Translanguaging in education

Abstract

This state-of-the-art review focuses on translanguaging in education. In recent years, scholars have engaged in the conceptualisation of ‘translanguaging’ (e.g. García, 2009; García & Wei, 2014a; Wei, 2018) as well as in conducting a vast and ever-increasing number of empirical studies, in educational contexts in particular. This article aims to take stock of the different ways in which ‘translanguaging’ has been conceptualised and of the ways in which it has been interpreted and applied in the study of multilingualism in diverse educational contexts across the globe. Our review exercise shows that ‘translanguaging’ has been conceptualised within two different approaches, which we propose to call the ‘fixed language approach’ and the ‘fluid languaging approach’. It further shows how ‘translanguaging’ has been studied within these two approaches in different educational contexts. We finish our review by calling for new methodologies adapted to a linguistics of fluidity and by considering critically translanguaging as a scholarly phenomenon.

Translanguaging in Language Teaching and Learning: Current Practices and Future Directions

“…Contributions to this special issue addressed various issues regarding translanguaging and language education from educational and social aspects. The topic of translanguaging itself is not ideologically free – we hope that readers will view all the contributions of this issue from a critical perspective to unpack the concept of translanguaging as a practical theory of language (Li, 2018), or even translanguaging as method (Li, 2022), to understand the benefits/effectiveness/challenges of translanguaging for educational contexts (Bonacina-Pugh et al, 2021; Fang and Liu, 2020; Ho and Tai, 2021), as well as to promote social justice through the use of language (García and Leiva, 2013; Li, 2022). Readers may also ponder: Is the use of translanguaging most effective in learning, or is the adoption of translanguaging a must in education or daily language use?…”

Knowledge mapping of translanguaging in education: A scientometric analysis using CiteSpace

“…Upon closer examination of the detailed information regarding the clusters presented in Table 6, it is noteworthy that the most frequently cited article in the top five clusters is the same, namely, the work of Bonacina-Pugh et al (2021). Additionally, the most frequently cited article in the remaining three clusters is also the same, namely, the work of Shi and Rolstad (2022).…”

Language education policies for young learners in Europe

“…At the heart of this heteroglossic approach to bilingual pedagogy is the concept of 'translanguaging' (e.g. García & Li Wei, 2014; for a review of translanguaging in education see Bonacina-Pugh, Da Costa Cabral and Huang, 2021). Translanguaging means that bilinguals deploy semiotic features that would traditionally be seen as belonging to different named 'languages' but that form, in practice, one integrated system.…”