Blending translanguaging and CLIL: pedagogical benefits and ideological challenges in a Bangladeshi classroom

ABSTRACT The study employed a blended approach of translanguaging pedagogy and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in an Anthropology class of a Bangladeshi public university. Data were collected through classroom observation, a pedagogical intervention, a focus group discussion with six students, and a semi-structured interview with the class teacher. The results show that the blended approach created a dynamic learning space in an otherwise teacher-centered classroom, keeping students intrinsically engaged and enhancing the acquisition of Anthropology content knowledge and institutionally appropriate language conventions. The students acknowledged the positive potential of the blended approach. In contrast, the teacher opposed this approach by appraising the ideological complexities that might derive from the socio-political realities of the Bangladeshi context. The study recommended initiating conversation among education communities, prestige planning of translanguaging practices and teacher education programmes to benefit from the blended approach of translanguaging pedagogies and CLIL.