Chapter published in:
Non-professional Interpreting and Translation: State of the art and future of an emerging field of research
Edited by Rachele Antonini, Letizia Cirillo, Linda Rossato and Ira Torresi
[Benjamins Translation Library 129] 2017
► pp. 65–80

Chapter 4
Dialoguing across differences

The past and future of language brokering research

This chapter provides an overview of the research that has been done on language brokering over the last three decades. It identifies the kinds of questions that have been asked and the framings that have driven the work, raising questions about why these and not other directions were pursued. Using this overview of the field, it suggests what is missing and what other kinds of questions could be asked. It also considers how each locus of investigation could be built upon and connected to others, in order to expand and deepen our understanding of the practice and its effects, and suggests what is needed for the next generation of research on this multidimensional topic.
Keywords: language brokering, research methodologies, translanguaging, literature review
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From invisibility to visibility
  • 3.Deficits and deviances
  • 4.Broadening the developmental lens
  • 5.Understanding the practice
  • 6.Families and communities
  • 7.Classrooms and schools
  • 8.Feelings
  • 9.New populations
  • 10.The future of language brokering research
  • References
Published online: 19 June 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.129.04ore
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García-Sánchez, Inmaculada M.
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2022. The gift of language: An anthropological approach to child language brokering in Barcelona. Children & Society 36:3 ► pp. 415 ff. Crossref logo
Rubio‐Carbonero, Gema
2021. Communication in Persons with Acquired Speech Impairment: The Role of Family as Language Brokers. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology Crossref logo

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