Critical Translanguaging Capability as an Intercultural Pedagogy for Localizing Chinese Language Education

Abstract

The native teachers of Chinese are often perceived as lacking in critical thinking and creativity when it comes to employing culturally appropriate and relatable learning content in their lesson delivery to foreign Chinese language learners. However, there is little research pertaining to the methods that native teachers of Chinese can use to critically and creatively transform their instructional materials, strategies, and beliefs towards localizing the Chinese language curriculum to better suit students coming from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. In an attempt to address this issue, a case study methodology, combined with photo-elicitation interviews, was adopted for data collection. It investigated a bilingual Chinese teacher-researcher who critically and flexibly utilized his cultural and linguistic repertoires in enacting translanguaging pedagogy practices in the Australian education context. This study reveals that the native Chinese teacher-researcher, was able to use his critical thinking and creative abilities backed by his indigenous Chinese linguistic and cultural concepts and metaphors to source and select appropriate localized content that facilitates student learning. Such translanguaging practices demonstrated that the native Chinese teacher-researcher’s critical thinking capability helped shape up intercultural pedagogy giving rise to a localized Chinese language curriculum in the Australian education context.