This time Maja tries to copy her sign for en gång till Kevin signs to her in [national] sign language {It seems that Kevin is confirming that the sign they have agreed on is the best option for en gång till but Maja remains unsure} Asks the teacher if the sign for en gång till is correct {use three signs, ONE MORE TIME, see Figure

Table 1 -
Mixed-use of languages to explain the Swedish word kompis[friend]

Table 2 -
Use of STS fingerspelling to visualise the English word 'sell'