Narrative Medicine and the New Scenarios of Language Learning and Teaching. Linguistic Autobiographies, Translingualisms and Migration Traumas

Abstract

The new scenarios of globalization raise new questions related to the massive movements of millions of people across the planet.  Such movements, whether forced or spontaneous, place individuals in a constant state of translation, while intercultural communication becomes increasingly important. In these circumstances, teaching in multilingual educational contexts is facing an epochal challenge. Translingualism, through its variations, translanguaging, translingual writing, and the translingual imaginary, offers a new perspective for rethinking current language policies. The consideration of the traumatic experience connected to the dimension of translingualism also helps to highlight the difficulties that can hinder language learning. Preferred working tools, which are reflected upon, include narrative medicine techniques in relation to teaching for translingual learners; linguistic autobiography, understood as a method for narrating one's internal world and as a means for creating a connection between language and emotions; and translingual autobiographies as models that deconstruct monolingual educational paradigms moving towards a decolonization of study methods. The contribution specifically proposes, through perspectives that integrate and intertwine, a reflection on the possible convergences between the field of narrative medicine and that of educational linguistics, with the hope of building more effective and inclusive learning environments.