Reimagining English Education through Translanguaging: A Critical Case Study of an EFL Classroom in Senegal.

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Decolonizing Pedagogies, Teachers And Uncertain Times

Abstract

This work-in-progress examines translanguaging pedagogy as a decolonial strategy in the Senegalese (EFL) classroom. Grounded in Ubuntu Translanguaging Theory, Sociocultural Theory, and Decolonial Theory, the study uses a qualitative multimethod design to investigate how a rural Grade 9 EFL teacher and students mobilize their multilingual repertoires, including but not limited to Wolof, Pulaar, French, and English, for learning and resistance. Preliminary findings reveal translanguaging as pedagogical survival, Ubuntu ethics in action, and a response to structural constraints. These practices enhance clarity, reduce anxiety, and affirm linguistic identity, even as classroom instruction and high-stakes exams enforce monolingual norms. By centering African multilingual realities and relational ethics, this study contributes to decolonial education research and multilingual pedagogy in Global South contexts.

Author

• Ndrao Faye, University of Nebraska - Lincoln