Using Bilingual Texts to Support Translanguaging for English Learners
Jacob Wise, Jefferson City High School, Jefferson City, MO
Introduction
English Learners (ELs) face unique challenges in the classroom. In order for them to access grade-level curricula in their second language (L2), educators—both English Language Development (ELD) teachers and classroom teachers—provide many types of scaffolds to support students' understanding. Some of these include peer discussions, materials in students' home languages (L1), and machine translation.
In the secondary English language arts (ELA) classroom, these scaffolds can fall short of providing ELs’ full access to complex texts and achieving grade-level standards. This project focuses on how the use of bilingual and L1 texts, combined with translanguaging strategies, can support students’ engagement and understanding. By using bilingual and L1 texts in the ELA classroom along with translanguaging strategies (Espinoza & Ascenzi-Moreno, 2021), students were given the opportunity to build their confidence and increase their ability to interact with their peers and with the grade-level language arts content.
This project approaches the secondary language arts classroom from a translanguaging perspective, where students can move across languages to use their entire linguistic repertoire, or idiolect. Translanguaging is a term coined by Colin Baker (2001) as a translation from Cen Williams’ Welsh, trawsieithu. Translanguaging has emerged as a culturally responsive way to strategically support students’ literacy development across their L1 and L2 even as they are learning English and content simultaneously. This theory was developed further by García (2008; 2009), Li (2011), and Otheguy et al. (2015) among many others. More recent studies, including Zhang & Webb (2019), van Viegan (2020) and Domke (2023) have demonstrated the value of translanguaging and bilingual texts to support social justice, biliteracy, and student interaction.
The goals of this project included giving students direct access to ELA content in their home languages as well as multiple opportunities to translanguage and interact with both their same-language and non-EL peers. To accomplish this, staff including counselors, the ELD teacher, and ELA teachers met together to identity ELs who would need additional support in the classroom based on their English language proficiency levels (ELP). These students were partnered by grade level with same-language peers and provided with home-language texts and bilingual or side-by-side texts as available.
Teachers provided multiple and multimodal ways to interact with the texts. The teacher for one class often read aloud in English while students could follow along in their bilingual book. Other teachers provided time for independent reading where students could read in their home language and choose to answer comprehension questions in their L1, English, or both. English III’s study of The Crucible featured reader’s theater in English and Spanish. Students watched the film in English with subtitles.
English IV students studying Shakespeare were encouraged to paraphrase the difficult language to write a class-created more-readable script, with each student in the group taking on a different role. This task was supported by home-language, side-by-side, and thesaurus-style texts and gave students the opportunity to participate in a group project using translanguaging.
In English II (10th grade), students received side-by-side workbooks for an independent novel study of Night by Elie Wiesel. On one side of their workbooks, the questions were in English; the other side was in their L1, and they were encouraged to read and answer in whichever language they preferred while reading the text in their home language. Many students chose to answer in English, but teachers were able to use the Google Translate application’s camera feature to translate and grade students’ L1 responses. Additionally, students were grouped with EL peers who spoke other languages, allowing for English practice. They also paired with non-EL peers for discussions as well as long-term ELs who chose to read the texts in English but could respond to and translate for newcomer students.
11th grade newcomer students who participated in weekly reader’s theater of The Crucible were encouraged to take on whichever role they liked and read from their L1 text if they preferred. The rest of the class followed along and read their own parts in English. Students were also grouped with same-language peers for discussion groups. When watching the film, the students could listen to the English dialogue with visual support while answering questions in their L1 and answering questions in their side-by-side workbooks.
Step-by-Step Plan
- Identify home languages & English proficiency levels of students enrolled in high school ELA classes.
- Review curriculum & consult with ELA teachers to identify key texts.
- Purchase bilingual texts (e.g. side-by-side), L1-supported texts (e.g. thesaurus versions), graphic novels (in L1 or L2) as available and appropriate.
- Discuss between staff (ELD specialist, classroom teacher, counselors, etc.) students’ English levels and needs for support and appropriate groupings.
- Create or find translanguaged, differentiated classroom resources using the internet, free translation software, and/or district resources.
- Collaborate to ensure appropriate placement for EL students in language arts classes based on English proficiency and home language.
- Collaborate to identify appropriate translanguaging strategies for classroom use.
- Plan meaningful activities to encourage student use of L1 and L2 and participation with same-language and L2 peers.
- Work with students to encourage use of translanguaging strategies based on student preferences and English proficiency levels.
Timeline
August:
- ELD specialist meets with school counselors to ensure appropriate placement of EL students with participating ELA teachers.
- ELD specialist meets with participating classroom teachers to identify key texts in the ELA curriculum for purchase. Familiarize classroom teachers with their EL students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds and ELP levels.
- Order appropriate materials.
September
- ELD specialist and classroom teachers collaborate on translanguaging strategies for students and accessible, L1-supported materials.
October-November
- Implement use of multilingual texts in first literary unit.
- Encourage student participation in class activities using translanguaging strategies (Espinoza & Ascenzi-Moreno, 2021) and multilingual strategies (Levine et al., 2013). Some ideas include reader’s theater, shared reading, collaborative dialogues, teacher read-aloud, English listening combined with L1 writing, and side-by-side translated workbooks.
November-May
- Repeat process as applicable with ongoing units of study (novels, plays, short stories, poems) as part of the ELA curriculum.
Budget
The complete budget for this project is viewable here. All items are available from Amazon. Key texts include:
English I (9th Grade)
- Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare
- Works by Edgar Allan Poe
English II (10th Grade)
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
- Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
English III (11th Grade)
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
English IV (12th Grade)
- The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
What did it look like?
Sustainability
The great thing about books is that they do not expire, nor require a subscription! Regardless of who fills the ELD or ELA positions in years to come, these physical resources, along with researched strategies outlined in Table 1 can be used in perpetuity with ELs who enroll at our high school. They will be inventoried and belong to the ELD program and be shared with ELA teachers every year. As our district continues to receive record numbers of newcomers, it will be the responsibility of the ELD teacher and classroom teachers to continue engaging with multilingual learners and meeting them at their level of English proficiency while providing access to grade-level curricula.
Each year, teacher mentors and the ELD teacher can bring new staff up-to-speed on the available texts, resources, and strategies for promoting EL student engagement and use of translanguaging in the classroom through formal and informal collaboration. Returning staff will have an even greater advantage in having used these strategies and multilingual books before. As students advance from 9th to 12th grade, returning ELD staff will know these students even better and can recommend additional differentiated and targeted instruction to classroom teachers as well as in the ELD classroom.
Reflections
As multilingual learners continue to develop their L2 proficiency and content knowledge, we can hope, as Baker (2001) argued, that, “If the students have understood [a topic] in two languages, they have really understood it” (p. 281). There are, however, several important considerations for teachers supporting ELs, especially from a translanguaging perspective.
The first consideration is teacher communication and collaboration, particularly as machine translation on its own is neither sufficient nor appropriate all the time. A text for one of the ELA classes participating in this project had initially been translated through Google Translate, and while the discussion, short response, and multiple-choice questions came through accurately, the actual text did not. Students were not aware of the available text, and I was not aware the unit had started. Thankfully, the students spoke up and advocated for themselves. Whoever purchases the resources will need to communicate clearly with classroom teachers regarding scheduling and materials.
Another consideration is planning. Baker (2001) observed that effective use of translanguaging must be purposefully planned. It is also important to give students the necessary support to actually engage in translanguaging. This may include pushing students with higher levels of English proficiency to participate using the target language (English) as appropriate. Rather than shoehorning all ELs into a homogenous group, groupings must be purposeful, as in the case of pairing newcomers with long-term ELs who speak their home languages, or with non-EL students who are willing and able to use technology to communicate with newcomers. Students need to know the plan, have support from their peers and teacher, and be given adequate time and resources to understand what they are expected to do.
A final consideration is student choice and comfort, especially depending on English proficiency level. Students may feel ready to challenge themselves by using more English and working with non-EL peers. When working with more difficult texts, they may find themselves relying on their L1 more. I found that students were more likely to engage when it was clear that they were welcome to use their L1 in discussions and readers theater. Once students were directly engaged, things took off!
Thanks to the resources from this project, ELs participated in meaningful discussions and activities related to classic works of literature. Teachers and peers fully supported them in their endeavors to work across languages.
References
Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (3rd ed.). Multilingual Matters.
Domke, L. M. (2023). Latinx bilinguals using dual-language books to develop biliteracy. Bilingual Research Journal, 46(1–2), 100–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2023.2221195
Espinoza, C.M. & Ascenzi-Moreno, L. (2021). Rooted in strength: Using translanguaging to grow multilingual readers and writers. Scholastic.
García, O. (2008). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley-Blackwell.
García, O. (2009). Education, multilingualism, and translanguaging in the 21st century. In T. Skutnabb-Kangas, R. Phillipson, A. K. Mohanty & M. Panda (Eds.), Social justice through multilingual education (pp. 140-158). Multilingual Matters.
Gottlieb, M. (2016). Assessing English language learners: Bridges to educational equity: Connecting academic language proficiency to student achievement (2nd ed). Corwin.
Li, W. (2011). Moment Analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222-123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.035
Otheguy, R., García, O. & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281-307. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014
van Viegen, S. (2020). Translanguaging for and as learning with youth from refugee backgrounds. Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 3(1), 60–76. https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v3n1.300
Zhang, Z. & Webb, S. (2019, April). The effects of reading bilingual books on vocabulary learning. Reading in a Foreign Language, 31(1), 109-139. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1212816.pdf
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