Translanguaging Within an Integrated Framework for Multilingual Science Meaning Making

Abstract

Translanguaging is emerging as a significant pedagogical tool to help science educators frame learning in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. To effectively support and challenge multilingual science learners, however, translanguaging must be conceptualized as more than an isolated philosophy or instructional strategy. Instead, we position translanguaging as one component of an integrated model of culturally and linguistically sustaining disciplinary meaning making. In this study, translanguaging interactions are explored in two contexts: (1) conversations about science and language during family interviews that occurred during a series of Steps to College through Science bilingual family workshops and (2) students’ written responses on a multilingual and multimodal science assessment, designed and administered by members of the research team in the classrooms of project teachers. Through a systemic functional linguistic (SFL) discourse analysis, we explore how differential evidence of translanguaging in these two contexts can deepen our understanding of the role of translanguaging in support of science meaning making.