Daniel, Shannon & Pacheco, Mark.

(2015)

Updating teaching definitions: translanguaging as an effective tool for the classroom

Language teaching methods have been significantly modified over time. There
have been crucial changes in the approaches, from the ancient grammar-translation method
to ones more recent, such as the communicative approach. However, those were designed to
be used in monolingual learning environments. García & Angel (2016) advocate in favor of
translanguaging, a concept that can be defined in terms of linguistics theory, pedagogical
tools and social practices, in which foreign language speakers or learners use their native
languages to negotiate meaning and reach common understanding, among other uses.

Nevertheless, due to its increasing popularity, translanguaging has been

employed as an umbrella term as specialists tend to give excessive meanings to the term,
sometimes contradicting themselves. In addition, the predicted effects tend do be
unachievable, leading Jaspers (2018) to challenge its transformative claims. In order to better
understand how translanguaging effectively works in the classroom, Tang, J. (2002) and
Daniel & Pacheco (2015) conducted observatory studies in Chinese and American schools,
respectively, describing translanguaging practices and their effects on the student’s
performance. Those were the inspiration for this paper, whose purpose is to update
knowledge in language teaching by applying translanguaging techniques.

With that in mind, Jaspers (2018) challenges its transformative claims by stating
that there are assumptions that can impair the very recognition of linguistic diversity.

 They claim that by favoring translanguaging in the classroom, the students will
enhance their reflections on language learning, in addition to 

We, however, insist that translanguaging is not solely a social practice but also a
linguistic theory that poses a mental grammar shaped, of course, through social interaction
and negotiation

• The recognition of translanguaging as an actual practice, even though it is not

necessarily favored.
 • The effects of translanguaging
• Understanding concepts
• Improving learning
• Communicating
• social 
• One contradiction on the social role
• Observatory studies and their findings
• Official/unofficial  use of translanguaging in class
• Official/unofficial favoring translanguaging in class

García, O., & Lin, Angel M. Y. (2016) Translanguaging in Bilingual Education. In Bilingual and
Multilingual Education, Encyclopedia of Language and Education, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-
02324-3_9-1
• Concept, points of view and potential practical applications

Jaspers, J. (2018, January). The transformative limits of translanguaging. Language &

Communication, 58, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2017.12.001
• Jürgen Jasper’s chapter challenges the transformative claims attributed to
translanguaging in academic discourse.

Daniel, Shannon & Pacheco, Mark. (2015). Translanguaging Practices and Perspectives of
Four Multilin
gual Teens. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 59.
• Shannon Daniel and Mark Pacheco provide a qualitative study with four teenagers in
different school levels in order to describe their translanguaging practices in and out of
school.

Tang, J. (2002, January). Using L1 in the English Classroom. English Teaching Forum, 36–43.
• Study to check how translanguaging is actually used in class
• Jinlan Tang’s article presents a study conducted among 100 Chinese students and 20
Chinese teachers of EFL in which they were observed and asked about the use of their
mother language in the English classes.