Contradictions Confronting Hybrid Spaces for Translanguaging in the Lebanese Context: A CHAT Perspective

Abstract

The Lebanese educational system is multilingual with science taught and assessed in a foreign language (English or French). Deploying a foreign language in science instruction have raised concerns due to Lebanon’s low performance on international assessments, with research showing that fluency in the foreign language and other socioeconomic factors contribute significantly to students’ TIMSS science performance. A content literacy model and translanguaging, or the deployment and leveraging of students’ entire linguistic repertoires, supports diverse students’ deep science learning; however, in the Lebanese context, enacting translanguaging practices runs against monoglossic norms that favor the foreign languages. Such norms have raised tensions around equity and access to quality science instruction and the value of Arabic as a symbol of national identity. This paper utilizes cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to conceptually and empirically identify tensions as “contradictions” within the Lebanese context that confront enactment of a content literacy model and translanguaging. CHAT is a transformative approach to understanding human practice as a goal-oriented collective activity, in which contradictions are inevitable and become an impetus for change and development. Exploring contradiction can inform contextually responsive interventions for enhancing the quality of science education in Lebanon.