Translanguaging Practices in Multilingual Education

Translanguaging describes the intentional integration of all linguistic and semiotic resources that multilingual learners bring to the classroom, moving beyond traditional compartmentalisation of named languages. Emerging from bilingual education research, it has evolved into a paradigm that reconceptualises language learning as an act of identity construction, cognitive engagement and social interaction. In practice, translanguaging spaces are designed to harness learners’ full repertoires—spoken, written, gestural and digital—to support content learning, foster critical consciousness and promote inclusion. Across diverse contexts, from primary trilingual programmes to English-medium instruction in mathematics and science, translanguaging has been shown to enhance subject comprehension, encourage playful and inquiry-based talk, and challenge raciolinguistic hierarchies. At policy and classroom levels, it has resonated with decolonising agendas, teacher professional development and the design of digital-mediated interactional environments, underlining its global significance and practical versatility.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Translanguaging Practices in Multilingual Education publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in translanguaging practices in multilingual education across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Translanguaging: The dynamic practice of drawing on an integrated linguistic and semiotic repertoire rather than treating languages as separate systems.

Translanguaging space: An environment—physical or virtual—where participants fluidly deploy multiple multimodal resources to co-construct understanding.

Pedagogical translanguaging: Deliberate instructional approaches that leverage learners’ full repertoires to support content learning and language development.

Multimodal repertoire: The ensemble of linguistic, visual, gestural and technological resources available for meaning-making.

Decolonising pedagogy: Educational practices that challenge hierarchical language ideologies and centre marginalized voices and knowledges.

References

1. Transformative pedagogy for inclusion and social justice through translanguaging, co-learning, and transpositioning. Language Teaching (2023).
2. Classroom interactional competence in an English medium instruction mathematics classroom: A creation of a technology-mediated translanguaging space. Learning and Instruction (2024).
3. Not a First Language but One Repertoire: Translanguaging as a Decolonizing Project. RELC Journal (2022).
4. Constructing Playful Talk through Translanguaging in English Medium Instruction Mathematics Classrooms. Applied Linguistics (2020).
5. Implementing pedagogical translanguaging in trilingual schools. System (2020).
6. Translanguaging as Inclusive Pedagogical Practices in English-Medium Instruction Science and Mathematics Classrooms for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students. Research in Science Education (2021).