Teachers Translanguaging: From Hesitation to Appropriation and Implementation

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Educating Emergent Bilinguals in New York: A Focus on Structural Changes, Distributive Leadership, Translanguaging Pedagogy, and Socioemotional Supports

Abstract

Objective
As the number of emergent bilinguals students continues to grow (Batalova, & McHugh, 2010), teachers have to develop pedagogies that will allow all students to access content and - in the best-case scenario - become bilingual and biliterate. This paper will illustrate how teachers have appropriated translanguaging as a valid practice. It will also show how educators across bilingual, ESL and general education settings have integrated translanguaging into their everyday instruction to support emergent bilinguals by validating their full linguistic repertoire and using it as a resource for learning.

Theoretical Framework
The field of bilingual education has propagated models of educating emergent bilinguals that are grounded in monolingualism (Cummins, 2007; Hornberger & Link 2012). Instead of viewing bi or multi-lingualism as the norm, bilinguals were viewed as “double monolinguals” and bilingual programs were also set up with these strict language separations that ignored the natural and integrated languaging practices of bilinguals. Translanguaging is a phenomenon that places bilinguals at the center. It is the “process by which students and teachers engage in complex discursive practices that include all the language practices of students in order to “make sense” of teaching and learning, communicate and appropriate subject knowledge, and develop academic language practices” (García, 2009).

Methods
The data for this paper was collected from qualitative approaches that included participatory action research, observations and interviews (Creswell, 2014). Researchers worked along-side teachers to plan and implement translanguaging strategies. Some teachers also implemented translanguaging on their own as the researchers observed and documented the lessons through an observation protocol. Finally, teachers were interviewed about their experiences with translanguaging.

Data Sources
Teachers in this study, being the focus of this paper, work with emergent bilinguals in various programmatic contexts: ESL (self-contained and general education inclusion), dual language bilingual, and transitional bilingual education. They are a diverse group of K-12 public school educators on various points of the bilingual spectrum themselves. Through this research project, teachers participated in collaborative descriptive inquiries, professional developments, and classroom lesson observations and feedback where field notes were collected by researchers.

Results
This study uncovers how teachers of emergent bilinguals grew and changed in their use of bilingualism as a pedagogical resource and translanguaging practices in the classroom. These teachers went from feelings of hesitation about moving beyond “English-only” instruction to implementation of translanguaging and using bilingualism as a resource for student learning. They vary in their own bilingualism and personal knowledge of students’ home languages, yet all appropriate translanguaging as a valuable teaching tool after support and training through this research initiative.

Scholarly Significance
This paper provides a valuable look into teaching practices in direct response to the high educational needs of emergent bilinguals. As a rapidly growing, diverse population, research has often focused on the deficits of these students, whereas this work seeks to use students’ languaging and bilingualism as a valuable resource and powerful pedagogical tool.

Authors

• Tatyana Kleyn, City College of New York - CUNY

• Heather Homonoff Woodley, New York University