Rightful Presence Framing of Translanguaging: Preservice Teachers’ Literacy Decisions in a Mixed-Methods Inquiry

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 4:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Language Ideologies and Policy in Practice

Abstract

This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study investigated how preservice teachers evaluated a student’s translingual writing. Survey results showed no differences between monolingual and bilingual candidates in assessment scorings, accommodation choices, and special education prereferral. Bilingual teachers, however, more often identified translanguaging as a linguistic strength. Subsequent written reflections exposed how these bilingual candidates negotiated English-dominant norms, sometimes questioning the legitimacy of translanguaging discourse in academic literacy. Framed by a rightful presence lens, these findings point to institutional ideologies that legitimize monolingual English practices while marginalizing others, irrespective of teachers’ linguistic repertoires. The study underscores the need for teacher education programs to confront raciolinguistic ideologies directly and to prepare future educators to treat translanguaging as a rightful, justice-oriented facet of classroom literacy.

Authors

• Sumin Lim, Hunter College

• Hari Jang, National Institute of Education - Nanyang Technological University

• Gregory Cheatham, University of Kansas