Convergence of Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Perspectives on Translanguaging with English Learners

Research worldwide is increasingly documenting how schools and teachers respond to multilinguals’ linguistic repertoires through translanguaging pedagogies that affirm students’ languages and identities. Yet, scant empirical evidence examines how translanguaging works in multilingual contexts with indigenous learners in Asian countries. This work is theoretically framed by pedagogical translanguaging, particularly in relation to teacher-led strategies designed to support academic content mastery among English learners. Using convergent mixed methods that included surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, and observations of teachers’ instructional approaches in northern Philippine classrooms, this study captured teachers’ dispositions and perspectives. Findings from this work demonstrate that teachers’ translanguaging approaches and perspectives hold the promise of deconstructing and dismantling dominant narratives that counter the advantages of multilingualism. At the intersection of translanguaging and language inclusivity, teachers affirmed students’ identities as multilinguals. Further, the findings support previous research showing that teachers’ optimistic perceptions of translanguaging influenced their teaching methods that mirrored this framework. The pedagogical implications of this study inform recommendations for practitioners on asset-based instructional paradigms for teaching multilingual English learners.