Introducing Translanguaging in an EAP Course at a Joint-Venture University in China

Abstract

This article describes an innovative approach to introducing translanguaging in an English for academic purposes (EAP) course at a young Sino–US joint-venture university in China. To promote the use of Chinese students’ full linguistic and communicative repertoires in an English-medium-of-instruction university, I intentionally incorporated translanguaging into an EAP course through three components: explicit discussion of translanguaging, a short writing assignment on an extended definition of a Chinese concept, and a team survey project to test a generalization about Chinese culture. Observation and feedback from students indicate that these translanguaging writing assignments have the potential to contribute to students’ cultural knowledge, writing and communication skills, intercultural communication and awareness, and identity construction as translingual and transnational students. I describe the context and rationale for the innovative assignments, and the assignments themselves. I then reflect on the process and discuss implications and plans for expansion of activities that promote translanguaging.