Multilingual Realities, Monolingual Policies: Translanguaging in Malawi’s Classrooms

• In Event: Teachers' and Families' Perspectives on Language-in-Education Policies

Proposal

For the majority of learners in classrooms in multilingual low-income countries, the languages of school are less familiar colonial languages (often English or French), as stipulated in the language of instruction policies (World Bank, 2021). Many education systems struggle to implement language policies with fidelity due to challenges such as a lack of adequate teaching and learning materials, inadequate second language core teaching skills and content knowledge, and limited teacher and student proficiency in the target languages (Clegge & Simpson, 2016; Trudell et al., 2023). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theoretical framework underscores that learning is an active, socially mediated process where language plays a pivotal role in cognitive development (Vygotsky, 2012). Language is a critical resource that enables learning to take place through interactions. In many multilingual contexts globally, it is common for teachers to use multiple languages in classrooms, even though the practices are unstructured and are neither recognized nor sanctioned by the language of instruction policy (García, 2009). In multilingual contexts across Sub-Saharan Africa, translanguaging practices are utilized during instruction for several reasons: to mitigate engagement challenges in multilingual classrooms, explain concepts and scaffold knowledge creation, provide directions, manage classrooms; this practice also addresses discourse challenges as it enables learners to draw on spontaneous knowledge embedded in familiar languages (Kiramba & Smith, 2019; Kiramba 2016; Maseko & Mkhize, 2021; Reilly et al., 2022; Svongoro & Kondowe, 2024). Students use translanguaging practices to maintain momentum in learning activities, engage in learning activities, ask questions, critique, or give their opinions (Charamba, 2020,2022; Makalela, 2015). While the evidence base for translanguaging practices in classrooms in the SSA context is growing, there is a limited understanding of translanguaging pedagogies in the context of Malawi.
Malawi is an ethnically diverse country where approximately 17 living languages are spoken (Eberhard et al., 2021). English is typically a second, third, or fourth language for most speakers and is predominantly used in major cities. In 2013, the government mandated that English be the medium of instruction in all schools and colleges, with no specific guidance or implementation plans (Malawi Government, 2013). Chichewa is taught as a subject. Barriers to effective implementation of the language policy include low levels of English proficiency among teachers and learners, linguistically diverse classrooms, a lack of materials and resources for teaching in English, a lack of policy awareness by some stakeholders, and a societal preference for English that encumbers local language instruction (Asim et al, 2024; Reilly et al., 2024). Despite the complex linguistic ecologies that teachers and students navigate, limited research examines the nature of language and discourse practice in Malawi. Our research seeks to contribute to this literature by examining the following research questions:
i) What is the nature of translanguaging practices in teacher-student interactions in early-grade classrooms in Malawi?
ii) How do teachers explicitly or tacitly encourage or discourage translanguaging in these classroom settings?
iii) How are teachers in Malawi using translanguaging to facilitate student learning, meaning-making and formative assessments in the classrooms?
Research Methods
The data sample comprises 20 teachers from 10 public primary schools across five education divisions of Malawi, with at least one sampled from each education division. The schools were chosen from a list of those that participated in the Grade 4 National Reading Assessment in 2024. At each school, grade 2 and grade 4 lessons in any subject being taught at the scheduled time were observed and video recorded. Each classroom observation was followed by a semi-structured critical incident interview where the teachers were probed to provide additional information about the lessons, their thought processes during events of interest in the lesson, and personal reflections about what went well and what could be done differently. The lesson observations were transcribed verbatim, with discourse in Malawian languages translated into English by University faculty and research assistants in Malawi fluent in the relevant languages. We utilized thematic analysis and Atlas.ti to code and analyze the transcript data guided by an a priori codebook to examine the teacher and student utterances, and the ideas the participants expressed in the critical incident interviews and planned language use in lesson plans.
Emergent Findings and Implications
Our findings will highlight the nature of translanguaging practices in multilingual settings that are shaped by monolingual, colonial orientations to language at school, offering a new model of translanguaging that draws on insight from schools outside the US (where the concept has been most fully developed). We also offer insight into local practices in the multilingual contexts of Malawi, pedagogical strategies utilized to enhance translanguaging, and the linguistic barriers experienced by learners in this context. We will share pedagogical and policy implications for classroom teaching and teacher training for educational stakeholders in Malawi and other LMICs.

Authors

• Brenda Aromu Wawire, Florida State University, Learning Systems Institute

• Kate Schell, Florida State University

• Celia Reddick, Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University

• Adrienne Barnes-Story, Florida State University

• Bubire Jere, University of Malawi