Perspective (graphical)

Sociology

Pedagogy

Translanguaging

Meaning (existential)

Psychotherapist

Politics

Language education

Foreign language

Philosophy

Political science

Artificial intelligence

Psychology

First language

Computer science

Linguistics

ELT Journal

Following the multilingual trend in language education, translanguaging advocates active use of multiple languages and other meaning-making resources in a dynamic and integrated way in teaching and learning. When it comes to foreign language education, translanguaging advocates a view that the languages the learners already have should and can play a very positive role in learning additional languages. Moreover, the knowledge already acquired through the learners’ first and/or prior learned languages also plays an important role in foreign-language-medium education. This view is more than a pedagogic or theoretical perspective; it is a political stance, a decolonizing stance, that this article explores. It discusses the implications of the political naming of languages and critiques notions such as academic English.

Translanguaging as a political stance: implications for English language education