Translanguaging in Early Childhood Education in Luxembourg: From Practice to Pedagogy

Abstract

An inclusive translanguaging pedagogy aims to promote learning and participation by drawing on the learners' entire semiotic repertoire. The focus of this chapter are the translanguaging practices of four early years practitioners in Luxembourg. We analyse the deployment of their linguistic repertoire, their reasons for translanguaging, and the ways in which their practices contributed to inclusion and participation. We found that the practices comprised using linguistic resources dynamically, translating, and 'home languaging,' and depended on the practitioners' pedagogical stance. We argue that multilingual practices need to be embedded in a reflexive translanguaging pedagogy in order to enhance inclusion.

Translanguaging stance of preschool teachers working with multilingual children in Luxembourg

“…Had we only used one of the methodological tools (RQ2), we would not have identified these ambivalent and paradoxical findings (RQ1), which in fact show a realistic picture of the majority of preschool teachers in early multilingual education in Luxembourg (e.g. Kirsch & Aleksić, 2018;Kirsch & Seele, 2020). Other recent studies have reported ambivalent attitudes and difficulties in understanding and implementing translanguaging pedagogy (e.g.…”

“…Finally, in Luxembourg, Kirsch and Seele (2020) cautioned that despite teachers' positive attitudes towards children's home languages and translanguaging, some teachers in their study, while translating and using home languages, were not aware of their students' real linguistic needs and did not reflect on how to include them in the classroom. This was corroborated by our recent study in which, during the home language activity where children were asked to choose the flags of their home countries, teachers insisted that Portuguese and Serbian children choose Portuguese and Serbian flags despite children's obvious refusal and desire to choose the Luxembourgish flag so that they feel included in the class (Aleksić & García, 2022).…”

“…The reality of Luxembourg's early education population is that almost 67% of preschool aged children do not speak the school language, Luxembourgish, at home (MENJE, 2022). The increasing, ongoing awareness of the need for multilingual pedagogy is mostly reflected in the implementation of the mandatory multilingual education for preschoolers following the enactment of the new law in 2017 (Kirsch & Seele, 2020). With this legislation, the Children and Youth Act of 2017, the government aimed to facilitate the integration of children with migrant backgrounds into the Luxembourgish trilingual education and society and thus promote social justice for these youngest members of society (Simoes Lourêiro & Neumann, 2020).…”

“…With this legislation, the Children and Youth Act of 2017, the government aimed to facilitate the integration of children with migrant backgrounds into the Luxembourgish trilingual education and society and thus promote social justice for these youngest members of society (Simoes Lourêiro & Neumann, 2020). The law validates the pedagogical focus on the development of Luxembourgish while introducing the necessity of children's familiarisation with French and the valorisation of their home languages (Kirsch & Seele, 2020). The addition of German as the primary language of instruction in primary school, French as the primary language of instruction in secondary school, and English (additive approach) language learning in secondary school add to this complex language ecology.…”

4 Making Sense of the Internal Diversities of Greek Schools Abroad: Exploring the Purposeful Use of Translation as Communicative Resource for Language Learning and Identity Construction

“…In addition, translation has the potential to develop inclusive practices which value and legitimise all languages and cultures in the classroom as resources for learning. It encourages participation and supports students' socio-emotional development (Kirsch & Seele 2020). However, studies have also alerted us to tensions in and potentially exclusionary implications of flexible language use in educational settings.…”