What is it about?
Translanguaging involves the natural tendency of an inidividual, who has some level of proficiency in at least two languages, to mix features of these languages during interaction. As children in Mindanao have proficiency in more than three languages, they are likely to translanguage during class interactions in English as a second language classes. The results showed that indeed they translanguaged, and doing so was also found to be helpful during learning and teaching of English. Teachers were able to help students understand new words and concepts while students were able to participate during discussions and accomplish assessments.
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Why is it important?
This is relevant in understanding the use of languages during language teaching and learning, which is often believed to be accomplished when both the teacher and the learner use only the target language. The study then shows that language teaching and learning can succeed even when teachers and learners use their natural language practices.
Perspectives
I hope this article helps language teachers realize that they can maximize their students' natural language practices and resources to teach them another language or languages.
Robin De Los Reyes
Ateneo de Zamboanga University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Translanguaging in multilingual third grade ESL classrooms in Mindanao, Philippines, International Journal of Multilingualism, May 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2018.1472268.
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