TRANSLANGUAGING IN LANGUAGE ARTS: A PEDAGOGY FOR THE FIFTH SKILL

Abstract

This paper reviews literature on the teaching of literature under the module of Language Arts in Malaysian schools. The interplay of literature teaching in the primary SBELC module and the development of Translation in Language Teaching (TILT) should be part and parcel of teaching awareness in ESL/bilingual classrooms today. Research indicates that teachers do not possess adequate knowledge on appropriate literature teaching approach to enable them to teach literature to ESL students. Among the arising problems, among others, are improper training, failure to change their old approaches, apart from students’ language proficiency and lack of interest. As a result, they ended up teaching literature at the lower order thinking skill (LOTS). To fulfil the syllabus requirement, teachers resorted to comprehension and reading activities. The teaching of literary elements such as plot, character and themes seems minimal. No writing or speaking tasks involving students’ personal responses took place during the lessons. As a result, students failed to understand and appreciate literature lessons. This concept paper, thus, attempts to integrate the framework of Translanguaging Pedagogy into the teaching of literature in primary schools. Based on the Translanguaging Pedagogy framework (Garcia et al., 2015), a module of three cycles is proposed to enable teachers to teach Language Arts to primary ESL/bilingual students, from their own language repertoires and cultural identity. This module should be incorporated into teacher training programme. By doing so, the areas of literature teaching in ESL context and translation in language teaching (TILT) will be meaningful in helping students to understand and appreciate literature from their own linguistic repertoire and identity.