Facilitating content learning through translanguaging in secondary EMI science classrooms

Abstract

Despite the rigorous efforts made to promote the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI), EMI teachers still face linguistic and pedagogical challenges in effectively delivering subject content in English. Previous research has revealed that, faced with such challenges, teachers employ various strategies to make subject knowledge accessible to students, including pedagogical translanguaging. However, there is little empirical evidence of how EMI teachers deploy pedagogical translanguaging to facilitate content learning in secondary science classrooms, particularly in countries or regions where English is not widely used outside schools. Against this backdrop, the current study adopts a qualitative approach to examine the pedagogical translanguaging practices of two EMI science teachers, as well as the factors contributing to their practices at an international secondary school in Shanghai, China. The methods used were video-assisted classroom observation and semi-structured interviews. These were subjected to multimodal conversation analysis and thematic analysis, respectively. The findings reveal that teachers’ pedagogical translanguaging practices involve strategically incorporating and orchestrating all multilingual, multimodal, and multisemiotic resources available to facilitate meaning-making and enhance students’ comprehension of subject knowledge. Meanwhile, personal, social, and contextual factors play an important role in shaping teachers’ pedagogical translanguaging practices. This study showcases pedagogical translanguaging as a strategic means to create space for teaching and learning in EMI contexts, and provides useful insights into potential improvements to EMI pedagogy.