Translanguaging in International Student Teaching: Narratives of Filipino Teachers in an Indonesian Setting

Willy Prasetya

doi:10.15294/lc.v15i2.28135

Abstract

Regardless of numerous studies on translanguaging, little attention has been given to its practice among pre-service teachers, particularly in the ASEAN context. To fill this gap, this article explores the experiences of three pre-service English teachers from the Philippines who were assigned to a private elementary school in Indonesia as part of a pre-service teacher exchange program. Working in a context that did not share a similar first or second language, the three teachers used English, their second language, as a lingua franca in communicating with the students. Drawing upon data from their teaching diaries, class observation, and in-depth interviews, this article reveals that using English in the classroom was challenging because English was neither the first nor the second language of their students. Three narratives from the teachers are recounted to shed some light on their use of translanguaging to bridge the communication gap. The implication of the study is also discussed.

Highlights

Previous studies into English as a global lingua franca, English as an international language, and English as a world language show that the use of English has penetrated into different educational terrains in educational settings across ASEAN increases rapidly as more opportunities for educational cooperation and exchange programs become available for the academic community in the region
Given the scarcity of research on translanguaging in pre-service teachers’ classroom practices, in the ASEAN context, the present study explored how three pre-service Filipino teachers with English as their second language used translanguaging in teaching Indonesian elementary students who studied English as neither first nor second language
Four recurring themes in the three narratives were the influence of an Indonesian language course, translanguaging through translation, visual and non-verbal support for translanguaging, and students’ sociocultural backgrounds in translanguaging

Summary

Introduction

Previous studies into English as a global lingua franca, English as an international language, and English as a world language show that the use of English has penetrated into different educational terrains in educational settings across ASEAN increases rapidly as more opportunities for educational cooperation and exchange programs become available for the academic community in the region. The term English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is used to define the use of the language among people who do not share similar mother tongues In this sense, ELF is not a linguistic variety that is based on any nativespeaker norms (Hülmbauer, Böhringer, Seidlhofer, 2008), and its sole purpose is effective communication through the use of any linguistic repertoire and communicative strategies that a speaker possesses (Friedrich & Matsuda, 2010). ELF is not a linguistic variety that is based on any nativespeaker norms (Hülmbauer, Böhringer, Seidlhofer, 2008), and its sole purpose is effective communication through the use of any linguistic repertoire and communicative strategies that a speaker possesses (Friedrich & Matsuda, 2010) In this sense, it is vital to view English, not in isolation from other languages. In ELF contexts, it is common to use two or more named languages simultaneously or interchangeably

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