Pedagogical translanguaging as exclusionary practice?

With the dramatic rise of English-medium instruction (EMI) worldwide, questions have been raised about the role of languages other than English for content delivery and communication. A growing body of research has employed a translanguaging lens to examine the dynamic use of multilingual resources in these intrinsically bi/multilingual settings. However, translanguaging studies in EMI higher education have largely focused on the practices and perceptions of lecturers and students who share a first language. Much less is known about the experiences of language-minoritized students. Thus, this study explored pedagogical translanguaging practices and the experiences of language-minoritized, international students at a Turkish university, and compared them to those of Turkish home students. Qualitative data were collected via classroom observations, focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that, while most home students held a positive view of pedagogical translanguaging, the language-minoritized students felt frustrated, excluded, and discriminated against by translanguaging practices in class. Still, language-minoritized students reported using translanguaging for collective thinking and reasoning, which empowered them in their EMI learning. By magnifying the experiences of language-minoritized students, this study calls attention to issues of pedagogical translanguaging and social justice in EMI universities and offers implications for creating more linguistically inclusive classrooms.