Making the Shift From a Codeswitching to a Translanguaging Lens in English Language Teacher Education

Abstract

There has been increasing ambiguity and debate about the meaning and applicability of the terms codeswitching and translanguaging in English language classrooms. To address this issue, this article first offers a historical overview of the literature on codeswitching and translanguaging. This overview serves as the basis for an updated framework that highlights necessary areas of shift in conceptualization from codeswitching to translanguaging, and dimensions of codeswitching research that can still be integrated into a translanguaging lens. This framework is illuminated through an autobiographical narrative inquiry analysis of a teacher educator and a student‐researcher at an English‐medium university in Kazakhstan, a country that is officially bilingual and developing policies and practices to promote trilingualism. The article reinforces the argument that teachers, teacher educators, and ESOL researchers need to shift from a separate (monoglossic) view of languaging practices to a holistic (heteroglossic) view. Research on teachers’ beliefs and language practices need to be reviewed critically to identify whether they take a monoglossic or heteroglossic view of language practices. The preponderance of spontaneous rather than strategic pedagogical use of translanguaging suggests that teachers and teacher educators in English‐language classrooms need to be explicitly taught ways to incorporate heteroglossic ideologies and intentional translanguaging pedagogies into their teaching practice.