Translanguaging in Today's Classrooms: A Biliteracy Lens

Y

9

Teaching Methods; Bilingual Education; Standardized Tests; Ethnography; Second Language Learning; Inservice Teacher Education; Educational Practices; Federal Legislation; Code Switching (Language); Native Language; English (Second Language); Literacy; Instructional Innovation; English Language Learners; Elementary School Students; College Students

South Africa; United States

10.1080/00405841.2012.726051

0040-5841

As US classrooms approach a decade of response to No Child Left Behind, many questions and concerns remain around the education of those labeled as English language learners, in mainstream, English as a Second Language, and bilingual education classrooms. A national policy context where standardized tests dominate curriculum and instruction, and first language literacy is discouraged and undervalued, poses unusual challenges for learners whose communicative repertoires encompass translanguaging practices. Drawing on ethnographic data from two different educational contexts, we argue via a continua of biliteracy lens that the welcoming of translanguaging in classrooms is not only necessary, but desirable educational practice. We suggest that Obama's current policies, on the one hand, and our schools' glaring needs, on the other, offer new spaces to be exploited for innovative programs, curricula, and practices that recognize, value, and build on the communicative repertoires and translanguaging practices of students, their families, and communities. (Contains 1 figure and 2 notes.)

As Provided

29

2012

EJ986203