Language Ideology, Identity, and Translanguaging: Developing Perspectives of Four Preservice Teachers in India

• In Event: Examining Language, Equity, and Justice in Teacher Education

Abstract

In this study, I examine the developing language ideologies of four Indian preservice teachers, and their ideas about supporting culturally and linguistically diverse students in primary classrooms, as they participated in a professional learning workshop series. The workshops introduced the concept of translanguaging by engaging the teachers in focus group reading, reflective writing, and interviews about their beliefs about using diverse languages in the classroom. As the teachers considered their own language experiences in school and the opportunities translanguaging could provide to linguistically diverse students, they critiqued and questioned notions about ‘standard’ ‘dominant’ languages in the complex sociocultural and socio-political landscape of India. Implications for research and practice in teacher education in dynamic multilingual societies such as India are discussed.

Author

• Anuja Sarda, University of Georgia - Athens