Translanguaging in the secondary international school, Patricia Mertin

Many new second language students who join an international school at the secondary stage of education have been learning English as a foreign language in their previous schools. Their level of English may be good enough to hold a conversation, but it is generally not sufficient to follow mainstream content classes and this can lead to major problems. The level of cognitive academic language proficiency necessary to succeed steadily increases as children move through the secondary school and the language of the mainstream classrooms becomes increasingly challenging.

Second language learners at the secondary level need to be taught English explicitly, but their academic learning cannot be put on hold while they learn English. It is necessary for the English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers to liaise with their colleagues from the content areas to help students to acquire the language needed to succeed academically – but often the time and opportunities for this liaison is limited.

In the past it was believed that the target language and the mother tongue must be kept separate in order to avoid interference. Cummins refers to this as the “two solitudes”. Research now shows that the mother tongue, or the student’s strongest language, can be a valuable support in understanding and learning not only a new language but also academic content in English. The interdependence hypothesis explains that: Academic language proficiency transfers across languages such that students who have developed literacy in their L1 will tend to make stronger progress in acquiring literacy in L2. (Cummins, 2000: 173)

common base. In the same way, the two languages share a common central engine or source of thought. He refers to this as the Common Underlying Proficiency.

Baker (2011:166) summarises the Common Underlying Proficiency model of bilingualism in 6 points, the first being: Irrespective of the language in which a person is operating, the thoughts that accompany talking, reading, writing and listening come from the same central engine. When a person owns two or more languages, there is one integrated source of thought.

The theory behind translanguaging is connected to the theory of Common Underlying Proficiency. The term was first coined in Welsh (“trawsiethu”) by Cen Williams in relation to teaching and learning in English and Welsh. Williams (1994, 1996) proposed a structured method of implementing and developing the two languages by giving the input, reading and/or listening in one language while the output, writing or speaking was given in the other language (in Baker, 2011: 288).

Second language learners who join international schools in the secondary stage have generally reached a good level of academic language in their mother tongue and may have been successful students in their previous mother tongue medium schools. Unfortunately little of their previous knowledge and proficiency can be accessed, as long as their own level of English is below that of the subjects being taught in the classroom. In addition, of course, these students struggle to understand the content being taught in English – and the subject area teachers, who often lack any kind of ESL training, have limited opportunities to make the content accessible.

However, the theory of Common Underlying Proficiency indicates that if these students can understand the content of a class in their mother tongue, then that understanding will transfer to English. The students will need to understand the relevant vocabulary and may grapple with the language of the textbook, but if the basic principles of the content are understood, far more progress can be made.

Baker (2011: 289) suggests that there are four potential advantages to translanguaging: It may help students to develop oral communication and literacy in their weaker language.

It can facilitate home-school cooperation.

Learners can develop their second language ability concurrently with content learning. But how can this be done in an international school with multilingual students, and teachers who may be bilingual but cannot support all of the languages in their classes?

In the twenty-first century there is a whole world of information in multiple languages available on the internet which students could use to increase their knowledge and understanding through their mother tongue. If students are encouraged to research the topics being studied in school in their mother tongue, and share their knowledge and understanding with others who speak the same mother tongue – parents and peers, then their level of content understanding would be increased. Further steps would follow, key vocabulary could be identified and shared, the language of the topic in English would be more comprehensible and, even more – the identity of the students and the importance of their mother tongue would be confirmed. In addition, students would maintain and develop their academic mother tongue in preparation for future studies or careers.

The advantages are convincing. With little effort, but a new appreciation of the role the mother tongue plays in learning, students can be given access to deeper understanding of content and greater chances of success in international school classrooms.

Baker, C. (2011) Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon Cummins, J. (2000) Language, Power and Pedagogy. Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon