Translanguaging in Multilingual English Classrooms

Abstract

Recently, translanguaging has gained much attention in multilingual education scholarship from scholars who question the strict division of languages. Ofelia García and Li Wei (2014) maintain that translanguaging is a creative meaning-making process that allows multilingual speakers to actively participate in linguistically diverse social contexts. Subsequently, a growing amount of research has extended the notion of translanguaging from its theoretical framework to include pedagogical implications. Missing from this body of literature is an attempt to apply translanguaging from an Asian perspective, particularly in terms of its practices in multilingual classrooms. In response to this need, Viniti Vaish’s recently published book, Translanguaging in Multilingual English Classrooms: An Asian Perspective and Contexts, offers ways translanguaging can be implemented to support students who are struggling to read in English. This review provides a summary of the book and its key points, followed by an evaluation and implications for how teachers and teacher educators could use it.