‘Somos bilingües’: translanguaging socialization of DLBE teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the disruption of in-person schooling has significantly affected many students including emergent bilingual students. Designed as an ethnographic study, this research study examines two Spanish-English dual language bilingual education teachers’ implementation of translanguaging pedagogies and language socialization during the pandemic through the following research questions: (1) What adjustments did the teachers make to their teaching and curriculum to support the students as they navigated the pandemic times? (2) How did the teachers and students use languages in their interaction in blended learning environments? Findings from the 2nd grade Spanish Language Arts and 4th grade Social Studies classes demonstrate that both teachers reported an increased awareness of the importance to integrate translanguaging pedagogies and reflected a translanguaging stance. They also intentionally integrated translanguaging strategies into their teaching through translanguaging design. The 2nd grade teacher invited the students to draw upon their full linguistic repertoires for Spanish literacy development, whereas the 4th grade teacher adopted translanguaging design to make content materials more accessible. Through translanguaging socialization, both teachers socialized the students into and through flexible language use and created a learning environment where students’ linguistic repertoires were valued as a resource for learning.