Living the Idea That All Languages Are Equal? – Teachers’ Perspectives on Translanguaging in the ELT Classroom

An Interview Study with English Teachers in Germany and Finland

Abstract

As part of ongoing processes of globalization, multilingual landscapes are increasingly becoming visible, not least in educational settings. This article deals with translanguaging as one of many possible pedagogical responses to linguistic diversity in the classroom and beyond. It focuses on the empirical investigation of teachers’ perspectives on translanguaging and its role in the English language teaching (ELT) classroom in international contexts. To do so, this article presents selected results of comparative case studies comprising of expert interviews with teachers of English in Germany and Finland. The studies aim at reconstructing teachers’ perspectives on translanguaging in order to contribute to a better global understanding of approaches to multilingual education and analyze implications for critical, social justice-oriented ways of teaching and learning in the light of current approaches to (teacher) education. The results indicate that teachers’ linguistic ideologies are strongly influenced by monolingual norms that are deeply rooted in social and educational systems in both Germany and Finland. Thus, the results point towards the need for systemic transformation and professional collaboration across different levels of the (teacher) education system.