The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning

The concept of translanguaging—using a child’s full linguistic repertoire, or all of their linguistic resources, to make meaning—is key to bilingual students’ success in school and beyond. Created by some of the most prominent leaders in the field of educating bilingual students, this second edition provides the foundational knowledge teachers need to understand translanguaging and use it strategically and meaningfully to support bilingual learners.

A revised and updated new edition of a highly influential bestseller, this book is ideal for pre- and in-service educators of Grades 4–12 in English-medium and bilingual classrooms. Educators will discover how asset-based translanguaging pedagogies can level the playing field for bilingual students and help them develop essential skills in all their languages—all while honoring their identity and culture.

LEARN HOW TO:

• Help bilingual students become better readers and writers by accessing different features of their languages
• Plan and implement effective translanguaging designs for instruction
• Integrate mandated standards into translanguaging instructional designs
• Support bilingual students as they engage with and comprehend complex content and texts
• Use translanguaging design for assessment to holistically evaluate students’ content and language learning
• Leverage translanguaging to support social justice and social-emotional well-being

WHAT’S NEW: This updated edition includes the latest research on translanguaging, engages with the exciting expansion of biliteracy in U.S. schools, discusses translanguaging in relation to literacy and comprehension, and deepens the connection between translanguaging and social justice.

PRACTICAL FEATURES: Get learning objectives for each chapter, reflection questions and activities, Taking Action prompts for analyzing classroom practices, examples of authentic student work, and a package of downloadable templates and tools to support instruction and assessment.

Kate Seltzer is a doctoral candidate in the Urban Education Ph.D. program at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Seltzer also teaches courses at the City College of New York, CUNY. Before this, Seltzer worked as a high school English language arts teacher in New York City where most of her students were bilingual.

Susana Ibarra Johnson is an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico in literacy and bilingual education. Her commitment to improving the education of bilingual students stems from her experience as a bilingual learner and teacher. For the past decade, she has been facilitating professional learning in bilingual education program implementation, critical literacy, and bilingual acquisition in New Mexico and nationally.

Ofelia García, is Professor Emerita in the Ph.D. programs in Urban Education and Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. García has published widely in the areas of bilingualism/multilingualism and bilingual education, language education, language policy, and sociology of language. The American Educational Research Association has awarded her three Lifetime Research Achievement Awards—Distinguished Contributions to Social Contexts in Education (2019), Bilingual Education (2017), and Second Language Acquisition Leadership through Research (2019). She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Education.