Challenging Monolingual Ways of Looking at Multilingualism: Insights for Curriculum Development in Teacher Preparation (original) (raw)
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Defining and negotiating translingual awareness in "monolingual" teacher education
Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2023
As a challenge to social and material inequities in the opportunities and outcomes of U.S. public schooling for students of color, more teachers are being prepared to teach with culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Paris, 2012). As teachers in mainstream, English-medium classrooms encounter more linguistic diversity, they must also be prepared to teach with linguistically sustaining pedagogies, such as translanguaging pedagogy (García, Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017). The objective of the present study is to explore one example of how translanguaging pedagogy can be integrated into an English-medium teacher education curriculum. This paper analyzes a case study of effective instruction, student learning, and reflective practice in teacher education, examining how undergraduate Education Studies majors in a linguistic justice course define translanguaging as a pedagogical framework and negotiate it in conversation with monolingual orientations. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, including student work, course artifacts, and reflection surveys, this study demonstrates how a group of future teachers developed translingual awareness through specific course activities. This study ultimately highlights both the challenges and successes of promoting translingual awareness in traditionally "monolingual" teacher education, and provides concrete steps towards preparing all teachers to teach with culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies.
Prosiding Konferensi Linguistik Tahunan Atma Jaya (KOLITA)
Recent research has shown a paradigm shift towards the rise of translanguaging pedagogy as opposed to the so-called monolingual principles. Translanguaging pedagogy in educational contexts refers to the utilisation of all the linguistic and semiotic resources of students to foster learning. This crosslinguistic approach, thus, challenges language separation and softens the boundaries between languages. Translanguaging is also seen as a transformative pedagogy as it empowers multilinguals to embrace their whole repertoires. This present study involved the pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in an Indonesian private university taking the English language teaching programme designed to prepare them to be future English teachers. This research aimed to investigate their perceptions of translanguaging pedagogy in order to promote reflections in pre-service English teachers regarding their own views of English language teaching. Six pre-service English teachers were i...
Teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism in a course on translanguaging
System, 2020
In recent years new ideas about multilingualism and translanguaging have been widely debated in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. A growing number of studies have investigated different aspects of translanguaging. Thus far only a few studies have focused on teachers' beliefs, attitudes or ideologies. In an earlier study, we found monolingual assumptions to be strong among teachers in the Basque Country and in Friesland. In the current study in-service teachers' beliefs about multilingualism and translanguaging are discussed in relation to the key role that teachers can play in changing educational practices. During a course of continuing professional development in-service teachers received training on multilingual approaches. Before, during and after the course data were collected on their beliefs about multilingualism and translanguaging. The outcomes reveal some important changes in the teachers' beliefs about separating languages, mixing languages and languages supporting each other and the application of those beliefs in the classroom. The complex relationship between professional development and changes in teachers' beliefs and practices is placed in a broader context of multilingual approaches to teaching.
English Language Teaching Perspectives, 2024
Translanguaging is a linguistic practice of bi/multi-linguals where the speaker uses two or more than two languages together naturally, dynamically, and purposefully without having any conscious effort. It is used as a pedagogical resource in ELT classrooms. The study aimed to investigate and analyze the secondary-level English language teachers’ purposeful practices of translanguaging in their classroom instruction. The researcher used classroom ethnography as a research design where a purposive sampling strategy was used to collect the sample from the target population. Participant observation and the in-depth interview were used as data collection tools. The collected information was recorded, transcribed, coded, categorized, and thematically analyzed. The study found that teachers employed translanguaging as a strategy of language teaching; in the form of code mixing and translation for content simplification. It was used intentionally and purposefully to motivate, praise, and encourage the learners. Moreover, it was incorporated into the classrooms to make teaching-learning effective. The study implies that individuals’ linguistic repertoire should be used in language learning to ensure the use of the languages with which the learners are familiar. It further implies that linguistic borders should not be created by both practitioners and policymakers.
Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal , 2023
This study investigated the translanguaging practices, perceptions, and awareness of five (5) Senior High School (SHS) teachers at Pimbalayan National High School (PNHS). This study is qualitative research design that employed phenomenological approach to fathom the depth of the participants' lived experiences The researchers utilized classroom observations, semi-structured questionnaires, and field notes as primary data collection methods. Using a thematic analysis adapted and modified from the methodologies of Braun and Clarke (2016) and Boyatzis (1998), the researchers followed the steps of thematic analysis, including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The researchers found that the teachers utilized translanguaging for collaborative learning and facilitation of instruction, such as giving examples and directions, translation, and assessments. While other teachers perceived translanguaging as beneficial, others perceived it as detrimental, especially in expanding vocabularies in the target languages. Moreover, some teachers were fully aware of what translanguaging is all about and acknowledged its significance in teaching, while others were practicing it unknowingly.
2019
This multiple case study measures preservice teachers’ perceptions of a translanguaging pedagogy on content/language development and on student affect in required university courses. Perceptions were gathered from 75 students, across three different required content classes, on Texas Christian University, and over the span of three years. A modified version of the 2-1-L2 dual-language model (Przymus, 2016, 2010) called the 2-1-T was used to structure all content lessons into three instructional movements-a sustained immersion in one named language (Spanish or English), a subsequent sustained immersion in other named language (without repeating content), and a third instructional movement creating space in each lesson for purposeful translanguaging. Situated within the literature on language policy and planning, such as status and acquisition planning (Wiley 1996), and orientations in language planning, such as language-as-problem, language-asresource, and language-as-right (Ruiz, 19...
" Why Needs Hiding? " Translingual (Re)Orientations in TESOL Teacher Education
Though applied linguists have critiqued the concept of the native speaker for decades, it continues to dominate the TESOL profession in ways that marginalize nonnative English–speaking teachers. In this article, we describe a naturalistic study of literacy negotiations in a course that we taught as part of the required sequence for a TESOL teacher education program. The course had the explicit goals of (a) supporting preservice teachers, many of whom are nonnative English speakers, in challenging these native-speaker ideologies, and (b) introducing preservice teachers to translingualism as a framework for challenging these ideologies with their own students. We focus on one of the culminating projects, in which students developed their own projects that enacted the new understanding of language associated with translingualism. By looking closely at the journey of three students through this project, we shed light on the possibilities and challenges of bringing a translingual perspective into TESOL teacher education, as well as the possibilities and challenges confronted by preservice TESOL teachers who are nonnative English speakers in incorporating a translingual perspective into their own teaching. These case studies indicate that providing nonnative English teachers with opportunities to engage in translingual projects can support them both in developing more positive conceptualizations of their identities as multilingual teachers and in developing pedagogical approaches for students that build on their home language practices in ways that challenge dominant language ideologies.
Integration of Education, 2022
Introduction. Recently, multilingualism and translanguaging have received considerable attention and are always a topic of interest and public debate in language education. However, to our knowledge, studies on preservice EFL teachers' beliefs about multilingualism with respect to translanguaging in the Indonesian context have not appeared in the literature. Therefore, to address this gap, this research investigated beliefs about multilingualism with respect to translanguaging, including language separation, language use/mixing, and language support, among pre-service EFL teachers in the Indonesian context. Materials and Methods. This study is quantitative in nature, adopting a survey research design. We collected data from 270 pre-service EFL teachers using an online Likert scale questionnaire that lacked any potentially sensitive questions. They were between the ages of 17 and 26, and were English teacher candidates majoring in English education at higher education institutions on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, which included the percentages and frequency distributions of the participants' Likert scale responses. Results. The current study's findings corroborate previous research indicating that teachers believe multilingualism and collaborative use of languages are potential assets that can benefit their students' language learning. Discussion and Conclusion. Language separation in EFL classrooms appears to be a point of contention for the majority of pre-service EFL teachers surveyed, with a preference for and support for multilingualism and translanguaging over language separation in EFL classrooms. They agree on the importance of using or mixing other languages in their classes. On the one hand, they believe that it is critical to avoid other language support in classrooms; on the other hand, they believe that other language support can benefit students, offering a wave of optimism about future language education. Therefore, there is a need to gradually introduce and include pedagogical translanguaging to the existing curricula. The integration of new multilingual facts and the implementation of translanguaging pedagogies are part of a larger educational renewal. There is a need to intentionally create a multilingual space (translanguaging space) in EFL classrooms to fully utilise studentsʼ multilingual capabilities creatively and critically because today many teachers struggle to reconcile the disparities between monolingual educational policies and the realities of multilingual classrooms.
Bilingual Research Journal
While Ruiz's (1984) influential work on language orientations has substantively influenced how we study and talk about language planning, few teacher education programs today actually embed his framework in the praxis of preparing pre-service and practicing teachers. Hence, the primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate new understandings and expansions of Ruiz's language-as-resource (LAR) approach and ways in which teacher education programs can model this orientation in their own classes, including those programs, like ours, that prepare mostly monolingual preservice and in-service teachers to work with bi/multilingual students. The authors pursue this by laying out the theoretical framework for multilingual pedagogies that approach teacher education through the LAR orientation and then illustrate these pedagogies as they are realized in their own teacher education programs with the aim of moving closer to and expanding on Ruiz's original proposal.
Preparing Pre-Service Content Area Teachers Through Translanguaging
Journal of Language, Identity & Education
In response to the multilingual and multicultural realities in U.S. classrooms, it is important to prepare all teachers who understand translanguaging and are capable of implementing it across contexts. This exploratory qualitative study investigates how five pre-service content area teachers grappled with translanguaging in a graduate-level teacher education course which was designed from a translanguaging perspective. Data sources include teachers' written coursework and exit interviews, and class observations. Using an inductive coding approach, we found that our content area teacher candidates developed a dynamic, holistic view to understand bilinguals' meaningmaking practices. They also perceived students' home languages as a valuable resource that needs to be incorporated in general education classrooms to boost emergent bilinguals' academic learning and socioemotional well-being. In addition, all five participating teachers employed a variety of translanguaging strategies (e.g., grouping based on home languages and providing translations) in their content area lesson plans. KEYWORDS Emergent bilinguals; preservice content area teachers; teacher education; translanguaging While English has often been regarded as the "language of power" in academic and professional settings in the United States, more and more researchers call for the need to "destabilize" English