ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the theoretical and research developments in both translingual practice and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) to show their evolving convergence and remaining distinctions. Moving beyond the notion of multilingualism as a collection of discrete language systems, the translingual orientation offers a more integrated and nuanced way of understanding how people communicate. Translingual practice has similarly evolved from its focus on code-meshing in a product-oriented manner to consider the situated practices that lead to meaning making. However, there are still some minor differences in theory and research focus between the two approaches. The understanding of community, the relationship between sharedness and diversity, the place of grammar in communication, and the connection between language and other multimodal resources suggest some differences. Translingual practice has focused more on issues of literacy, pragmatics, and pedagogy. These strengths can prove to be complementary as both approaches continue to research and theorize the diversity of English in a globalized and multilingual world.
