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JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & EDUCATION
| Book Reviews
https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2024.18397
Pedagogical Translanguaging -Elements in Language Teaching: Book Review
Jie Fan
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Pedagogical Translanguaging - Elements in Language Teaching, by Jasone Cenoz and Durk Gorter, Cambridge University Press, 2022, 75pp., ISBN 978-1-009-01440-3
Citation: Fan J. (2024). Pedagogical Translanguaging - Elements in Language Teaching: Book Review. Journal of Language and Education, 10(2), 153-155. https://doi.org/10.17323/jle.2024.18397
Correspondence:
Jie Fan,
katiefan100@gmail.com
Received: November 28, 2023 Accepted: June 14, 2024 Published: June 17, 2024
Translanguaging has become an important instructional approach to improving multilingual learners' linguistic competencies. However, not many schools have adopted multilingual pedagogies in their curricula due to monolingual ideologies (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022). In an increasingly globalised and diversified world, the monolingual teaching approach is no longer adapted to multilingual language classrooms. Therefore, the language teaching pedagogy available to educators and researchers in the fields of bilingualism and translingualism requires an update. Pedagogical Translanguaging - Elements in Language Teaching, written by Jasone Cenoz and Durk Gorter (2022), is a welcome response to this demand because it is designed for educational practitioners and aims to provide a framework for the pedagogical use of translanguaging, thereby activating multilingual learners' linguistic resources and repertoires. It presents a useful guide for novice teacher educators and researchers who may not be conversant with the concepts of bilingualism and multilingualism regarding the application of translanguaging pedagogy and the development of translanguaging theory.
The book is organised into six sections. Section 1 is an introductory chapter outlining the major ideas that will be addressed in each of the following sections. In Sections 2 through 5, the authors present a range of notions about pedagogical translanguaging in terms of its definition, origin, aims, characteristics, practices, and approaches to language
Cambridge Elements
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Pedagogical Translanguaging
Jasone Cenoz and Durk Gorter
assessment. The importance of sustainable translanguaging in protecting minority languages is also highlighted. The concluding chapter (Section 6), summarises the book's key points and proposes future perspectives.
In the introductory section, the authors begin with a general overview of the scope of the book. They concisely define the notion of pedagogical translanguaging and explain that the purpose of the book is to provide a framework for pedagogical translanguaging. The authors also discuss the traditional monolingual approach and highlight the benefits of pedagogical translanguaging. The arguments enable readers to have a general idea of the translanguaging approach. Following this overview, the authors
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Jie Fan
| Book Reviews
elaborate on the content of each section to provide a panorama of what is to come.
In Section 2, 'What Is Translanguaging?', the authors focus on the origin of translanguaging and its aims, use, and extension in other situations. They first trace the original meaning of the term 'translanguaging' in Welsh bilingual education and then synthesise the ideas of scholars, expounding on the aims of this pedagogical practice, namely, to develop and strengthen students' oral and literacy skills in both their native language and English. Additionally, they distinguish between official and natural translanguaging and emphasise the importance of planning translanguaging activities systematically. 1
In Section 3, 'What Is Pedagogical Translanguaging', the authors analyse three underlying dimensions of multilingual-ism—the multilingual speaker, the multilingual repertoire, and the social context—to highlight the advantages of being a multilingual speaker. They further define pedagogical translanguaging and explain the relevant elements concerning this concept, such as prior knowledge, scaffolding, and connected growers2. This provides a foundation for readers, particularly school teachers, to understand the core characteristics and ideas of pedagogical translanguaging. These characteristics include using this approach as a scaffold to activate multilingual speakers' prior knowledge, develope their multilingual repertoires, and identify connected growers that support one another.
Section 4, 'Metalinguistic Awareness, Pedagogical Translanguaging Practices, and Assessment', begins by advocating the development of metalinguistic awareness to improve multilingual learners' linguistic competence. It then describes four types of multilingual practices with different degrees of intensity, namely enhancing metalinguistic awareness, the use of learners' entire linguistic repertoire, integrated language curriculum, and translanguaging shifts. Depending on the educational context, these practices can be realised in a variety of ways. Finally, the discussion on multilingual and translanguaging perspectives encourages educators to explore potential multilingual approaches to student assessment.
Section 5, 'Minority Languages, Immersion, and CLIL', focuses on the conservation and development of minority languages in relation to pedagogical translanguaging. The authors posit that translanguaging takes place in multiple contexts. Hence, it is necessary to maintain and revitalise minority languages to make translanguaging sustainable.
Finally, Section 6, 'Conclusion and Future Perspectives', summarises the entire book. Themes are revisited, and the pressing challenges of pedagogical translanguaging are discussed, such as the evidence required for its implementation, the ways to sustain translanguaging, and the shortage of empirical studies in this field. As such, future research that examines the state of the art of pedagogical translanguaging is highly recommended.
Generally, this volume is an informative and practical must-read of the theory, implementation, and assessment of translanguaging. Three of its merits are particularly impressive. First, it challenges our traditional and established monolingual approaches and explores new ideas and innovative pedagogies in language education. Rather than simply theorising about this emerging concept, each section draws on relevant literature to explain translanguaging's operating theories and principles and to help readers understand its rationale, purposes, and advantages theoretically and pedagogically.
Second, this volume raises the issue of the sustainability of pedagogical translanguaging. It proposes some guiding principles for sustainable translanguaging, emphasising the need to preserve and revitalise minority languages. Given that the concept of sustainability in the educational realm has become a priority for educational reform in the past few decades, the advocacy of sustainable translanguaging aligns with educational philosophy and conforms to the trend of educational development. Adopting this perspective distinguishes this volume from similar titles in the field, making it stand out.
Third, the book contains reader-friendly features that facilitate readers' engagement. It is written in a clear and concise style and presents its arguments coherently and logically. For instance, each section concludes with a summary and a brief introduction to the following section to provide a smooth transition. Overall, it is a useful guide for policymakers and stakeholders in multilingual education who are keen to explore and adopt pedagogical translanguaging.
Additional ways of bolstering the contributions of this book to the theory and practice of pedagogical translanguaging might include the following:
First, to further advance the efficacy of translanguaging pedagogy and improve bilingual literacy, it is critical to address the methodological issues surrounding the representation and transcription of translanguaging data, particularly of oral language use. Determining how to repre-
1 Official translanguaging refers to an instructional strategy that is planned and systematic; natural translanguaging refers to the reality of bilingual usage in naturally occurring contexts, where boundaries between languages are fluid and constantly shifting (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022).
2 Connected growers consider language development as a complex, nonlinear dynamic process (Larsen-Freeman, 2007). Each component of the linguistic system is called a 'grower'. Growers are mutually interdependent and interrelated (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022).
Pedagogical Translanguaging - Elements in Language Teaching
| Book Reviews
sent oral translanguaging through transcription presents a great challenge in the current research (Garcia & Li, 2013). This challenge is further heightened by the fact that meaning-making through translanguaging typically involves multiple communicative modalities and relies on learners having a certain level of oral and written competency (Garcia & Li, 2013). Given the scale of the challenge, exploring this curious and significant field is worthwhile.
Second, human languages have increasingly been recognised as highly multimodal, complex, and dynamic semiot-ic systems rather than sets of abstractable codes (Li, 2022). Translanguaging thus transcends not only the boundaries between languages, but also the boundaries between language and other semiotic systems for meaning- and sense-making (Li, 2022). The emphasis on this change in mindset in the remainder of the volume potentially enable
researchers to build a new way of thinking and discussing languages and to combine translanguaging and multimo-dalities when investigating translanguaging projects in diverse multilingual educational contexts.
Third, the book could further strengthen its cases by incorporating the latest research on translanguaging approaches for multilingual learners. Such an addition would be particularly valuable if it included studies conducted in diverse cultural contexts, with learners at varied educational levels, with both minority and dominant languages, and with due recognition of community engagement and support.
DECLARATION OF COMPETING INTEREST
None declared.
REFERENCES
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2022). Pedagogical Translanguaging. Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009029384
Garcia, O., & Li, W. (2013). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi. org/10.1057/9781137385765
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2007). On the complementarity of chaos/complexity theory and dynamic systems theory in understanding the second language acquisition process. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10 (1), 35-37. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S136672890600277X
Li, W. (2022). Translanguaging, multimodality, southern theory, and pedagogical possibilities. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 17(4), 408-412. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2022.2143090
