Abstract:

Our understandings of how bilinguals learn, process, and communicate in their languages have evolved tremendously over the past two decades. Evidence from fields such as multilingual education (García, 2009; García & Wei, 2014), cognitive psychology (Kroll, Bobb & Hoshino, 2014), neurolinguistics (Hoshino & Thierry, 2011), second language education (Council of Europe, 2000) and linguistics (Canagarajah, 2011) point to complex and dynamic interrelationships between and among the languages of bilinguals. Amidst this paradigm shift a theory of translanguaging has emerged. The term translanguaging, from the Welsh trawsieithu, was first coined by Cen Williams in the 1980s to refer to pedagogical use of languages in Welsh-English bilingual programmes in Wales. More recently the term has been adopted and its definition expanded by scholars around the world. Translanguaging includes a focus both on instructional initiatives orchestrated by the teacher and processes of learning experienced or/and pursued by the learners (Cummins, 2014). Students and teachers make spontaneous cross-linguistic connections throughout the course of the teaching and learning enterprise in immersion, yet translanguaging sits uneasily with the principles of total immersion, on which immersion education is firmly based (Ballinger & Lyster, 2011; Ballinger, Lyster, Sterzuk & Genesee, 2017; Fortune & Tedick, 2019; Ó Ceallaigh & Ó Brolcháin, 2020). While a broad range of cross-linguistic instructional approaches, strategies and activities have been identified in the literature, it is important to note that the effectiveness of each particular activity depends on a number of variables e.g. immersion model, goals and context, the status of the languages of instruction, students’ language learning needs, abilities and backgrounds, immersion teachers’ life histories and beliefs etc. This paper will review the literature in an attempt to shed light on the following research question: In what ways can educators help immersion students develop cross-linguistic connections while still offering protected spaces and support for the L2/minority language in the classroom and ensuring high levels of L2/minority language development? Firstly, a critical review of the literature base relevant to translanguaging will be presented and findings synthesised in an attempt to ascertain what is known from extant studies. What is yet to be known about translanguaging in the minority language educational context, a context designed to promote students’ academic achievement while simultaneously ensuring minority language proficiency and literacy development, will also be delineated. Following on from this, research-supported counterarguments prompting a reconceptualization of translanguaging practices in minority language immersion programmes will be presented. In conclusion, implications of incorporating translanguaging pedagogies into these immersion programmes will be considered with a particular focus on teacher education and curriculum design.

Keywords:

Immersion education, minority language, translanguaging, teacher education, curriculum design.