From Monolingual Habits to Multilingual Horizons: A Middle-School Science Teacher's Translanguaging Journey in Two years

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 7:45 am - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Dismantling educational and socio-cultural borders: Bilingualism is here to stay!

Abstract

This case study traces a two-year translanguaging journey of a Spanish-English bilingual middle school science teacher in the U.S. Southwest, supported by a professional development program. Using classroom observations, interviews, and ethnographic data, we examine the evolution of her translanguaging stance and practice. Findings reveal a shift from limited use of students’ home language for classroom management to an intentional, integrated approach supporting multilingual science learning. Despite this progress, tensions emerged between promoting multilingual meaning-making and reinforcing English as the “right” language. The study also highlights the teacher’s growing critical awareness of monolingual policies, increased agency, and deeper understanding of translanguaging. It underscores the reciprocal relationship between stance and practice, and the complexities of navigating linguistic equity and academic access.

Authors

• Zhenjie Hou, University of Houston

• Jie Zhang, University of Houston

• Sissy S. Wong, University of Houston

• Elisa M. Holcomb, University of Houston

• Hien Thi Tran, University of Houston

• Araceli Enriquez-Andrade, University of Houston