Translanguaging: An Inexperienced Teacher’s Guide to Implementation
By Christine Donatello and Dr. Chiu-Yin (Cathy) Wong
This paper documented Christine Donatello, a monolingual, English as a new language (ENL) educator’s experience with implementing translanguaging. She described her journey from not knowing what translanguaging was, having doubts about the theory/pedagogy, to implementing it. Through pedagogical translanguaging, Christine witnessed her students progress academically and expand their language repertoires. She also developed a strong rapport with her students as a result of implementing pedagogical translanguaging. Due to her translanguaging knowledge gained from her teacher preparation program and implementation of it, she developed a strong translanguaging stance and believed that translanguaging is a foundation to create an equitable education for emergent bilingual students (EBs).
The start of her translanguaging journey
Christine was a first-year ENL teacher when she first learned about translanguaging. After graduating with her bachelor degree in History, she watched current events unfold and quickly realized that there was a group of underserved students who were in dire need of compassionate teachers who understood their needs. These students are referred to as EBs, according to Garcia (2019). Needless to say, she applied for her ENL certification and started attending graduate classes. She was hired in August 2020 as an alternate route teacher in the middle of the pandemic lockdown, and that was before her ENL coursework began. She had no previous background with EBs and was coming into the profession as a clean slate, so to speak.
She gobbled up as much information as she could in her first semester of graduate school, and it is here that she was introduced to translanguaging. The concept of translanguaging originally came from the term “trawsieithu”, coined by a Welsh bilingual education scholar. The purpose was to develop students’ bilingualism in Welsh and English through pedagogical practices (Williams, 2002). Garcia (2009) expands the notion of translanguaging with a social justice orientation in the US and stresses the importance of protecting minoritized languages of EBs by viewing their linguistic resources as an asset. Otheguy et al (2015) later define translanguaging as “the deployment of a speaker’s full linguistic repertoire without regard for a watchful adherence to the socially and politically defined boundaries of named languages” (p. 283).
Christine admits that she approached the theory/pedagogy with hesitancy, fear, and perhaps a bit of disbelief in the beginning. She felt she had to have total control or as García et al (2017) refer to as “locus of control” over what was being said in the classroom. She soon learned that the goal of translanguaging is not to produce two monolinguals. Rather, bilingualism is fluid and dynamic (García et al, 2017) and the languages we speak become part of our identity, and translanguaging aims to empower students’ identities as bilinguals.
Deep rooted in the traditional monolingual ideology, Christine’s initial belief toward teaching her EBs was “English only.” She approached her classes with a traditional monolingual ideology and quickly realized this was an ineffective approach. Her students would barely talk to her or participate. A girl, named Anna (pseudonym), would not interact with her at all. Christine was desperate; she had to change something for the sake of her students.
Pedagogical translanguaging allows teachers to put this theory into practice. Focusing on multilingualism, pedagogical translanguaging refers to planned strategies and activities for EBs to acquire content and language knowledge through utilizing their full linguistic repertoires (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022). A translanguaging space is a safe space for students’ languages, cultures, and identity to take center stage. However, implementing translanguaging does not mean that teachers need to speak students’ home languages (L1s) in order to teach them effectively. Translanguaging emphasizes co-learning, where teachers and students work together to achieve learning outcomes (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022). Her professor, Cathy Wong, also created a co-learning environment where students were able to ask questions, discuss, and share their experiences in their learning journey of translanguaging. As such, the theory/pedagogy started making sense to her. However, would her administration feel the same? She broached the topic with her leaders at school, and they advised her that this was not a pedagogy that should be used regularly in the classroom. Disappointed, she found herself at a crossroad. After much contemplation and with the ongoing guidance and support from Professor Wong, Christine felt like she owed it to her students to move forward with translanguaging.
As soon as she started implementing translanguaging, she began seeing results. She first welcomed the students’ language and culture into the classroom by announcing that she would no longer require English only for anything. She told them they could use any languages to complete assignments. The students happily typed away, and more classwork was turned in that day than ever before. Anna handed hers in, and it was a beautifully written, lengthy paragraph in her L1. Though she still would not interact with her teacher, Christine knew they were off to a good start.
Then, she made connections between students’ L1s and English in her instruction in order to develop their metalinguistic awareness, a goal of pedagogical translanguaging. Doing so would benefit the students both linguistically and from a social-emotional standpoint. For example, Christine would look at each student’s writing assignment and point out certain Spanish words that she knew were cognates, asking her students to identify them in English. In this process, She was introducing them to cognates, and she was developing students’ linguistic awareness.
The end result
Time moved forward and a fantastic phenomenon was occurring. Christine’s classroom was getting messier but in a beautiful way. The students would have side conversations, they would delve off topic and they would start chattering away in their L1, and Christine – not knowing a word of Spanish – watched as language and communication flourished between her once silent students. A few would jump in and explain things in their L1 if her EBs needed assistance; they bounced word meanings back and forth off each other to make sense of topics. She surrendered control and let the corriente take the class in whatever direction it was going, and everyone flourished because of it.
The students who were in regular attendance shared with the others how inviting the environment had become, and more students began attending. In this translanguaging space, Anna started having full conversations with Christine. Anna would speak and write using all of her communicative repertoires and happily showed her pet to the class. Through pedagogical translanguaging, this once silent student finally felt comfortable. She and the other students could feel that their voices are valued, and they responded to it.
Tips for implementing translanguaging in your classroom
As mentioned, one of the goals of pedagogical translanguaging is to raise their metalinguistic awareness. One way to do so is to teach students to find cognates between the languages (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022). Teachers should also make good use of multilingual resources, multi-modalities (e.g., visuals, audios, technology), and semiotic resources, such as gestures (Lin, 2019) to create a translanguaging space. For example, Christine had students listen to a recording in English with pictures in the meaning making process. They would then work in pairs to connect the L1 words to the newly learned words. During this activity they often communicated in Spanish to make connections to the English word. As far as semiotic resources are concerned, she often uses grandiose theatrics to communicate meaning between the content they have learned in their L1 while connecting it to English. For example, in a unit about weather, Christine acted out the various types of weather conditions and then provided the English word. The students, often amused by her antics, remembered her demonstration and connected it to their L1 while hearing the word in English.
Quick reference guide: strategies for creating a translanguaging classroom
- Know your students. Take some time to learn about their languages, customs, and show a genuine interest in their lives.
- Research cognates and introduce them. If words in your students’ L1 and L2 have cognates, introduce these words to your students.
- Do not restrict their language usage. Even if the concept seems intimidating, make the decision to try it. If it is a writing assignment, allow your EBs to complete it in their L1. Then reinforce those cognates, and point out the common words between English and their L1 in their writing.
- Treat their multilingualism as an asset. Sometimes educators view an EB’s learning as a hindrance (García et al, 2017). EBs are embarking on a very important journey – multilingualism. As they expand their linguistic repertoires, they are preparing to thrive as global citizens in this multilingual world. Praise them for their efforts!
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Note: Figure 1. is something Christine drew on the Promethean board for her EBs recently. She explained to them how to use context clues, and how as they build their house in English, they are going to use their foundation in Spanish. To give them a visual, she drew a fully completed house representing their L1 (Spanish), and the beginnings of their house in English. The little people are bridging the two houses together, happily carrying over the pieces of the foundation from their L1 house to build their L2 house.
Figure 1. Christine’s Translanguaging Visual
Figure 2 – 3. This student completed a project using translanguaging (see figures 2 and 3). The concept was that students were going on a global vacation to another country. He picked Brazil as his vacation spot. As he wrote, he switched from Spanish to English to reflect the words that he had learned. When he did not know the English word, he switched back to Spanish.
Figure 2. The three places he was planning to visit in Brazil.
Figure 3. The end of his vacation and the three souvenirs he was bringing home with him.
References
Budiman, A., Tamir, C., Mora, L., & Noe-Bustamante, L. (2020, October 1). Facts on U.S. immigrants, 2018. Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2020/08/20/facts-on-u-s-immigrants/
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2022). Pedagogical Translanguaging and its Application to Language Classes. RELC Journal. http://doi.org/10.1177/00336882221082751.
García, O., Johnson, I. S., & Seltzer, K. (2017). The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning (1st ed.). Caslon Publishing.
García, O. (2009). Education, multilingualism and translanguaging in the 21st century. In: Ajit Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (eds). Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the local. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, pp. 128-145.
Lin, A. M. Y. (2019). Theories of trans/languaging and trans-semiotizing: implications for content-based education classrooms. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(1), 5-16.
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review,6 (3), 281–307. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014
The Author – Christine Donatello is a first generation American high school ESL teacher, as well as an instructor of adult ESL classes for the County College of Morris’ Workforce Development Program in northern New Jersey. She teaches dedicated classes of MLLs ranging from emergent bilingual to advanced. As such, she employs innovative ESL strategies and theories with creative methodologies to assist her students in making meaningful and successful language gains. Her mandate – to create a classroom setting that is rigorous, inclusive, welcoming, and inviting while providing students with a soft place to land. She is a graduate of Monmouth University with a MA in Education along with certifications in ESL, Social Studies, and Elementary Education.
The author – Dr. Chiu-Yin (Cathy) Wong is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Monmouth University in New Jersey, USA where she teaches courses in ESL methods, Bilingual Education, and Applied Linguistics. She is also the director for the Master of Education/TESOL program. Dr. Wong’s students often comment that she is a talented instructor and that her courses are rich with content and learning opportunities. Her research focuses on effective pedagogies and second language teachers’ perspectives as they support students’ learning in various aspects. Currently, her research interests lie primarily in the area of teachers’ learning and implementation of pedagogical translanguaging in ESL as well as Chinese immersion settings. Her recent work appears in e.g., Applied Linguistics, ELT Journal, and International Journal of Inclusive Education.
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