International Journal of Bilingual Education and

Bilingualism

ISSN: 1367-0050 (Print) 1747-7522 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbeb20

The translanguaging classroom: leveraging

student bilingualism for learning

Blake Turnbull

To cite this article: Blake Turnbull (2017): The translanguaging classroom: leveraging student
bilingualism for learning, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, DOI:
10.1080/13670050.2016.1275289

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1275289

Published online: 03 Jan 2017.

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Download by: [Blake Turnbull] Date: 04 January 2017, At: 13:38

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND BILINGUALISM, 2017

BOOK REVIEW

The translanguaging classroom: leveraging student bilingualism for learning, by Ofelia

Garcia, Susana Ibarra Johnson, and Kate Seltzer, Philadelphia, PA, Caslon Inc., 2016, xix + 196
pp., £32.77 (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-934000-19-9

The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning provides a valuable look
into the concept of translanguaging in the classroom from multiple perspectives. The book is split
into three parts, each addressing the notion of translanguaging from a different angle: Part 1:
Dynamic bilingualism at school (three chapters) addresses the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of translanguaging;
Part 2: Translanguaging pedagogy (four chapters) focuses on the creation of a translanguaging peda-
gogy; and Part 3: Reimagining teaching and learning through translanguaging (four chapters) exam-
ines a translanguaging pedagogy in action in the classroom. Garcia, Ibarra Johnson, and Seltzer
provide a concrete reference point for both educators and researchers alike looking to solidify
their understanding of translanguaging as a concept and a pedagogy. Throughout this book, the
authors teach us that translanguaging can be used to level the ‘playing field’ for bilingual students,
leverage their bilingual languaging practices, and challenge the traditional notions surrounding edu-
cation for students of bilingual backgrounds.
Part 1, chapter 1, introduces the concept of translanguaging. That authors start by framing trans-
languaging from a sociolinguistic perspective, or the dynamic language practices of bilinguals, as well
as from a pedagogical perspective for use in the classroom. They define a translanguaging classroom
as ‘any classroom in which students may deploy their full linguistic repertoires, and not just the par-
ticular language(s) that are officially used for instructional purposes in that space’ (1). They provide
four main purposes of a translanguaging framework to lay the groundwork upon which the remain-
der of the book is set. Chapter 2 focuses on the language practices of a translanguaging classroom
and what it means for bilingual students to draw upon their full linguistic repertoires. They introduce
and define the concept of a translanguaging corriente; a metaphor for the ‘current’ of students’
dynamic bilingualism and translanguaging practices that flow in the classroom. This metaphor is
used throughout the book to transcend the traditional notions of monolingual and bilingual class-
rooms and to explain how translanguaging sets learning and teaching in motion from the perspec-
tive of both the students and the teacher. Chapter 3 examines students’ bilingualism from a dynamic
and holistic approach. The authors describe the construct of dynamic bilingual progressions as a flex-
ible construct that teachers can use to evaluate their students’ bilingual performances of various
tasks. This information is particularly valid as it teaches educators how to facilitate students’ learning
by supporting their everyday bilingual languaging practices.
Part 2, chapter 4, examines a translanguaging stance, or a ‘teacher’s belief that a bilingual student
has one holistic language repertoire that he or she draws on at school’ (49–50). Garcia, Ibarra Johnson,
and Seltzer move beyond theory into practice and illustrate this with concrete examples from three
different contexts: a Spanish-English dual-language bilingual class taught by a bilingual teacher in
New Mexico, an English-medium content-area classroom containing predominantly Latino/a stu-
dents taught by an English monolingual teacher in New York, and a seventh-grade multilingual
and multiethnic English-Medium ESL classroom taught by a bilingual English speaker in California.
Chapter 5 examines how teachers can design a translanguaging space in their classrooms to encou-
rage the translanguaging corriente to flow, as well as the major components of a translanguaging
instructional design. Garcia, Ibarra Johnson, and Seltzer discuss the need to purposefully and strate-
gically design lesson plans, classroom spaces, and pedagogies to encourage the flow of the trans-
languaging corriente and to respond to the various ways in which the corriente may flow in
accordance to students’ needs. Chapter 6 addresses the issue of translanguaging in assessment,
2 BOOK REVIEW

identifying the major principles and key components of translanguaging in assessment from various
angles. The authors stress that bilingual students possess a unique integrated linguistic repertoire,
and emphasise the fact that assessment of bilingual students’ language abilities must take this
into consideration and not simply view each language as autonomous and independent of the
other. Chapter 7 solidifies our understanding of these theoretical concepts by examining a trans-
languaging pedagogy in action. Garcia, Ibarra Johnson, and Seltzer explain in detail the three
strands of translanguaging, namely, stance, design, and shifts, as well as a number of specific trans-
languaging pedagogical strategies so that teachers can understand how to help students use all
of their languages to learn. The authors also introduce a reflective tool for teachers adopting a trans-
languaging approach to encourage them to make positive changes to strengthen the translangua-
ging corriente in their classroom.
Part 3, chapter 8, reinterprets teaching and learning through a specifically translanguaging frame-
work. Garcia, Ibarra Johnson, and Seltzer describe a translanguaging perspective on classroom stan-
dards, including their expansion and localisation, to support students’ engagement with learning. The
authors stress the importance of extending familiar language and cultural practices to help leverage
students’ use of their entire linguistic repertoire. Chapter 9 addresses how teachers can use a trans-
languaging approach to teach content-area literacy through their stance, design and shifts. The
authors focus on the idea that all teachers must view themselves as content and literacy teachers
of diverse learners, building on their students’ dynamic bilingualism regardless of their proficiency
in the language of the text. Chapter 10 follows a similar theme, examining biliteracy in the trans-
languaging classroom. The authors differentiate between traditional models of biliteracy, and the
flexible multiple model involved in the translanguaging classroom, and explain how teachers can
implement a flexible multiple model through their stance, design, and shifts. Finally, in chapter 11,
the authors address the socioemotional well-being and social justice of a translanguaging approach
in the classroom. They introduce a valorización stance and describe the ways in which translangua-
ging acts to support the emotional state and well-being of students, advance their overall social
justice, and foster their critical consciousness.
Overall, this book is an incredibly accessible and comprehensive look into the concept of trans-
languaging. The authors challenge many of the dominant paradigms and ideologies surrounding
the notion, and clearly demonstrate the way in which translanguaging practices, from both the tea-
cher’s and students’ perspectives, enhance the learning of content in addition to that of language.
The various diverse educational contexts introduced in chapter 4 are used throughout the book
thereafter to illustrate and highlight the theoretical concepts of translanguaging outlined by the
authors. They also provide a number of concrete translanguaging unit plans, activity templates,
and lesson designs to help solidify the theoretical groundwork in actual classroom practices. Each
chapter begins with a list of learning objectives, and ends with a list of focus questions and activities
so that readers may reflect on, digest, and build on the ideas proposed in that chapter. By providing
various classroom case studies and lesson plans, the book becomes a concrete tool through which
teachers looking to utilise a translanguaging pedagogy can adopt and develop new practices. As
such, this book will be useful for teachers of both language and content, teacher education
courses and professional developers, researchers in the field of second language learning, education,
and bilingualism, school committees and course planners looking to implement various instructional
programmes, and for anyone interested in the intricate languaging practices of bilingual speakers
and communities.

Blake Turnbull
Kyoto University
turnbull.blake@gmail.com
© 2016 Blake Turnbull
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1275289