Teaching English through pedagogical translanguaging

TLDR

Teaching English has traditionally been monolingual, with exclusive use of English in classrooms, but the widespread use of English for academic content now reveals that strict separation of languages can hinder students from leveraging resources acquired in other languages. This article explores pedagogical translanguaging as intentional instructional strategies that integrate multiple languages to develop multilingual repertoires and enhance metalinguistic and language awareness. Pedagogical translanguaging treats learners as emergent multilinguals who can flexibly use English and other languages according to social context. The approach values learners’ linguistic resources, reframing them not as deficient English users but as multilingual speakers.

Abstract

Abstract 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.