multilingual-education
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- PaperRELC Journal22 Jul 2026
Translanguaging for critical multilingual language awareness: Classroom activities for socially just language education
Jennifer Burton, Shakina Rajendram
Introduces a Translanguaging for Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (TL-for-CMLA) approach, operationalized through two concrete pedagogical activities: multilingual versions of Little Red Riding Hood for metalinguistic awareness and multilingual spoken word poetry for identity exploration. The activities challenge target-language-only assumptions and engage learners critically and affectively, aiming to foreground power, racialization, and linguistic hierarchies in language education.
Original abstract
This article introduces a Translanguaging for Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (TL-for-CMLA) approach and illustrates how it can be operationalized through concrete pedagogical activities in language teacher education and additional language classrooms. The paper argues for an explicitly critical orientation that foregrounds power, racialization, and linguistic hierarchies rather than treating multilingualism as a neutral resource. The purpose of this innovation in practice article is to present two classroom activities that bridge critical language ideologies and everyday teaching practice in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Kindergarten-Grade 12 (K-12) classrooms with multilingual learners. The first activity uses multilingual versions of Little Red Riding Hood to develop metalinguistic awareness and challenge target-language only assumptions. The second activity centers multilingual, identity focused spoken word poetry to engage learners affectively, critically, and multimodally with questions of language, identity, and belonging. Together, these activities present adaptable examples, reflection prompts, and underlying rationales that can be applied across proficiency levels and educational contexts. This paper contributes theoretically by clarifying TL-for-CMLA and pedagogically by offering adaptable activities that support socially just language education.
- PaperELT Journal10 Jul 2026
Teacher code alternation in a Sri Lankan tertiary level EMI classroom
Dilini Leelachandra, Dushyanthi Mendis
A case study of a Sri Lankan tertiary EMI classroom identified five distinct functions of teacher code alternation: enhancing comprehension, managing classroom dynamics, building rapport, alleviating stress, and clarifying complex ideas. Code alternation serves as a strategic linguistic tool for inclusive multilingual education, highlighting teacher–student perspectives in an underexplored context.
Original abstract
This study explores teacher code alternation in an English medium instruction classroom at a higher education institution in Sri Lanka. Acknowledging that code alternation is common in multilingual settings, this case study highlights its various functions, motivations, and implications for classroom purposes, addressing a gap in research within the Sri Lankan higher education context. Data were collected through classroom observations, transcriptions of recorded lessons, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis revealed five distinct functions of code alternation that aid the learning process. As a strategic linguistic tool, code alternation enhances comprehension, manages classroom dynamics, and builds rapport. Specifically, it serves to alleviate the stress of using English, foster a comfortable environment, and clarify complex ideas, thereby underscoring the importance of teacher–student perspectives on the use of code alternation for inclusive, multilingual education.
- PaperApplied Linguistics1 Jul 2026
Ten years of translanguaging: reflections and future directions in dialogue with Ofelia García and Li Wei
Abu Saleh Mohammad Rafi, Zhongfeng Tian
A forum marking a decade since the publication of Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education revisits the evolution of translanguaging as a theoretical, pedagogical, and sociopolitical framework through dialogue with Ofelia García and Li Wei. It examines translanguaging's conceptual development, uneven institutional uptake across Global North and South contexts, and implications for pedagogy, teacher education, and language policy, while considering challenges posed by digital technologies and AI for multilingual knowledge production.
Original abstract
Marking a decade since the publication of Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education, this forum revisits the evolution of translanguaging as a theoretical, pedagogical, and sociopolitical framework. Drawing on a dialogue with Ofelia García and Li Wei, the discussion reflects on how translanguaging has reshaped understandings of multilingualism, language education, and linguistic justice across diverse contexts. The exchange examines the conceptual development of translanguaging, its uneven institutional uptake across Global North and Global South settings, and its implications for pedagogy, teacher education, and language policy. It also considers the emerging challenges posed by digital technologies and artificial intelligence for multilingual knowledge production and classroom practice. The forum highlights the importance of critically engaging with translanguaging’s epistemological foundations while remaining attentive to local sociolinguistic conditions and structural inequalities. In doing so, it outlines key directions for translanguaging research and practice in the coming decade.
- PaperLanguage Testing19 Jun 2026
Book Review: Assessment of Plurilingual Competence and Plurilingual Learners in Educational Settings: Educative Issues and Empirical Approaches Melo-PfeiferS.OllivierC. (Eds.), Assessment of Plurilingual Competence and Plurilingual Learners in Educational Settings: Educative Issues and Empirical Approaches. Routledge, 2024. 272 pp. ISBN 9781032011097 (hbk) US$200.00 ISBN 9781032011103 (sbk) US$55.99 ISBN 9781003177197 (ebk) US$41.99
Gordon Blaine West
This book review discusses a volume on assessing plurilingual competence and learners in educational contexts, covering theoretical and empirical approaches.
- PaperLanguage Teaching16 Jun 2026
A multilevel Bayesian meta-analysis of the effects of translanguaging pedagogy on L2 achievement
Xiaoqi Wang, Lawrence Jun Zhang
A multilevel Bayesian meta-analysis of 108 effect sizes from 40 studies found a positive effect of translanguaging pedagogy on L2 achievement (Hedges' g = 1.014). Moderator analyses identified educational level and target language skills as sources of heterogeneity, with tertiary-level learners and speaking outcomes yielding the largest effects. These findings support translanguaging pedagogy as effective for L2 learning.
Original abstract
Globalisation and the multilingual turn in applied linguistics have exposed a persistent tension between learners’ linguistic repertoires and traditional monolingual pedagogies. It is out of this tension that translanguaging pedagogy (TP) emerged as an instructional framework grounded in translanguaging theory, witnessing a burgeoning empirical literature on its classroom value. However, the empirical evidence has failed to produce a coherent account of TP’s effectiveness in L2 education, as findings have exhibited considerable heterogeneity across instructional contexts, learner populations, and outcome measures. The present study sought to reconcile these inconsistent findings through a multilevel Bayesian meta-analysis of 108 effect sizes drawn from 40 independent studies among 3,145 learners. The pooled effect size of Hedges’ g = 1.014 (standard error = 0.138, 95% credible interval [0.748, 1.291]) establishes a positive and statistically credible effect of TP on L2 achievement. Moderator analyses identified educational level and target language skills as credible sources of heterogeneity, with tertiary-level learners and speaking outcomes yielding the largest effect sizes. Target language, linguistic distance, and treatment duration did not reach the posterior probability threshold for credible inference. These findings advance the theoretical understanding of TP and furnish an empirically grounded basis for instructional decision-making in L2 education.
- PaperLanguage Teaching29 Apr 2026
Pedagogical translanguaging in secondary EFL: A systematic review of practice and teacher development (2023–2025)
Yelena Zakharova, David Lasagabaster
A systematic review of 25 empirical studies from 2023–2025 identifies four interconnected themes in pedagogical translanguaging in secondary EFL: barriers to implementation, pedagogical rationales, classroom practices, and learning outcomes. The review reveals that translanguaging is pragmatically necessary but remains systematically unsupported at the institutional level, leading teachers to implement it covertly without formal preparation, and calls for recognizing translanguaging as professional expertise.
Original abstract
While pedagogical translanguaging (PT) has gained prominence as an approach for bridging learners’ multilingual repertoires and monolingual teaching paradigms, secondary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts remain underexamined, particularly following recent shifts in classroom diversity. This systematic review synthesizes 25 empirical studies of PT in secondary EFL education published between January 2023 and August 2025. Based on Reflexive Thematic Analysis, four interconnected themes were identified: (1) barriers to PT implementation due to structural, ideological, and teacher preparation constraints within institutional environments; (2) pedagogical rationales that integrate cognitive, affective, and sociocultural justifications; (3) observable classroom practices organized by pedagogical function, revealing strategic deployment of more-enabled and less-enabled languages; and (4) learning outcomes across cognitive, affective, and sociocultural domains. These themes reveal a fundamental tension: although translanguaging proves pragmatically necessary for effective EFL teaching, it remains systematically unsupported at the institutional level. Teachers justify and enact sophisticated multilingual practices, but without formal preparation, they tend to implement PT covertly within unsupportive structures, relying on knowledge that remains tacit and difficult to share. The review shows that PT has outpaced institutional recognition, calling for systems that treat it as professional expertise rather than tolerated improvisation.