Translanguaging Collaborative Design: Leveraging Student Multilingualism in a TESOL Classroom

• In Event: Unleashing and Sustaining the Potential of Translanguaging Pedagogies in Second Language Learning Contexts Through Teacher-Researcher Collaboration

Abstract

English-only immersion approach has been the norm indisputably for intensive English programs (IEP) in the United States. However, the underlying monolingual ideology contradicts and devalues the cultural and linguistic diversity that students bring to the classroom. To counteract this trend, translanguaging pedagogies represent an emerging attempt to value and leverage students’ full language repertoires in meeting academic challenges. Given the scarcity of empirical research examining the effectiveness of translanguaging pedagogies in TESOL context, the purpose of this study is to fill this gap and explore the affordances and challenges of implementing translanguaging in an IEP classroom.

The theoretical framework undergirding this study is translanguaging. Theoretically, translanguaging features the dynamic process whereby bi/multilinguals select linguistic features from their single repertoire strategically and creatively to mediate complex social and cognitive activities (García & Li, 2014). Pedagogically, translanguaging aims to foster asset-based pedagogies that incorporate learners’ familiar language and cultural practices into learning (García & Kleyn, 2016). To help teachers/practitioners translate theory into practice and in response to Mckinley (2019)’s call for “more TESOL research to be conducted in the teaching–research nexus” (p. 2), this study took the methodology of participatory design research (PDR, Bang & Vossoughi, 2016) in which I, as a researcher, collaborated with a senior TESOL lecturer and we co-designed and implemented translanguaging pedagogies through two design cycles in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 in her IEP classes in a university in Massachusetts. PDR specifically features trusting relationship-building, equitable forms of dialogue and listening, and continuous plan-act-evaluate-(self)reflect cycles during the collaborative, iterative inquiry process. By studying unfolding enactments, we progressively documented, reflected upon, and refined our translanguaging design and instructional practices. Data sources include class videos, field notes, student coursework, and interviews with the teacher and some focal students.

Through an iterative approach to analyze my data that combined both inductive and deductive coding (Maxwell, 2013), in this presentation we aimed to mainly address two research questions: (1) what translanguaging collaborative designs were implemented, and (2) how students participated/engaged in those translanguaging spaces. Results indicated that our translanguaging designs were strategic and successful due to several micro- (e.g., lesson goals, learner population) and macro-level (IEP program language policy) factors. Students increased their confidence and metalinguistic awareness in completing academic tasks, although sometimes they showed resistance towards using their home languages. Interestingly, we also found that formally opening up translanguaging spaces contributed to students’ spending less time with translators secretly on their phone. They gradually developed a sense of “guilt-free” when engaging in dynamic flows of multilingual and multimodal interactions and saw their first language as a resource rather than a problem. The significance of this study lies in two aspects: (1) it offers promising teaching suggestions for TESOL educators and instructors regarding how to leverage student multilingualism in classrooms, and (2) it highlights that teacher-researcher collaboration could be a sustainable way to make translanguaging pedagogies norms in our classroom spaces. Collaborative research is an important tool to bring about convergence between teaching and research.

Author

• Zhongfeng Tian, The University of Texas at San Antonio