The role of translanguaging in establishing school belonging for emergent multilinguals

Bilingual education can promote a sense of school belonging for students through a shared valuing of students’ home languages and cultures. This article explores how bilingual education contributes to sense of belonging for students who have more than one home language and are becoming trilingual in school. This qualitative study examines how a bilingual teacher’s instructional practices and use of translanguaging contributed to the experiences of belonging for students of Guatemalan descent who came from homes where Q’anjob’al and Spanish were spoken. Data was collected in a first-grade Spanish/English bilingual classroom through participant observation, interviews, and artifacts. Data analysis indicated that Maya students utilised questioning strategies to form meaning and establish understanding. Through translanguaging the students were able to engage as active members of the classroom and develop their content knowledge.