Join CLAS and the Teachers Across Borders project at the Universidade Federal do Parana (Brazil) for a virtual teacher training opportunity on translanguaging pedagogy and multilingualism in the language classroom. The facilitator of this event is Dr. Peter Sayer, College of Education and Human Ecology. The workshop will take place at 5:30 p.m. (EST) / 6:30 p.m. (Brazil) / 4:30 p.m. (Colombia).
This event is free and open to the public. Registration required.
Abstract
Traditionally, many teachers in second/foreign language classrooms were trained to discourage students from using their L1. The students’ native language, it was thought, created interference with learning the new language, and the best approach was therefore to completely immerse the student in the L2. More recently, however, scholars of Applied linguistics and second language acquisition have critiqued this approach to learning a second language. While it is true that students need ample exposure and opportunities to practice a new language, current research shows that the student’s L1 is not a barrier but rather an important resource for learning the additional language. In fact, studies show that successful learners draw on their full range of linguistic resources in order to acquire the new language. The term for our ability to move across our different languages is translanguaging. Ofelia García, the pioneer of work in translanguaging, defines translanguaging as “the multiple discursive practices in which bilinguals engage based on their full linguistic repertoire in order to make sense of their bilingual worlds” (2009).
The concept of translanguaging has had major implications for how teachers think of language pedagogy. First, it has caused us to re-evaluate how we think of the role of the students’ L1, and actively look for ways to encourage students to use their L1 to support their L2 learning. Secondly, it has made us reconsider how we think about language mixing. Although bilingual individuals often code-switch between languages in their daily lives, mixing languages has usually been actively discouraged in language classrooms. Additionally, translanguaging pedagogy also addresses aspects of language learning that have often not been paid Much attention, namely how students’ identities and how issues of equity and justice can and should inform our teaching practice.
In this workshop, the presenter will provide the framework for understanding translanguaging pedagogy: translanguaging stance, translanguaging design, and translanguaging shifts (García, Johnson, and Seltzer, 2017). In discussing translanguaging pedagogy, we will consider what it could look like in your specific classroom contexts, and engage with the following questions.
- What does translanguaging pedagogy look like in the classroom?
- What are strategies I can use with my students to implement translanguaging?
- What if I don’t speak the same home languages as my students?
- How does translanguaging address issues of social justice and students’ identities?
Bio
Dr. Peter Sayer is a Professor of Multilingual Language Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Ohio State University. He holds a PhD in Educational Linguistics. He is a former Fulbright Scholar (México, Perú) and an English Language Specialist (U.S. Embassy-Manila, Philippines), and the past editor of the TESOL Journal.
This event was supported in part by grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Title VI NRC funding. The content of this event does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
