Teaching Translanguaging in a Mainstream Teacher-Preparation Program: Perspectives and Positions of Teacher Candidates

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Centering the Knowledge and Language Practices of Bi/multilingual Students and Families in Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

Translanguaging as a pedagogical approach has disrupted traditional ways of teaching multilingual students. As such, it is common that translanguaging pedagogies are received with certain resistance in mainstream education, by both pre- and in-service teachers. Considering these ideas, and using a linguistic ideologies framework coupled with positioning theory and translanguaging, this study explores the perspectives of Mainstream or English-only Teacher Candidates (MTCs) towards translanguaging pedagogies in a mainstream teacher education program. In addition, this research examines how these candidates position themselves as teachers of bilingual and emergent bilingual students. Findings are presented framing translanguaging as a tool for MTCs to create encompassing spaces for emergent bilinguals. The study also describes how MTCs position themselves as translanguaging practitioners.

Author

• Armando Garza Ayala, University of New Mexico