The document is a questionnaire answering questions about translanguaging as a pedagogical tool based on a chapter from the book "Translanguaging with Multilingual Students" by Ofelia Garcia and Trevor G. Kleyn. The questions cover topics such as how Garcia defines named languages and their relationship to linguistic systems, the two views of bilingualism, the origins of translanguaging, Cummins' Interdependence Hypothesis, code-switching vs translanguaging, the importance of recognizing students' full linguistic repertoires, elements of a translanguaging design, the importance of assessment, and supporting translanguaging in multilingual classrooms.

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PRACTICEII, DIDACTICS OF ELT and PracticumPrimary School
level. AdjuntoRegular a/c Prof. EstelaN. Braun(2021).
PRACTICAL 6: TRANSLANGUAGING AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL.
Questionnaire
Explain Translanguaging with Multilingual Students, Garcia and Kleyn
(2016), Routledge, London. Chapter 1.
Deadline: Monday, September 27th.
It can be written in pairs.
a) How does Garcia define named languages and their relationship with the
linguistic system? How do they develop?
Garcia defines named languages as the socially invented categories constructed
by its speaker’s social, political or ethnic affiliation. Despite being created and
artificial, these categories “English,” “Spanish,” “Russian,” and so on, refer to entities
that are present in the societies that have coined the terms and have had real and
material effects.
This author makes a fundamental distinction between named languages and their
relationship with the linguistic system. She highlights first that named languages do
not necessarily overlap with the linguistic systems of individual speakers. One matter
is the named language and another is the linguistic system of words, pronunciation,
constructions and so on that allows a speaker to communicate by different
communicational means. In this sense, that two speakers or more share a named
language, either “English,” “Arabic,” “German,” does not mean that their linguistic
repertoires would be close enough to permit the process of communication to carry
on smoothly, mainly if their linguistic systems are too different from one another.
Conversely, if their linguistic repertoires are close enough for them to understand each
other, their linguistic systems have been shaped by the interaction between them,

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making dialogue possible. This one evolves through their constant communicational
encounters.
b) What are the two views on bilingualism she develops?
According to Ofelia García, two views regarding bilingualism should be considered
social/outsider and inside points of view. The social viewpoint considers bilinguals as
having two named languages with separate linguistic systems. However, from an inside
perspective of bilingualism, the one that Garcia agrees with, either bilinguals/multilingual
individuals should be perceived as having just one linguistic system in which the different
languages refer and construct one another.
c) What were the origins of translanguaging?
The term translanguaging was first coined in the 1980s by Cen Williams, a recognized
poet and Welsh teacher. He developed an alternative approach to bilingualism in
education that aimed to deepen the student’s use of Welsh and English by giving them
different situations to recast understanding received in one language in the other language.
In this sense, Williams’s translanguaging (1994) provided Welsh students with
opportunities to change the language of the input, for example, to read in Welsh and the
output to write in English.
d) Explain Cummins’Interdependence Hypothesis and its impact on
bilingual education.
Cummins’Interdependence Hypothesis refers to the fact that students learning a new
language have a Common Underlying Proficiency between the languages that allow
transfer to occur. Cummins highlights the idea that learning academic content, no matter
the language of instruction, boosts the student’s general knowledge base.
This concept has been compared to a dual-iceberg, which describes the first
language and the second language representing the two tips of the iceberg that we can see
above the surface, with a common basis that connects the two languages below the
surface. The tips of the iceberg are related to BICS, and the foundation is associated with
CALP. BICS refers to the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills, in other words, the
everyday language we use to talk with the people with whom we share the same language.
However, CALP, which stands for Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, is the
formal academic language used in higher-level thinking.

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Then what this hypothesis proposes is that if a language learner already has CALP
in his/her native language, this prior knowledge would help the learner succeed in
achieving the same stage in the second language, as pupils can relate one concept with
another.
e) Explain code-switching and its pedagogical validity following Gumperz
(1976) as explained by Garcia & Kleyn.
Code-switching is defined as the practice of selecting or altering linguistic elements
to contextualize talk in interaction. This contextualization may relate to local discourse
practices, such as turn selection or various bracketing forms, or it may make relevant
information beyond the current exchange, including knowledge of society and diverse
identities. In this sense, Gumperz (1976) explains that code-switching represents the
capacity of a bilingual speaker to use two separate languages in two different linguistic
systems. Code-switching and its pedagogical validity have served as a tool for educators
to make comprehension possible in contexts where students do not understand the lesson.
f) How is Garcia’s (2009, 2016) theory of translanguaging different from
code-switching? Quote it and explain it via the examples provided.
Ofelia Garcia explains that no matter how positively code-switching is conceived in
different areas of education, it still endorses what she calls a monoglossic ideology of
bilingualism as it takes a social viewpoint of language, which considers two named
languages as two separate linguistic systems. In other words, code-switching relies on
the idea that bilinguals constantly transgress these two systems by alternating languages
and using closed structures related to each autonomous system. This concept still relies
on the notion of named national languages rather than the ability of bilingual speakers to
deploy their own linguistic resources.
On the contrary, by following the theory of translanguaging,
bilingualism/multilingualism is considered from an inside point of view. The speaker

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starts with one complex and dynamic system from which he learns to separate into two
languages due to the exposure of external social factors and not merely linguistic ones.
g) Why is translanguaging important to build a more equitable society? How
do linguistic repertoires and socially named languages relate?
Translanguaging highlights that speakers´ full deployment of their linguistic
repertoires does not correspond to the named languages’ politically and socially defined
limits. On the contrary, these linguistic repertoires belong to the bilingual/multilingual
speakers themselves, their developed linguistic system and not to the languages they are
said to belong to.
Linguistic realities contribute an essential part of every bilinguals’ linguistic
repertoire as they are formed through communication between individuals in their
everyday lives. Educators, then, should consider these linguistic realities in the
educational area and encourage students to use their entire language repertoire to support
their understanding of content and improve their language performances. With this, we
are teaching bilingual students from a different place where pupils learn how to use their
full range linguistic repertoire in meaningful contexts while considering the social norms
of named languages used in schools. To conclude, by recognizing bilingual students’
complete language repertoire, translanguaging capacities and linguistic realities, we
improve not only their education but also build up a more equitable society.
h) What is the importance of translanguaging as a pedagogical tool?
According to García, a theory of translanguaging can be transformative for educators.
Once teachers move from an external to an internal point of view of language, their entire
way of looking at bilinguals’ education changes. Educators teach to discover what prior
knowledge students already have in their linguistic repertoire that can be heightened
through interactions with others and texts with different language features. Pupils are
encouraged to use their mother tongue knowledge to support their second language
comprehension. Teachers, then, become co-learners and facilitators of opportunities to
develop their constantly evolving linguistic repertoire and the tools required to succeed
academically.
i) What elements should be part of a translanguaging design?
According to García, Johnson and Seltzer, 2016, teachers who support
translanguaging theory should design their curriculums by taking three elements into
account. Firstly, constructing collaborative/cooperative structures, secondly,

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collecting varied multilingual and multimodal instructional resources, and thirdly,
using translanguaging pedagogical practices. In this sense, didactic sequences are
designed in ways that heighten social interaction, collaboration and pupils’
participation(student-centred lessons).
j) How important is it in terms of assessment?
Translanguaging theory helps teachers separate language-specific performances in
the named language from general linguistic performances; in other words, the student’s
ability to carry on different communicational skills. Teachers should assess whether a
bilingual pupil uses the lexicon and linguistic structures of a specific-named language, in
this case, English, in socially and academically appropriate ways – language-specific
performance- regardless of the language features used – the general specific performance.
The author highlights that it is vital to notice that translanguaging theory in
assessment encourages equal educational opportunities and social justice. Students’ full
use of their repertoire is taken into account, and not half of it, which usually happens
when they are tested only in English and their original linguistic features from their L1
are suppressed.
k) Why is it important to support tranlanguaging in multilingual classrooms?
Supporting translanguaging in multilingual classrooms changes a whole range of
paradigms that surround bilingual education. Translanguaging offers opportunities to
transform English-medium programs into multilingual programs by including linguistic
practices that are related to Languages Other Than English (LOTEs). Bilingual teachers
have developed a shield around the minoritized language, give linguistic communities the
tools to reflect on their own language and realize the symbolic violence exerted by
educational institutions. In this sense, teachers who support multilingual classrooms look
to blur the strict boundaries between meeting the requirements of national languages
without losing the development of translanguaging spaces where bilingual children can
deploy their entire language repertoire. Consequently, by putting the two named
languages alongside, students develop the capacity to analyze their own language
practices, foster their metalinguistic awareness, and become critical discourse analysts
reflecting on their interactive communicational practices.
l) Explain Flores (2014) quote.
“Let us not forget that translanguaging is a political act.”

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Flores states that translanguaging theory is both a line of thought and a means of
action that can transform education from its roots. By choosing translanguaging as our
educational ideology, we position ourselves against pre-established hierarchies and
traditional mindsets regarding bilingualism that heighten inequality and ostracism in
minority linguistic communities.