Book Review: Translanguaging in EFL Contexts: A Call for Change

The exponential growth of translanguaging scholarship, in the past two decades, has raised questions about the ideological and pedagogical implications of monolingual and language separatist approaches (e.g. García and Wei, 2014; Juvonen and Källkvist, 2021). Translanguaging has been used as a critical and transformative pedagogical approach to ensure multilingual students’ meaningful participation in the classroom (Probyn, 2015). However, translanguaging in teacher education, particularly in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts, is still an under-investigated area. Drawing on the South Korean case, Translanguaging in EFL Contexts: A Call for Change fills this gap by examining the intersection between translanguaging, teacher beliefs and EFL teacher education.

The book begins by discussing EFL teachers’ ‘guilt’ about using translanguaging in the classroom and examining how dominant second language acquisition (SLA) theories in teacher education programmes shape teachers’ beliefs about language pedagogies. While critically reviewing the impact of SLA theories on teachers’ beliefs, the book challenges the distinction between ‘target language’ and first language (L1) and calls for ‘translanguaging pedagogies’ (Vaish, 2019) that provide a space for students’ multilingual identities. As in the previous studies on translanguaging, the book critiques the ‘hegemonic ideologies’ such as ‘native-like competence’ and ‘target language’ that misrecognize the relevance of multilingual practices in EFL teaching (chapter 1). But it also offers a unique theoretical perspective to investigate translanguaging practices in EFL contexts by integrating ‘social turn in SLA’ (Block, 2003), ‘systemic functional linguistics’ (Halliday, 1978) and ‘pedagogic discourse’ (Bernstein, 1990). As discussed in chapter 2, these theories collectively provide a comprehensive framework to understand how translanguaging pedagogies are linked with power relations and identities. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between teacher belief, identity and investment (Norton, 2013) and focuses on the importance of positive bi-/multilingual identities in EFL learning.

The dynamic construction of teacher beliefs and their roles in shaping translanguaging pedagogies are discussed in chapter 4. Chapters 5 and 6 include rich classroom data and discuss how teachers can create a ‘translanguaging space’ (Wei, 2011) to help learners invest their multilingual identities in the classroom. Thematized as ‘translanguaging strategies of inclusion’ and ‘translanguaging practices of exclusion’, the book discusses how translanguaging can go beyond language-centric teaching and challenge unequal power relations between ‘target language’ (English) and L1 (Korean). The data show that translanguaging pedagogies help teachers create an inclusive, participatory and democratic learning environment for EFL learners. The theorization of translanguaging practices as a translanguaging pedagogic subject position not only challenges the boundaries between L1 and target language, but also (and more importantly) resists unequal positionalities, supported by monolingual EFL teaching methods, between teachers and students. This subject position not only promotes translanguaging as a mediating tool for learning, but also sees EFL learners as multilingual beings, with dynamic and fluid language practices. This theorization reminds EFL teachers/teacher educators to critically assess whether their pedagogical approaches help learners fully invest their total linguistic knowledge and skills in the classroom. However, the use of translanguaging may not always provide an inclusive space for learners’ voice and knowledge. The book (in chapter 6) has discussed how EFL teachers provide little choice for learners to use their total linguistic repertoire.

The book takes a critical and situated perspective to examine how teachers’ ideologies about the restrictive use of translanguaging is shaped by their past language learning experiences, teacher education programmes, institutional policies and sociopolitical contexts. In chapter 7, the book examines how the rejection of learners’ bilingual repertoire contributes to their alienation, detachment and estrangement from the learning process. More strikingly, the book makes a claim that the denial of EFL learners’ total linguistic repertoire reinforces their struggles and unequal participation in learning English. Finally, the book, in chapter 8, focuses on the transformative potential and sociopolitical condition of translanguaging. The notion of ‘translanguaging identity development’ is one of the major theoretical takeaways from the final chapter. The book suggests that EFL teacher education programmes, including teacher training, should pay attention to engaging teachers in analysing language ideologies that shape their pedagogical practices. Critical praxis, building on Freirean critical pedagogy, as discussed in the book, is definitely an appropriate approach to engage teachers in translanguaging pedagogies. It builds ‘teacher awareness’ of hegemonic ideologies (e.g. native speakerism and monolingualism) in SLA and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) education programmes and helps teachers act to transform them.

Overall, the book provides critical insights into understanding both the transformative potentials and challenges of translanguaging in EFL teaching and teacher education programmes. It makes a strong case for theorizing translanguaging as a pedagogy of identity development that recognizes EFL learners’ multilingual identities and worldviews. As a researcher with substantial experiences in teacher education programmes, including teacher training, in South Korea, Michael Rabbidge situates teachers’ beliefs on translanguaging pedagogies in the historical and sociopolitical context of the country. The book highlights the intersection between teacher agency, ideologies/awareness and teacher education programmes for creating a ‘translanguaging space’ for participatory EFL pedagogies. One major area that needs more attention in the book is how EFL teachers/teacher educators can be engaged in building and integrating a translanguaging praxis in teacher education programmes, in a planned and purposeful manner, when the sociopolitical and institutional structure and ideology continue to promote language separatism.