Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND BILINGUALISM
Volume 25, Issue 6, Pages 2075-2094Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2020.1849011
Keywords
Translanguaging; English medium instruction; multilingualism; classroom discourse; inequalities; Nepal
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study investigates the language use of teachers and students in English-medium instruction (EMI) classrooms in a multilingual public school in Nepal. The findings suggest that only translanguaging between Nepali and English is recognized, while mother tongues are consistently excluded. In addition, the study highlights the teachers' lack of preparedness to effectively and fairly use translanguaging in EMI classrooms, calling for a reconsideration of the uncritical recommendation of translanguaging without considering local realities and systemic barriers.
While other languages can be used in English-medium instruction (EMI) classrooms, little research has been conducted on the alignment of the use of these languages with the objectives of EMI policy and how bi/multilingual practices such as translanguaging respond to the sociopolitics of EMI classrooms. This case study examined both teachers' and students' language use in EMI classrooms in a multilingual public school in Nepal with minority students whose mother tongues were not Nepali. A critical discourse analysis of two content-area-subject classrooms showed that only Nepali and English translanguaging among students and teachers was identified and mother tongues were consistently excluded. While translanguaging in the two dominant languages could potentially create a flexible space for teaching/learning content knowledge, further interviews with teachers and administrators and a focus-group discussion with students revealed that stakeholders' socially constructed linguistic hierarchy had led to the exclusion of the legitimate place of students' mother tongues in their seemingly 'ordinary' translingual practices. The study also notes content-area teachers' pedagogic under-preparedness to use translanguaging effectively and justly in EMI classrooms, suggesting the need to reconsider the uncritical recommendation of translanguaging without reflecting on local realities and systemic barriers.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available