Emergent Multilingual/Multilingual Language Approach: Translanguaging
In the programming I work on in Palestine, we are transitioning to a translanguaging approach for English instruction. Haven’t heard of translanguaging? Read on! I learned most of this information from the wonderful Mohit Mehta.
What is Translanguaging?
Translanguaging is the use of the students’ full linguistic repertoire to make meaning. This stems from the fact that when a student is bilingual or multilingual they are not compartmentalizing languages in their brain, even if a social situation requires them to use a single language at a time. This approach honors the language assets that the students have already built, their identity as formed around language, and represents a shift from the immersion model commonly used today in language acquisition learning environments.
Translanguaging supports the students’ use of their current language(s) as they learn a new language, allowing them to make meta-linguistic connections between languages. In reality, this is what is happening in students’ brains as they acquire a new language, and this classroom approach serves to support that natural learning activity.
What this Means
Employing this approach means explicitly avoiding a strict English immersion environment. Rather teachers meet the students where they are in their target language acquisition and that they can use whatever other languages they have comfort with as needed to communicate. The use of language would be fluid, giving students scaffolding and opportunities to communicate in the target language, but allowing them to use other languages as they need to complete the coursework.
Terminology
This approach employs asset-based terminology such as bilingual, multilingual, emergent bilingual, or emergent multilingual to label students in the process of developing a new language, centering their experience as a learner already adept in one or more languages. This differs from terminology practices of centering the acquisition of English as a student deficit (ELL, ESL).
Methodology/ Approaches to Employ in Translanguaging
– Translation (language brokering)
– Visual representations of key terms
– Vocabulary banks with words in both languages
– TPR (Total Physical Response, i.e. acting out words)
– Realia
– Bilingual Dictionaries
– Culturally sustaining texts and stories
– Labeling classrooms & school sites in both languages (or any other languages students have proficiency in)
– Flexible language usage
– Not forcing students to speak in English if they are not ready
Resources
The CUNY-NYSIEB has a number of resources available, including some basic explainer videos featuring Dr. Ofelia Garcia, a leader in the research around this approach.
– CUNY-NYSIEB Translanguaging Guides
Videos of Translanguaging Classrooms
– 5th Grade Math Multilingual Classroom
– Bilingual Class with Graphic Novels
Translanguaging on TikTok with one of my favorite bilingual educators
– https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJmgJr6D/