ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses student narratives of linguistic migration and provides an argument for student linguistic autobiographies as tools towards addressing coloniality in higher education. The main question is: How can student linguistic autobiographies contribute to insights regarding pedagogy that provides a sense of belonging for students? Autoethnography and discursive practices were provided with an opportunity to reposition themselves, or at best, delink, from their negative perceptions of themselves in the higher education environment, where written English (in all cases not their prime language) is one of the main measures of academic performance. Data were collected by means of written essays, written under guidance, with the use of prompts and in-class group sharing activities. Through construction of retrospective perspectives on their own linguistic autobiographies, students’ senses of agency, motivation for expanding their linguistic repertoires for educational purposes, and their willingness to use language creatively, were impacted. Secondly, they were afforded the opportunity to delink consciously from negative self-perceptions of their own linguistic challenges, having been shown a pathway for focusing instead, on their linguistic achievements through translingual struggles. Thirdly, the data showed that we as mediators had much to learn about our students.
