18.040 - Translanguaging Pedagogies Shaping Language Policy and Program Design Toward Educational Opportunity for Emergent Bilinguals

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

In this session we draw attention to the link between translanguaging pedagogy and educational opportunity for emergent bilinguals by exploring ways that educators make space for flexible language policy. Programs for emergent bilinguals are often defined by language policies that are rooted in the preservation, development, and promotion of standard language practices rather than on students’ languaging practices. Translanguaging pedagogy offers an alternative lens to program design in providing a focus on students’ creative and fluid bilingualism as pathway to rich educational opportunity. We examine, reflect upon, and raise questions about ways in which translanguaging pedagogies transform learning relationships, curriculum, and teacher professional development, and in doing so disrupt established language hierarchies that frame programming for emergent bilinguals.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Bilingual Education Research

Chair

• Deborah K. Palmer, University of Colorado Boulder

Papers

• Moments of Metalinguistic Awareness in a Kindergarten Class: Translanguaging for Simultaneous Biliterate Development - Patricia Velasco, Queens College - CUNY

• Translanguaging as a Tool to Transgress: Bilingual Teachers Negotiate and Resist Inflexible Language Policy - Lorraine Theresa Falchi, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Bilingual Ethos as Policy-in-Practice: Translanguaging Pedagogies and Bilingual Identities in Dual-Language Classrooms - Dina A. Lopez, City College of New York - CUNY; Carmina Makar, City College of New York - CUNY

• Professional Development for Practicing Teachers of Emergent Bilinguals: A Focus on Inquiry and Agency - Laura Ascenzi Moreno, Brooklyn College - CUNY; Cecilia M. Espinosa, Lehman College/CUNY

Discussant

• Deborah K. Palmer, University of Colorado Boulder