Dual Languaging as Strategy and Translanguaging as Tactic in Two-Way Dual Language Programs

Abstract

In this article we draw on translanguaging theory and notions of strategies and tactics as a way to understand what we refer to as dual languaging in the context of TWDL schooling. We provide examples of dual languaging practices in fourth-grade math and social studies lessons that took place in a Spanish-English TWDL elementary school located in a large Midwestern city. We propose that the children’s use of dual languaging practices was a tactic shaped by and in response to the TWDL model. We argue that it is important for educators to understand: (a) how the notion of Spanish and English as separate languages in TWDL oversimplifies students’ and teachers’ actual languaging practices, and (b) how the language distribution model in TWDL schools can shape the languaging tactics and strategies taken up by children and their teachers.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ “Two-way bilingual education” (TWBE) and “two-way immersion” (TWI) are other terms used to describe the same programmatic structure as the term TWDL. These terms index different perspectives and histories of usage. Instead of hyphenating or alternating between the terms TWBE and TWDL, we have chosen to use TWDL throughout to maintain consistency and to align with our use of the term “dual languaging.”

² All names are pseudonyms. Students’ pseudonyms were self-selected.

³ These data are drawn from interviews conducted with Señora Valencia (December, 2016) and the school principal (May, 2017).

⁴ Our example here adds to Cummins’s and other scholars’ critiques of an oversimplified understanding and use of the BICS/CALP distinction (Baker & Wright, 2017).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Somerville

Jessica Somerville is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning and Dr. Christian Faltis is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, both at The Ohio State University.