Multilingual Word Walls: An Entry Point to Translanguaging

Abstract

As classrooms become more and more linguistically and culturally diverse, educators seek to make learning more accessible and relevant for their multilingual students. One way that educators have done this is to incorporate translanguaging into their instruction, including in STEM classrooms and organizations that work with schools to provide STEM enrichment opportunities. Translanguaging is a multilingual teaching practice in which students use their home languages and their knowledge of English. Researchers have noted that while English is the dominant language of instruction in many science learning environments, effective teachers can still leverage students’ knowledge of other languages to accelerate their learning of content and language.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Multilingual
• English learner
• translanguaging
• vocabulary
• Word Wall
• differentiation