Author: Corinne A. Seals
Date of Publication: September 2021
Notes: Scottish Languages Review Issue 36
A new flexible approach to language learning and teaching – translanguaging – has become a popular topic in recent years. This article discusses what translanguaging is (including how it describes theory, practice, and pedagogy) and why it is a paradigm shift in how we understand language. Then, this article turns to the particular case of the Wellington Translanguaging Project in Aotearoa New Zealand, first describing the language context of the country. The Wellington Translanguaging Project’s methods of data collection and analysis are then discussed, along with the findings of the project and how they relate both to new speakers (those encountering the target linguistic varieties for the first time in school) and heritage language speakers (those with a family connection to the target linguistic varieties). The findings are then discussed, including the ability of a translanguaging pedagogy to empower students and to encourage them to actually use more of the target linguistic varieties. The article ends by looking to other recent findings in pedagogical translanguaging research, showing both the qualitative and quantitative benefits of such an approach.