Creating a Translanguaging Space for High School Emergent Bilinguals

Translanguaging is a rapidly developing concept in bilingual education. Working from the theoretical background of dynamic bilingualism, a translanguaging lens posits that bilingual learners draw on a holistic linguistic repertoire to make sense of the world and to communicate effectively with texts. What is relatively underdeveloped is the pedagogical aspects of translanguaging. This classroom-based study conducted in the southeastern US asks 2 questions: (a) How might teachers create a translanguaging space for students, and (b) what would this space look like? The authors, 1 classroom teacher and 1 researcher, engaged emergent bilingual students in small group reading of a culturally relevant text and observed students’ active participation through strategic and fluid translanguaging practices. The authors argue that the linguistic norms of schooling should reflect the discursive norms of emergent bilingual students, and that teachers create translanguaging spaces as a path to educational equity