Reconstructive Discourse Analysis as a Method for Reclaiming Non-Western Epistemologies in Language Studies: The Case of Translanguaging

While pluralized concepts such as multiliteracies, multilingualism, and translanguaging are often portrayed as cutting-edge research discourses in the West, non-Western communities have a rich history of engaging with these multidimensional forms of literacy and language use. This article recommends Reconstructive Discourse Analysis (RDA) as a decolonial research methodology to recognize and incorporate non-Western communities’ perceptions of semiotically complex language and literacy practices into mainstream research discourses. The authors describe the steps involved in RDA and illustrate its application through a comparative study of recent Western discourses on translanguaging and ancient Chinese notions of interlinguality: "通九蕃语" and "解六蕃译". This experiment highlights the contextual nature of Western theorizations about translanguaging, revealing how it is influenced by responses to modern European nation-states and their associated discriminatory social, racial, and linguistic categorizations. In contrast, the Chinese concepts prioritize multilingualism in everyday professional, social, and political interactions for mutual comprehension and the prevention of discriminatory hierarchies. The authors conclude that each concept is a response to local and time-bound discourses, and claims to universality and uniqueness of a theory can be challenged by centering similar concepts in other contexts.