Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers
In spite of today’s science classrooms being linguistically diverse, languages are still kept separate during academic instruction with education policymakers and stakeholders emphasising language purism and a strict separation of languages in the classroom. The overarching aim of this article...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/1/41721-133505-1-SM.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848814198226681856 |
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| author | Charamba, Erasmos |
| author_facet | Charamba, Erasmos |
| author_sort | Charamba, Erasmos |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In spite of today’s science classrooms being linguistically diverse, languages are still kept
separate during academic instruction with education policymakers and stakeholders emphasising
language purism and a strict separation of languages in the classroom. The overarching aim of
this article is to investigate science teachers’ perceptions regarding linguistic potential and
language competence in relation to translanguaging strategies. The data presented consists of
interview responses, lesson observations, and questionnaire responses from purposefully
sampled 25 pre-service teachers at 6 different primary schools in South Africa. In analysing the
data collected from the questionnaires, descriptive statistics were used to calculate the
percentages of each Likert-type item in the questionnaire while qualitative data was analysed
using structural coding. The present research findings corroborate previous research findings
which affirm the pivotal role language plays in the science classroom and suggests teachers do
away with ‘named languages’ through the use of students’ linguistic repertoire in the classroom.
The study also shows how translanguaging assists science students and teachers in multilingual
South African classrooms achieve voice and agency by challenging discourses otherwise framed
in monolingual perspectives. Given the academic and social benefits as well as the fluid nature
of a translanguaging approach, the study also recommends teachers to implement
translanguaging pedagogy in their linguistically diverse multilingual science classes. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:30:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:16992 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:30:16Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:169922021-07-11T16:33:54Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/ Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers Charamba, Erasmos In spite of today’s science classrooms being linguistically diverse, languages are still kept separate during academic instruction with education policymakers and stakeholders emphasising language purism and a strict separation of languages in the classroom. The overarching aim of this article is to investigate science teachers’ perceptions regarding linguistic potential and language competence in relation to translanguaging strategies. The data presented consists of interview responses, lesson observations, and questionnaire responses from purposefully sampled 25 pre-service teachers at 6 different primary schools in South Africa. In analysing the data collected from the questionnaires, descriptive statistics were used to calculate the percentages of each Likert-type item in the questionnaire while qualitative data was analysed using structural coding. The present research findings corroborate previous research findings which affirm the pivotal role language plays in the science classroom and suggests teachers do away with ‘named languages’ through the use of students’ linguistic repertoire in the classroom. The study also shows how translanguaging assists science students and teachers in multilingual South African classrooms achieve voice and agency by challenging discourses otherwise framed in monolingual perspectives. Given the academic and social benefits as well as the fluid nature of a translanguaging approach, the study also recommends teachers to implement translanguaging pedagogy in their linguistically diverse multilingual science classes. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/1/41721-133505-1-SM.pdf Charamba, Erasmos (2020) Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers. e-BANGI: Jurnal Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan, 17 (7). pp. 117-132. ISSN 1823-884x https://ejournal.ukm.my/ebangi/issue/view/1287 |
| spellingShingle | Charamba, Erasmos Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| title | Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| title_full | Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| title_fullStr | Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| title_short | Organic translanguaging in Science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| title_sort | organic translanguaging in science classrooms: perceptions of pre-service primary school teachers |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16992/1/41721-133505-1-SM.pdf |