Translanguaging in a culturally and linguistically diverse Mandarin FLES program

Abstract

This study explores translanguaging practices in a K-5 Mandarin Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program in the United States. Using an ethnographic case study approach, it examined how a Mandarin teacher enacted translanguaging practices in two fourth-grade Mandarin classrooms and explored the affordances these practices provided for her multilingual students. The analysis of classroom video-recordings and artifacts revealed that by leveraging students' home languages (e.g., Spanish), multimodal and semiotic resources, and peer collaboration, the teacher created opportunities for students to express their understanding in various ways, challenged monolingual ideologies, and empowered multilingual identities. The study highlights how teachers can enact translanguaging by making intentional pedagogical choices that harness available resources in the classroom. It also challenges the assumption that exclusive target-language use is the most effective route to proficiency, advocating instead for pedagogical approaches that recognize and build upon students' multilingual identities as assets in world language learning.