Beyond Monolingual Pedagogy: How Teachers Mobilize Multilingual Resources for Inclusive English Language Learning
Keywords:
translanguaging, multilingualism, inclusive pedagogy, English language teaching, linguistic repertoireAbstract
Despite growing scholarly attention to translanguaging, classroom practice in English language teaching (ELT) remains largely shaped by monolingual ideologies that position learners’ home languages as obstacles to English acquisition. Drawing on translanguaging theory and inclusive pedagogy, this qualitative case study examined how three secondary school EFL teachers in Indonesia mobilized students’ multilingual resources and how such practices fostered inclusive English learning. Data were generated through 15 classroom observations and semi-structured interviews, including stimulated-recall sessions. Thematic analysis produced three themes: (1) translanguaging as pedagogical scaffolding for comprehension and participation; (2) translanguaging as affective and identity inclusion, lowering anxiety and affirming learners’ linguistic identities; and (3) strategic negotiation of institutional monolingual norms, in which teachers positioned translanguaging as purposeful scaffolding rather than deficit practice. The findings show that teachers’ translanguaging moves expanded participation opportunities for linguistically minoritized learners and reconfigured the classroom as a plurilingual space. The study contributes to research on multilingualism and inclusive ELT by empirically documenting translanguaging as inclusive pedagogy in an under-researched Global South context, and offers implications for teacher education and language-in-education policy.
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