Implementing Translanguaging Pedagogies to Promote Academic Success of English Learners in an Eighth Grade English Language Arts Classroom (original) (raw)
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Teaching English through pedagogical translanguaging
World Englishes
Teaching English has traditionally been associated with a monolingual bias and the exclusive use of English in the classroom is highly recommended in different countries. Nowadays English is widely used to teach academic content and this strict separation of languages can be problematic because it prevents students from using resources they have previously acquired in other languages (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015; Kubota, 2018). In this article we discuss 'pedagogical translanguaging' understood as intentional instructional strategies that integrate two or more languages and aim at the development of the multilingual repertoire as well as metalinguistic and language awareness. Pedagogical translanguaging considers learners as emergent multilinguals who can use English and other languages depending on the social context. Their linguistic resources are valued and learners are not seen as deficient users of English but as multilingual speakers.
2022
Translanguaging has been documented in previous research as a pedagogical resource in language classrooms. However, the monolinguistic culture prevents the leveraging of this resource in language learning. In addition, despite the extensive research on translanguaging, its use as a pedagogical resource is limited, particularly in the Philippine context. This study explores teachers' perspectives on translanguaging in Senior High School subjects where English is the medium of instruction. Findings from focus group discussions reveal that the participants leverage translanguaging as a resource to help students in knowledge construction, meaning-making, and problem-solving. This study concludes with implications for policymakers and language teachers who believe only English will help language learning.
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.
2021
Learning through the medium of a second or additional language is becoming very common in different parts of the world because of the increasing use of English as the language of instruction and the mobility of populations. This situation demands a specific approach that considers multilingualism as its core. Pedagogical translanguaging is a theoretical and instructional approach that aims at improving language and content competences in school contexts by using resources from the learner's whole linguistic repertoire. Pedagogical translanguaging is learner-centred and endorses the support and development of all the languages used by learners. It fosters the development of metalinguistic awareness by softening of boundaries between languages when learning languages and content. This Element looks at the way pedagogical translanguaging can be applied in language and content classes and how it can be valuable for the protection and promotion of minority languages. This title is al...
Journal of Culture and Values in Education
This study analyzed how English-speaking teachers created a welcoming environment to allow students to maintain and utilize their first language through translanguaging in a high school class of English-language learners. This case study applied funds of knowledge as a theoretical framework to focus on how a ninth-grade class with two qualified English language arts teachers acquired new knowledge using five types of funds of knowledge: academic and personal background knowledge, accumulated life experiences, world views, and skills in an Urban-Multicultural Classroom. In a year-long effort, the researcher interviewed teachers and students, took field notes, collected instructional planning documents, and photographed students’ artifacts. The findings show that students grew in their construction of self-identity, developed their proficiency in two languages, and flourished in their multicultural competency while earning good grades.
Inklusion und Bildung in Migrationsgesellschaften
In this paper we will focus on data from bi/multilingual educators and discuss aspects of translanguaging as a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (Paris and Alim, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies. Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World, Teachers College Press, New York, 2017). The data from the bi/multilingual educators come from a recent qualitative research (Tsokalidou, SiDaYes! Πέρα από τη διγλωσσία προς τη διαγλωσσικότητα/Beyond bilingualism to translanguaging, Gutenberg, Athens, 2017) that aimed to bring forward the issue of translanguaging (TL) in the everyday life of multi/bilinguals. Our findings suggest that TL could function as a means of increasing the confidence and self-esteem of minoritized students, while offering them a feeling of normality and pride for their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. It also becomes clear from our data that going against the grain of monolingualism and mono-culturalism is a great challenge for all.
2005
In How People Learn, Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) synthesized research regarding the optimal conditions that foster learning; a follow-up volume edited by Donovan and Bransford (2005) examines the application of these learning principles to teaching history, mathematics, and science. Bransford and colleagues emphasize the following three conditions for effective learning: engaging prior understandings and background knowledge, integrating factual knowledge with conceptual frameworks by encouraging deep understanding, and supporting students in taking active control over the learning process. Any instructional intervention that claims scientific credibility should reflect these principles, which are particularly important when it comes to English language learners. Prior knowledge refers not only to information or skills previously acquired in formal instruction but also to the totality of the experiences that have shaped the learner's identity and cognitive functioning. In classrooms with students from linguistically diverse backgrounds, instruction should explicitly activate this knowledge. Knowledge is more than just the ability to remember. Deeper levels of understanding enable students to transfer knowledge from one context to another. Moreover, when students take ownership of their learning-when they invest their identities in learning outcomes-active learning takes place. Numerous research studies have shown that scripted, transmissionoriented pedagogy, which tends to be both superficial and passive, fails to build on English language learners' pre-existing cultural and linguistic knowledge (Warschauer, Knobel, & Stone, 2004). Pre-existing knowledge for English language learners is encoded in their home languages. Consequently, educators should explicitly teach in a way that fosters transfer of concepts and skills from the student's home language to English. Research clearly shows the potential for this kind of cross-language transfer in school contexts that support biliteracy development (Cummins, 2001; Reyes, 2001). It is hard to argue that we are teaching the whole child when
Benefits and issues of translanguaging pedagogies on language learning: teachers’ perspective, 2021
The qualitative study aims to explore the benefits and issues of TP (Translanguaging pedagogies) in language education from teachers' perspectives. Bilingual teachers (N=3) of English and a multilingual teacher (N=1) of English and Turkish working at Turkish State University were purposefully selected. All the teachers had reported making use of TP in their language classes. The data were collected from semi-structured interviews and graphic elicitation tasks, which were analyzed through descriptive statistics (Frequency), and content and visual analysis by using CLAN (Computerized Language ANalysis) Program. The findings indicated that TP have benefits on the affective, cognitive and social engagement of students. The study also shows that the intensity of TP may vary depending on students' proficiency level and on specific skills and areas being taught. Moreover, teachers reported some potential issues of TP, specifically with emergent bilinguals in EFL classes. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications on implementing TP in language classrooms were suggested at the end of the study.
2019
Many researchers advocate for translanguaging as a theoretical and pedagogical approach to language education because of its cognitive, social, and affective benefits (García, Johnson & Seltzer, 2017). Translanguaging, as an approach to language teaching, refers to the process by which multilingual learners draw on their rich linguistic repertoires to make meaning and gain knowledge (Canagarajah, 2011; García & Lin, 2016). This process is facilitated by the use of students’ home languages in their English language acquisition. Yet, the ways in which instructors can facilitate the use of a student’s home language is less clear, especially given that English-only language ideas still permeate many English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study examines five instructors’ ideologies and orientations towards language. Using Ruíz’s (1984) language-as-problem, language-as-right, and language-as-resource orientations to conceptually frame our study, we apply thematic analysis (Nowell, Norris, White & Moules, 2017) to identify discourse patterns that uncover issues related to language, power, and ideology. The themes that emerged in our analysis related to (1) languages in conflict, (2) languages as skills, (3) instructors’ language learning experiences and classroom policies and (4) institutional constraints. Our study suggests that despite the constraints instructors face, several instructors leveraged their own linguistic resources to validate the identity and linguistic resources of their students, thereby challenging dominant language ideologies and policies in their institutions. This study has the potential to uncover challenges in moving translanguaging from ideology to pedagogy.
Applied Linguistics
Despite the extensive research on translanguaging in bi/multilingual classrooms, research on the context of first language (L1) classrooms remains scarce. This study fills the research gap by examining how a translanguaging space was created in an L1 classroom to prepare students to inhabit a world with different linguistic and cultural practices. The data were based on a linguistic ethnographic project in a first-grade L1 English Language Arts classroom in the U.S. Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methods were employed for data analysis. This study revealed that such a translanguaging space encouraged students to view diverse languages as resources and appreciate linguistic and cultural diversity in the community. The teacher’s ability to create a translanguaging space for her L1 English students was shaped by the pedagogical translanguaging knowledge gained from her teacher training programme. As such, we posit the significance for all ...