Tensions and Trajectories: Teacher Language Ideologies in Developing Translanguaging Stance

• In Event: Pedagogical Approaches to Supporting Emergent Bilingual Learners

Abstract

In this presentation, we report on the findings of a qualitative study exploring the ways a group of seven in-service teachers from various content areas explored their language ideologies during a professional development series aimed at introducing them to various translanguaging pedagogies. We draw on translanguaging theory and translanguaging stance, as well as language ideological inquiry, to investigate the complex, fluid, and often contradictory language ideologies the teachers expressed and embodied while negotiating and disrupting the monolingual bias in their school. Teachers’ dynamic trajectories in their translanguaging stance revealed multiple tensions between supporting linguistic pluralism and reifying assimilationist practices. Findings suggest the need to better understand ways teachers construct their translanguaging stance through collaborative, guided professional development.

Authors

• Amanda Swearingen, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Samuel David, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Leah Shepard-Carey, Drake University

• Dustin John Hemsath, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities