Learning to Language: The Experiences of Mainstream Elementary Teachers in a Professional Development on Translanguaging

• In Event: Meeting the Needs: Centering Multiple Dimensions of Language

Abstract

This case study examines how 15 elementary, English-dominant teachers learned about and implemented translanguaging practices in their mainstream classes during a yearlong professional development (PD). Data include video recordings of instruction, teacher interviews, post-instruction reflections, and recordings of the PD. Qualitative analysis of instructional recordings shows evidence of teachers implementing a range of practices across literacy instruction. They reported greater engagement by multilingual and English-dominant students and noted that many students demonstrated linguistic strengths that that they had never noticed. Teachers cited challenges, including difficulty learning about students’ linguistic repertoires; fears of mispronouncing and mistranslating non-English words; trouble fitting translanguaging practices within pre-existing curricula, and lacking multilingual resources in languages other than Spanish. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Authors

• Erika Johnson, University of Iowa

• Morgan Keener, University of Iowa