Attitudes of SHS teachers and students on the use of translanguaging as a resource for knowledge construction, meaning making, and problem-solving in English classrooms

• Main Author: Macawile, Karen Lynn G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Translanguaging (Linguistics); Multilingualism > Philippines; Language and Literacy Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_deal/5; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=etdm_deal
• Institution: De La Salle University

As a country, the Philippines is a multilingual nation with diverse languages, and this can be observed in English classrooms. Translanguaging typically emerges in this type of classroom setting (Garcia, 2009a; Garcia &Wei, 2014), where all languages interact and can be integrated at the same time among bilinguals. Garcia and Li (2014) and Wei and Ho (2018) argued that translanguaging is a purposeful shifting of languages which contributes to learners’ and teachers’ linguistic resources in meaning making, knowledge construction, and problem-solving in class. Despite the vast research in translanguaging, there is no in-depth study on the uses of translanguaging as a pedagogical resource and most of these studies focused on mainstream English classrooms and native English speakers. Thus, this prompted the present study to explore the uses and attitudes of bilingual students and teachers towards translanguaging in a non-native English classroom. Using an exploratory sequential method, the study gathered data through focus group discussions among twenty-four teachers and online survey questionnaires to one hundred twenty-five students and sixty-five teachers in Senior High Schools in the City of Dasmarinas. It was found that teachers and students used translanguaging mostly in enabling participation, helping, and assisting low proficient learners in classroom activities, and clarifying difficult concepts during discussion. There was a positive attitude on the use of translanguaging as a resource for knowledge construction, meaning making, and problem solving and in promoting the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) but there was an uncertainty among teachers and students on the use of translanguaging in classroom activities most especially in reading, listening, and writing. Translanguaging is found to be beneficial in English classrooms; however, there is a challenge in addressing the monolingual ideology embedded in the language education policies in the Philippines. Thus, the present study supports the use of learners' linguistic repertoire particularly their mother-tongue in knowledge construction, meaning making, and problem-solving to improve their content and language learning in English classrooms.