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Translanguaging in Action in English-Medium Classrooms: A Resource Book for Teachers
Chapter: Metaphorical Affordances of Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) Artifacts in Pre-service Teacher Education: Developing a Translanguaging Stance
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Book Description

This book explores evidence-based, research-informed practical applications of translanguaging pedagogies in a variety of TESOL contexts, including perspectives from scholars in the Global South. Providing insights for teachers and educators into the strategic development of concrete, situated translanguaging approaches, it also explores the challenges of implementing equitable and effective language teaching and learning.

Starting by asking, ‘What is translanguaging as theory and pedagogy?’ and ‘Why does it matter in TESOL?’ this book considers translanguaging at various educational levels from elementary and secondary classrooms to teacher education. Global contributors examine practices for an international understanding of translanguaging pedagogy, with case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and Southern America.

Through offering both general guidelines and concrete translanguaging-in-action examples, each chapter encourages teachers and educators to reimagine and redesign their classroom spaces. They are also given self-guided resources for professional development, making this book ideal as a introductory resource for teacher education programmes.

Chapter Description
Chapter: Metaphorical Affordances of Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) Artifacts in Pre-service Teacher Education: Developing a Translanguaging Stance by Nayr Ibrahim
Despite the exponential growth in translanguaging research in recent years and a generalized acknowledging of and interest in its pedagogical affordances, there is still considerable uncertainty among teachers on how to operationalize this approach in the classroom. Researchers are calling for approaches that give teachers more opportunities to explore their own perceptions and ideological positionings in relation to translingual practices in order to better support multilingual students in the classroom. This chapter reports on a study that uses the concept of Dominant Language Constellations (Aronin, 2021) as a tool for exploring pre-service teachers’ subjective, experiential engagement with their languages and expression of their multi/translingual identity (Ibrahim, 2023). The teachers in a Master’s Program in Primary and Secondary Education at a university in Northern Norway created DLC artifacts, a visual, artifactual activity, which expanded teachers’ linguistic repertoires and captured spontaneous translanguaging at a personal level. The artifacts were followed by written reflections, which allowed the teachers to explore the metaphorical affordances of the artifact to unpack their relationships with their languages. Furthermore, this approach emphasized the interconnectedness of languages and encouraged teachers to embrace their linguistic diversity as a source of strength. Teachers acquired a deeper understanding of translanguaging and felt confident in using flexible pedagogical approaches in their future classrooms.
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