Languaging and Translanguaging for English Language Teaching

Abstract

Translanguaging has swiftly developed as a major paradigm in language acquisition research. Translanguaging has challenged language educators and researchers to explore language learning from the perspective of viewing multilingualism not as a capacity for multiple, separate linguistic codes, but as an expanded single linguistic repertoire. This shift has called into question traditional language theory and pedagogy and raised new possibilities. This chapter outlines the emergence of the term “translanguaging” from its initiation in Welsh education policy to its subsequent adoption in language minority education research in the United States. Specifically, this chapter describes a research project that employed translanguaging as a site for examining theoretical and pedagogical shifts in language learning. Also discussed are future directions for translanguaging pedagogies to promote linguistic equity in a variety of educational contexts.