Individualized translanguaging pathways of three Korean American children in a heritage language classroom

This qualitative case study investigated the individualized translanguaging pathways of three Korean American children in a community-based heritage language classroom in the southeastern United States. Drawing on classroom video recordings collected across a four-month translanguaging-oriented curriculum, children’s artifacts, and interviews with mothers, the study examined how children used linguistic and semiotic resources in child-specific ways within the same classroom and pedagogical context. The findings showed that translanguaging did not function as a uniform classroom affordance. Instead, recurring pathways became especially salient in each child’s participation: bilingual self-talk and literacy mediation for Jiho, meaning repair in speech-related intelligibility challenges for Noah, and bilingual meaning-making through drawing- and writing-supported participation for Sua. These pathways reflected differences in children’s home language contexts, bilingual profiles, communicative needs, literacy practices, and modes of participation. By foregrounding variation within the category of Korean American heritage language learners, this study refines classroom-based translanguaging research by showing that shared pedagogical opportunities can serve different functions for particular learners. The findings highlight the need for child-centered pedagogical approaches that attend to how children’s linguistic, communicative, and multimodal resources shape their participation in heritage language classrooms.