Translanguaging as pedagogical resource: An ethnographic discussion about language practices in a bilingual school

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the constitution of language practices in the context of a bilingual education introduction in a secondary school classroom, demonstrating how translanguaging is used as a pedagogical resource in classes where the language of instruction is English. Based on studies of bilingualism and bilingual education, we present different formats of bilingual education, their classification and the linguistic ideologies underlying those formats, starting from models in which the monolingual view and the strict division between languages is predominant until models which are more attuned with the language uses in contemporary times. Based on ethnographic research, the data discussed in this article was generated in the 1B High School class of a private bilingual school, in a big city in Santa Catarina. We have showed, based on observant participation, interview records and field diary entries, how translingual practices are related to the agency of the participants. Thus, we argue that teachers and students exercise their creativity and critical thinking in their choice of linguistic resources in order to achieve their communicative objectives and also in order to relate knowledge acquired in the Brazilian curriculum with the one acquired in the international curriculum.

Keywords: bilingual education, prestigious bilingualism, translanguaging.