Translanguaging as a Strategy to Enhance Students’ English Learning Engagement and Understanding in Elementary Schools: Teachers’ Perspectives
Keywords:
Translanguaging, English learning, student engagement, teacher perceptionAbstract
This study explores elementary school teachers’ perceptions of translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy to enhance students’ English learning engagement and understanding in multilingual classrooms. Employing a qualitative case study design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers from two elementary schools in Bima Regency, Indonesia. The findings reveal that translanguaging significantly supports students’ comprehension by allowing them to access new English vocabulary and concepts through their mother tongue. Additionally, the use of Bima and Indonesian languages in English instruction increases student participation, motivation, and comfort in the classroom. However, teachers also face challenges in implementing translanguaging, including the need for patience, adaptability, and extra effort to manage multilingual instruction effectively. These findings underscore the need for institutional support and professional development to equip teachers with the necessary skills and frameworks to implement translanguaging pedagogy successfully. Translanguaging is not only a practical teaching tool but also a culturally responsive approach that acknowledges and affirms students’ linguistic identities.
References
Baker, C. (2001) Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, TESOL Quarterly. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/3588060.
Braun, V. et al. (2006) ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’, Applied Qualitative Research in Psychology, 0887(2006). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-35913-1.
Canagarajah, S. (2011) ‘Translanguaging in the classroom: Emerging issues for research and pedagogy’, Applied Linguistics Review, 2(2011), pp. 1–28. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110239331.1.
Canagarajah, S. (2019) ‘Changing orientations to heritage language: The practice-based ideology of Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora families’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2019(255), pp. 9–44. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2018-2002.
Cenoz, J. and Gorter, D. (2017) ‘Minority languages and sustainable translanguaging: threat or opportunity?’, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(10), pp. 901–912. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2017.1284855.
Creese, A. and and Blackledge, A. (2010) ‘Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching?’, Modern Language Journal, 94(1), pp. 103–115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00986.x.
Cummins, J. (2007) ‘Rethinking monolingual instructional strategies in multilingual classrooms’, Organic Optoelectronics and Photonics II, 6192, p. 61922Q. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.661937.
Dörnyei (2001) ‘Recensione a cura di Paolo Torresan AUTORE : Zoltan Dörnyei TITOLO : Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom CITTÀ : Cambridge EDITORE : Cambridge University Press ANNO : 2001’, (1987).
EA Skinner & MJ Belmont (1993) ‘Motivation_in_the_classroom_Reciprocal_e.pdf’.
Fredricks, J., Blumenfeld, P. and Paris, A. (2004) ‘School Engagement : Potential of the Concept , State of the Evidence Authors ( s ): Jennifer A . Fredricks , Phyllis C . Blumenfeld and Alison H . Paris Published by : American Educational Research Association Stable URL : http://www.jstor.org/stable/3516’, Review of Educational Research, 74(1), pp. 59–109.
García, O. (2009) ‘Ofelia García: Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective’, Onomázein Revista de lingüística filología y traducción, pp. 298–302. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7764/onomazein.27.20.
García, O. and Kleyn, T. (2016) ‘Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments’, Translanguaging with Multilingual Students: Learning from Classroom Moments, 5(1), pp. 1–235. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315695242.
García, O. and Wei, L. (2014) Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education, Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765.
Guo, H. (2023) ‘Chinese Primary School Students’ Translanguaging in EFL Classrooms: What is It and Why is It Needed?’, Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 32(2), pp. 211–226. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-022-00644-7.
Lewis, G., Jones, B. and Baker, C. (2012) ‘Translanguaging: developing its conceptualisation and contextualisation, Educational Research and Evaluation’, An International Journal on Theory and Practice, 18(7), pp. 655–670. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2012.718490.
Li, W. (2011) Applied Linguistics Review 2 2011, Zhurnal Eksperimental’noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki. Available at: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:No+Title#0.
Lindholm-leary, K.J., Ph, D. and Borsato, G. (2001) ‘Impact of Two-Way Bilingual Elementary Programs on Students ’ Attitudes Toward School and College’, Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence, No. 10, pp. 1–40.
MacSwan, J. (2017) ‘A Multilingual Perspective on Translanguaging’, American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), pp. 167–201. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216683935.
Norton, B. (2016) ‘Identity and Language Learning: Back to the Future’, TESOL Quarterly, 50(2), pp. 475–479. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.293.
Ofelia García, Susana Ibarra Johnson, & K.S. (2017) ‘The translanguaging classroom: leveraging student bilingualism for learning’, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(5), pp. 639–640. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1275289.
Ofelia Garcia & Jo Anne Kleifgen (2010) Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Learners. Teachers College Press.
Raja, F.D., Suparno and Ngadiso (2022) ‘Teachers’ attitude towards translanguaging practice and its implication in Indonesian EFL classroom’, Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(3), pp. 567–576. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v11i3.38371.
Reeve, J. (2013) ‘How students create motivationally supportive learning environments for themselves: The concept of agentic engagement’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), pp. 579–595. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032690.
Robert K. Yin (2018) Case Study Researh and Application: Design and Methods. Sixth. Los Angles: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Silvia E. Rabionet (2011) ‘How I learned to design and conduct semi-structured interviews: An ongoing and continuous journey’, Qualitative Report, 16(2), pp. 563–566. Available at: https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2011.1070.
Swain, M. and Lapkin, S. (2000) ‘Task-based second language learning: The uses of the first language’, Language Teaching Research, 4(3), pp. 251–274. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/136216880000400304.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) ‘Vygotsky-Mind in Society of Higher Psychological Processes’, pp. 1–21. Available at: https://autismusberatung.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vygotsky-Mind-in-society.pdf.
Wei, L. (2018) ‘Translanguaging as a Practical Theory of Language’, Applied Linguistics, 39(1), pp. 9–30. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx039.
Williams, C. (1994) Arfarniad o ddulliau dysgu ac addysgu yng nghyd-destun addysg uwchradd ddwyieithog Arfarniad o ddulliau dysgu ac addysgu yng nghyd-destun addysg uwchradd ddwyieithog, Bangor University.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Supriadin, Nurlaila Wattiheluw, Baiq Nurul Layali
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
