Translanguaging as a pedagogy for equity of language minoritized students

For years, bilingual programmes have allocated the languages of bilinguals to separate teachers, lessons, or even days or hours of the week to avoid damaging the ‘purity’ of languages, confusing language-minoritized students and hindering their achievement (Creese García, 2014. Countering the dual: Transglossia, dynamic bilingualism and translanguaging in education. In R. Rubdy & L. Alsagoff (Eds.), The global-local interface, language choice and hybridity (pp. 100–118). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters). The authenticity and the effectiveness of these practices have recently been questioned, and alternative pedagogical approaches, which view bilingualism as a unitary linguistic system and a resource for content and language learning, have been proposed. Translanguaging is one of these pedagogical approaches that has emerged to counteract the strict separation of language policies in schools and advocates that an effective pedagogy should mirror the fluid languaging practices of bilinguals (Sánchez, García, & Solorza, 2017 Sánchez, M. T., García, O., & Solorza, C. (2017). Reframing language allocation policy in dual language bilingual education. Bilingual Research Journal, 41(1), 37–51.Taylor & Francis Online, Web of Science ® , Google Scholar. Reframing language allocation policy in dual language bilingual education. Bilingual Research Journal, 1–15). This paper aims to explain the development of translanguaging as a teaching method in schools and the intersections between translanguaging as a pedagogical tool and the tenets of critical teaching. First, monoglossic and heteroglossic language ideologies and how they perceive bilingualism are discussed. Next, translanguaging is defined and differentiated from code-switching. Finally, translanguaging is discussed as a transformative pedagogy used to promote equity in the classrooms that include language-minoritized students. Although translanguaging has international relevance, this study draws only from the U.S. context.