Using university students' L1 as a resource: Translanguaging in a Puerto Rican ESL classroom. Issue 3 (6th December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carroll, Kevin S.; Sambolín Morales, Astrid N.
• Is Part Of: Bilingual research journal. Volume 39:Issue 3/4(2016)
• Page Start: 248
• Page End: 262
• Publication Date: 2016-12-06
• Subjects: Education, Bilingual -- United States -- Periodicals; Minorities -- Education -- United States -- Periodicals; Languages, Modern -- Study and teaching -- United States -- Periodicals; 370.1175097305
• DOI: 10.1080/15235882.2016.1240114
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1523-5882

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Framed within Ruiz's language-as-resource orientation, this article uses data from a college ESL classroom where a translanguaging approach was used for the teaching of a novel. After defining key terms, the article describes the linguistic context of higher education in Puerto Rico and its influence on one instructor's Basic English course. Using qualitative inquiry throughout a month-long unit, the researchers describe a bilingual instructor's translanguaging approach and how it enhanced the reading of Abraham Rodríguez Jr.'s The Boy Without a Flag . The findings present how the translanguaging approach was implemented by using literature circles as a strategy to promote collaborative learning across the two languages. Ultimately, the authors argue that the use of a translanguaging approach complements Ruiz's language-as-a-resource orientation in that students' home language and varying linguistic repertories are respected and weaved into this ESL course as resources for constructing meaning and building on students' cultural knowledge.