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Preparing teachers to support multilingual learners through translanguaging and multiliteracies pedagogies in K-12 classrooms

This session reports on a SSHRC-funded study examining pre-service teacher candidates' (TCs) knowledge and orientations towards using translanguaging (García & Li Wei, 2014) and multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996) pedagogies to support K-12 multilingual learners (MLs), particularly in their writing. Data was drawn from a three-year case study of a mandatory course on supporting MLs in a teacher education program in Ontario. Data sources were TCs' responses (N=490) to a Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Language-Inclusive Teaching Test (PeCK-LIT) developed by the research team, and unit plans (N=9) and lesson plans (N=41) designed by the TCs during the course. A coding scheme was adapted based on Van Viegen and Zappa-Hollman's (2020) matrix on plurillingual pedagogies, and the categories included teacher- or student-initiated translanguaging, planned or spontaneous engagement with translanguaging, translanguaging as scaffold or resource, and supporting traditional or multimodal literacies. The findings demonstrate the use of various multimodal translanguaging strategies such as word walls, graphic organizers, and online translation tools. However, the analysis revealed constraints to TCs' orientations towards translanguaging, such as allowing translanguaging in the writing process but not product, reducing translanguaging to a scaffold for English, and as accommodations rather than whole-class strategies. The paper recommends ways that teacher education programs can prepare TCs to center MLs in mainstream classroom through language-inclusive teaching.