Translanguaging Practices as Mobilization of Linguistic Resources in a Spanish/English Bilingual After-School Program: An Analysis of Contradictions

Abstract

This article discusses the results of an empirical study that examined the translanguaging practices of primary-grade, bilingual Latino students, as mediated by bilingual teacher candidates (TCs), in an after-school program in the southwestern United States. Expansive Learning theory, within the cultural-historical activity tradition, guided the analysis. The author uses the concept of internal contradictions to analyze dilemmas that emerged during the program, as they related to the participants’ language use. Results indicate that participants’ translanguaging practices inadvertently reinforced the hegemony of English, which made English, and concerns regarding testing, the object of the activity for many of the TCs. The author suggests that this tension reflects larger historical contradictions in U.S. schooling for language-minoritized children. Accordingly, she cautions about the use of flexible language policies in bilingual education, which could be used to either stabilize or transgress language hierarchies and inequalities.