Translanguaging as a Pedagogical Tool in Multilingual Education

Abstract

This chapter looks at the development of language awareness within the context of multilingual education by focusing on translanguaging as a pedagogical tool. The origin of translanguaging in the context of Welsh-English bilingual education is discussed as well as its spread to other contexts. The focus of the article is on the use of translanguaging in language and content teaching. It highlights the importance of considering the learner as a multilingual speaker who has a multilingual repertoire and uses it in a social context is highlighted. The original concept translanguaging based on the alternation of the languages used in the input and output have developed so as to use other possibilities of relating the different languages. Several projects aimed at developing metalinguistic awareness by activating the relationships between the languages in the multilingual learner’s repertoire are discussed. Some of the challenges of using translanguaging as a pedagogical tool are also addressed. Among them the concept of translanguaging and the spread of monolingual ideologies are discussed.