From uncertainty to advocacy: A Teacher's journey in translanguaging pedagogy

Abstract

Drawing on a longitudinal perspective and narrative inquiry, this study examines how a teacher/graduate student navigated her professional development in translanguaging pedagogy and how this process shaped her professional identity. In response to the call for research partnerships (Hennebry-Leung et al., 2024), the study was structured as a collaboration between a professor (Author 1) and a teacher/graduate student (Author 2), ensuring the teacher's voice remained central. Data sources included course assessments, teaching recordings, reflections, documented communication between the authors throughout the graduate program, and a one-on-one interview. Findings illustrate the teacher's progression from an educator exploring translanguaging pedagogy, to a practitioner applying it in her classroom, and eventually to an advocate—reflecting a professional identity shaped through mentorship, ongoing practice, and reflection. Her journey was nonlinear, marked by moments of self-doubt, institutional challenges, and fears of criticism. This study argues that teachers' engagement with translanguaging pedagogy is a developmental process, an evolving stance rather than a fixed method, that requires time, experience, mentorship, and adaptability. In doing so, it contributes to international conversations on translanguaging pedagogy, identity, and agency, offering an agenda for how teacher education can better sustain teachers' multilingual practices and professional growth.