Translanguaging through the lens of social justice: unpacking educators’ understanding and practices

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on translanguaging, which has been posited as a language practice, pedagogical tool, and lens that values individuals’ linguistic resources and deems them valuable. Scholars have postulated that translanguaging is rooted in social justice, as it aims to address social inequities among emergent bilinguals. Yet, do educators address social justice objectives when using translanguaging strategies, or do they merely conceptualize translanguaging as a pedagogical tool in teaching and learning as a means to assimilate and help students succeed within an unjust system rather than changing the system? Using a historical review of the literature and data gathered through an online survey, this study sought to examine: what understanding do educators hold about the connection between translanguaging and social justice? And in what ways, if any, do these understandings align with their teaching practices? The findings from our study show that only a few educators proposed a connection between translanguaging and social justice. Moreover, even those educators who suggested a connection between the two shared little evidence of the enactment of this relationship in their practice. This article discusses these observations in the context of the education of emergent bilingual students and the development of critical awareness among their educators.

KEYWORDS:

• Translanguaging
• social justice
• bilingual education

Acknowledgments

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all the educators who participated in the survey for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

This study was granted an exemption by IRB due to the nature of the study which was in a manner that the identity of the human subjects cannot readily be ascertained, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Dr. Mariana Castro, upon reasonable request https://doi.org/10.5064/F68ROXYA.

Notes

¹ All the participants mentioned are given pseudonyms for the anonymity purposes.

²Frequency of current roles is different from the type of program, grade level and number of teaching experience because these two questions were not applicable for a participant, but the participant responded to all the other questions.