A Disciplinary Perspective on Translanguaging in Science Classrooms

• In Event: Reimagining Disciplinary Learning Through Expansive Approaches Toward Language in STEM

Abstract

Objectives. In this paper, we propose a disciplinary perspective on translanguaging that leverages the synergy between translanguaging and contemporary conceptualizations of science learning. With this perspective, we aim to extend the contributions of recent theory and research and to chart a path toward a coherent research agenda on translanguaging in science classrooms.

Theoretical Framework. In contrast to traditional conceptualizations of languages as bounded, autonomous systems (Turner & Lin, 2020), translanguaging emphasizes the dynamic and flexible language practices of bilingual communities (García & Li, 2014), including linguistic and nonlinguistic modes of reasoning and expression (Blackledge & Creese, 2017; Kusters, et al., 2007; Li, 2018; Lin, 2019). Thus, translanguaging pedagogies aim to empower bilingual students to challenge monoglossic and logocentric ideologies by drawing on their full multilingual, multimodal repertoire for learning.
Just as translanguaging calls for disrupting hierarchies, in the past decade, science education researchers have begun to challenge the dominance of disciplinary practices represented in science standards (Warren et al., 2020). Specifically, researchers have begun to focus on integrating students’ everyday practices with multimodal science practices to create new forms of knowledge and expertise in service of equitable learning (Gutiérrez & Jurow, 2016). In this presentation, we will propose a disciplinary perspective on translanguaging that could extend current theory and research in bilingual education and science education by (a) connecting everyday translanguaging practices to disciplinary practices and (b) framing multimodality as essential to constructing disciplinary meaning.

Methods and Data. To illustrate these features, we present an example from our design-based research (Cobb et al., 2003). The first author, in collaboration with a teacher (Ms. S), designed a 9-week ecology unit for Ms. S’s sixth-grade STEM classroom. We describe this unit as one possible application of a disciplinary perspective on translanguaging, because it embodies and instantiates the features described above: (a) connecting translanguaging practices to STEM modeling practices and (b) framing multimodal modeling as essential to constructing disciplinary meaning. Data included student artifacts, classroom videos, and end-of-unit student interviews. These data were collected during seven successive implementations of the ecology unit in Ms. S’s classroom (Author, 2020a, 2020b, 2021).

Results and Significance. As a theory and a pedagogical approach, translanguaging has transformed conceptualizations of language in bilingual education. Simultaneously, science education has shifted to emphasize participation in disciplinary practices that emerge within and are transformed by classroom communities. Yet, research that capitalizes on the synergy between translanguaging and science learning is relatively nascent.
Our presentation will contribute to this emerging research by sharing classroom snapshots that illustrate how Ms. S leveraged the features of a disciplinary perspective to legitimize linguistic and representational diversity and, ultimately, destabilize English-only practices in her classroom (Table 1).
Finally, we will explain how a disciplinary perspective could begin to address persistent challenges of developing and researching translanguaging pedagogies in schools. These challenges include (a) confronting monoglossic ideologies that permeate educational institutions, (b) promoting translanguaging in classrooms with both multilingual and monolingual students and teachers, and (c) developing principles for translanguaging in instructional designs.

Authors

• Ashlyn Pierson, The Ohio State University

• Scott Grapin, University of Miami