Grappling with translanguaging for teaching and assessment in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts: teacher perspectives from Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

Multilingual practices of translanguaging-fluid, complex, and dynamic processes of using one's complete linguistic repertoire-have been increasingly embraced by researchers and educators in bilingual education. Applying this perspective within the field of assessment has proven more challenging. In this project, we explore the role of multilingualism in teaching and classroom assessment design and practice, drawing upon the concept of translanguaging as a lens through which to explore the perceptions and practices of teachers. Working from assumptions that multilingualism in classrooms is an important tool to enhance the learning of linguistic minority students, we examined how teachers perceive and practice translanguaging in classroom language assessments through an action research case study with 40 language teachers in the linguistically and culturally diverse state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Their reflections ranged from the pressure to train students to produce monolingual-like language in order to pass international standardized tests to the potential to validate students' linguistic repertoires and multicultural identities through increased use of translanguaging. Our analysis of this action research study and discussion of the potentials and limitations of translanguaging in teaching and assessments aims to contribute to the development of more equitable and effective multilingual education environments in the future.

Marked and unmarked translanguaging in accelerated, mainstream, and sheltered English classrooms

“…A practical implication of this study is to focus more on how students support or constrain translanguaging in education. Much previous research has emphasized the role of teacher attitudes and knowledge about translanguaging pedagogies (e.g., García and Kleyn 2016;Krulatz and Iversen 2019;Makalela 2015;Mary and Young 2017;Schissel et al 2018), and indeed Lars indicated that such training might help him to draw on students' multilingual resources in more than a superficial manner. Given the significant role that peers played in policing minoritized translanguaging, this study brings attention to the need for not only teachers, but also students, to interrogate the language ideologies that push them to perceive majoritized language practices as appropriate in school and minoritized translanguaging-their own or others'-as antisocial, suspicious, or perhaps valuable only for communication within linguistically minoritized homes and social arenas (Alim 2007).…”

“…Indeed, rather than moving on with the class discussion, Lars used Tom's recourse to a Norwegian term as an opportunity to elaborate on strategies for managing the monolingual expectation in assessment situations, including circumlocution (line 14-15) and asking for permission to draw on Norwegian "if you're in dire straits" (line 15). Indeed, translanguaging is often deemed problematic in language teaching based on its widespread unacceptability in language assessments (Schissel et al 2018). It is nonetheless important to note that Lars himself subtly translanguaged in unmarked ways in Excerpt 1.…”

A framework for science classroom assessment task design for emergent bilingual learners

“…Scoring tools are important for all learners, but especially important for emergent bilinguals, as they demystify the response expectations and grading process for the assessment task. Schissel et al (2018) offer an example of scoring rubrics and checklists that incorporate a translanguaging lens. In the context of the NGSS tasks, a checklist could include language such as “Students are welcome to use their full linguistic repertoire to preview, view and review the assignment in multiple languages” and “Students are welcome to discuss with peers and write responses using their entire linguistic repertoire.”…”

“…Though little is written about what this might look like in science education, recent research in literacy education has explored educator‐created translanguaging adaptations for classroom literacy assessments. Schissel, de Korne, and López‐Gopar (2018) found that some teachers reluctantly incorporated translanguaging into classroom‐based assessment tools, delegating it for clarification purposes or as a possible, but not necessarily useful, scaffold whereas others incorporated it throughout the development of assessments and scoring rubrics, embracing it as a way for emergent bilinguals to demonstrate their emerging literacy competencies. Similarly, Ascenzi‐Moreno (2018) highlighted translanguaging assessment adaptations teachers made during reading formative assessments.…”

Enabling Translanguaging in the French Language Classroom

“…Research exploring languages teaching and learning continues to reconceptualize notions of language as a pre-existing entity (Makoni & Pennycook, 2006) towards a fluid set of practices, "a form of action that emerges within particular social and cultural contexts" (Palmer & Martínez, 2013, p. 276). However, the dynamics of multilingual practices are mediated by the rules and structures of institutions, and negotiated within the larger fields of social, economic, and cultural relations (Allard, 2017;Schissel, De Korne, & López-Gopar, 2018). The power of education systems, and the far-reaching impact that schools and teachers play as intermediaries within a world articulated through language and culture has been widely acknowledged and debated (Kramsch & Jessner, 2015).…”