Translanguaging pedagogies: Using an action research approach to support English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in a first-year undergraduate anatomy course.
{"title":"Translanguaging pedagogies: Using an action research approach to support English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in a first-year undergraduate anatomy course.","authors":"Kelly Shoecraft , Helen Massa , Leanne Kenway","doi":"10.1016/j.jeap.2024.101357","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Internationalisation of higher education has increased the number of EAL students studying in Anglophone countries, including Australia. Required English language proficiency tests (e.g., IELTS) do not reflect discipline-specific terminology nor prior learning necessary for successful study. Furthermore, anatomy study, the focus of this paper, requires an extensive terminology, predominantly derived from Latin or Greek, that creates significant learning challenge for all students, particularly EAL students.</p><p>This pilot study was based in a large first-year anatomy course at an Australian university, with >30% EAL students. To address challenges for EAL students (as identified by teaching staff), translanguaging pedagogies were implemented through repeated cycles of action research. Translanguaging approaches, beyond simply translation of resources, employ EAL students’ full linguistic repertoire in the classroom to support acquisition of discipline content and the target language.</p><p>Collaboration between the teaching team, a translanguaging expert and past EAL students identified specific translanguaging strategies for implementation. These strategies included a translanguaging workshop for teaching staff, encouragement of students’ use of home languages and targeted translated documents. A mixed methods approach was applied to evaluate the implementation. Initial findings show a positive response from both staff and students with additional reflections for future implementation and transferability to similar educational contexts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":47717,"journal":{"name":"Journal of English for Academic Purposes","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475158524000250/pdfft?md5=95618b2dca3c7521ce2c55e5f3f31e0f&pid=1-s2.0-S1475158524000250-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of English for Academic Purposes","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475158524000250","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Internationalisation of higher education has increased the number of EAL students studying in Anglophone countries, including Australia. Required English language proficiency tests (e.g., IELTS) do not reflect discipline-specific terminology nor prior learning necessary for successful study. Furthermore, anatomy study, the focus of this paper, requires an extensive terminology, predominantly derived from Latin or Greek, that creates significant learning challenge for all students, particularly EAL students.
This pilot study was based in a large first-year anatomy course at an Australian university, with >30% EAL students. To address challenges for EAL students (as identified by teaching staff), translanguaging pedagogies were implemented through repeated cycles of action research. Translanguaging approaches, beyond simply translation of resources, employ EAL students’ full linguistic repertoire in the classroom to support acquisition of discipline content and the target language.
Collaboration between the teaching team, a translanguaging expert and past EAL students identified specific translanguaging strategies for implementation. These strategies included a translanguaging workshop for teaching staff, encouragement of students’ use of home languages and targeted translated documents. A mixed methods approach was applied to evaluate the implementation. Initial findings show a positive response from both staff and students with additional reflections for future implementation and transferability to similar educational contexts.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of English for Academic Purposes provides a forum for the dissemination of information and views which enables practitioners of and researchers in EAP to keep current with developments in their field and to contribute to its continued updating. JEAP publishes articles, book reviews, conference reports, and academic exchanges in the linguistic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic description of English as it occurs in the contexts of academic study and scholarly exchange itself.