Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens

Zhongfeng Tian is an Assistant Professor of TESL Teacher Education/Applied Linguistics at the University of Texas at San Antonio, USA. His research interests include bi/multilingualism, bilingual education, translanguaging, TESOL, teacher education, and critical pedagogies. He was a former English teacher in China, Cambodia, and the U.S. He has co-edited a special issue entitled "Positive Synergies: Translanguaging and Critical Theories in Education" with Holly Link for the Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts (TTMC) journal.Laila Aghai is an Assistant Professor of TESOL/ELL Education and the Director of the Indigenous Language Education Program at the University of North Dakota, USA. As a language educator, she has taught English as a second and foreign language in the U.S. and overseas. Her research is focused on TESOL, translanguaging, applied linguistics, multilingual education, and language ideologies. She serves on the editorial board of the Journalof Language, Identity and Education. Peter Sayer is an Associate Professor of Language Education Studies at the Ohio State University, USA. His work in the U.S. and Mexico focuses on TESOL, bilingual education, sociolinguistics, and language education policy. He is the author of Tensions and Ambiguities in English Language Teaching (2012, Routledge). He is a former Fulbright Scholar to Mexico where he was a lead consultant to the Mexican Ministry of Education for the National English Program in Primary Schools. He is currently the editor of the TESOL Journal.Jamie L. Schissel is Associate Professor, TESOL at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA. Jamie’s research centers on equity in relation to educational policies and assessments in participatory action research projects with linguistically and culturally diverse communities in the United States, Mexico, and Peru. Her book Social Consequences of Testing forLanguage-minoritized Bilinguals in the United States (Multilingual Matters) was published in 2019. She has served as a co-editor of the special issue “The Construct of Multilingualism in Language Testing” for Language Assessment Quarterly (December, 2019).

"For teachers new to English language teaching, it offers a historical foundation for understanding the current practices and trends. For veteran teachers, it provides a recollection of times experienced and current practices, and ways forward for the future. For educators in contexts that find a need for an English-only approach, it offers insight into how the field of TESOL has evolved and where it is currently directed. The text is comprehensive and there is something for all TESOL educators.” (Liza E. Martinez and Kara Mac Donald, CATESOL, catesol.org, December 27, 2022)“This edited volume truly explores the practice of translanguaging in the ESL/EFL classroom across the global context, with contributions from authors in a multitude of instructional contexts and countries. … The book is dense with an immense amount of information and guidance … .” (Liza E. Martinez and Kara Mac Donald, CATESOL, catesol.org, November 29, 2022)“This volume strongly contributes to the theorization and implementation of translanguaging. … this volume shows how the TESOL field could embrace multilingualism as central to its values, opens critical conversations on how to conceptualize and implement translanguaging in various TESOL teacher education and classrooms contexts, and generates authentic, sustainable, and contextualized knowledge for pedagogical improvements. … It will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in TESOL education, emerging scholars, and educators engaged in promoting flexible multilingualism in the classroom.” (Xinyue Lu, TESL Canada Journal, Vol. 38 (2), 2022)“The major, noticeable, strength of this volume is the quality of its contributions, underpinned as they are by rigorous methodology and thoughtful critique. In addition, the wide range of educational, socioeconomic, and geopolitical contexts in which translanguagingpedagogy is exemplified in this volume serves to underpin its theoretical credibility and adds to a growing body of evidence to support multilingual education.” (Emma Brooks, ELT journal, Vol. 76 (1), January, 2022)“Among the strengths of the book is that it achieves its goal and offers valuable theoretical and practical insights to TESOL professionals, and creates the necessary tension for their ideological shift. The described and theorized multifaceted translanguaging lens can be used as a theoretical framework, and the various research designs in the chapters can guide translanguaging researchers in their inquiries. … Overall, the book provides valuable information on the theory and practice of translanguaging in the terrains of TESOL.” (Serikbolsyn Tastanbek, Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, January 14, 2022)“The diversity in the scholars’ perspectives on translanguaging is one of the great virtues of this volume. …Each chapter’s implications are inspiring, timely, and thirstquenching contributions to the development of translanguaging scholarship, which has been fervently calling for empirical research of and pedagogical approaches to translanguaging. Teacher educators, researchers, graduate students, professionals, and practitioners interested in learning about translanguaging and its promise and challenges in TESOL education would appreciate the insights this book can provide.” (Woongsik Choi, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, September 8, 2021)“This volume is the first of its kind to apply a translanguaging lens to TESOL. … To be fair, this informative and insightful book connects translanguaging ideologies and pedagogies with TESOL, the arguments are sound and the findings are of high reference value. It is a timely addition and a valuable contribution to the growing literature on translanguaging, ‘as a theoretical framework for informing TESOL, an orientation for teacher education, and a pedagogical tool in the classroom’ … .” (‪Xin Li, International Journal of Multilingualism, July 1, 2021)“The diversity of studies, contexts, participants, and methods allows for a fuller understanding for researchers and educators of how a translanguaging lens fits into TESOL research, educator programs, and the classroom. … Although the contributors all faced complex challenges surrounding translanguaging, they all remain committed to its potential to critically address English hegemony, learner agency, and a more inclusive and theoretically sound TESOL.” (Kimberly S. Hansen, tesol Quarterly, Vol. 55 (2), June, 2021)“I would highly recommend it to teachers and teacher educators who are developing their understanding of translanguaging in the field of TESOL.” (Skye Playsted, English Australia Journal, Vol. 37 (1), 2021)​

• Foreword: Cutting Through the Monolingual Grip of TESOL Tradition – The Transformative Power of the Translanguaging Lens; Angel M. Y. Lin.- Envisioning TESOL through a Translanguaging Lens in the Era of Post-Multilingualism; Zhongfeng Tian, Laila Aghai, Peter Sayer, and Jamie L. Schissel.- Part I: Theorizing Translanguaging in TESOL.- Broadening the View: Taking up a Translanguaging Pedagogy with All Language-minoritized Students; Kate Seltzer, and Ofelia García.- The Need for Translanguaging in TESOL; Sabrina F. Sembiante, and Zhongfeng Tian.- Framing the Realities of TESOL Practice through a Translanguaging Lens; Graham Hall.- Part II: “No, Professor, That is Not True”: First Attempts at Introducing Translanguaging to Pre-service Teachers; Elena Andrei,  Amanda Kibler, and April Salerno.- Reenvisioning Second Language Teacher Education through Translanguaging Praxis; Matthew R. Deroo, Christina M. Ponzio and Peter De Costa.- Learning to Teach English for Justice from a Translanguaging Orientation; Elizabeth Robinson, Zhongfeng Tian, Elie Crief, and Maíra Lins Prado.- Pedagogical Sismo: Translanguaging Approaches for English Language Instruction and Assessment in Oaxaca, Mexico; Julio Morales, Jamie L. Schissel, and Mario López-Gopar .- Incorporating Australian Primary Students’ Linguistic Repertoire into Teaching and Learning; Marianne Turner.- Translanguaging as a Decolonization Project?: Malawian Teachers’ Complex and Competing Desires for Local Languages and Global English; Sunny Man Chu Lau.- Part III: Translanguaging in TESOL Classrooms.- Tower of Babel or Garden of Eden? Teaching English as a Foreign Language through a Translanguaging Lens; Mirjam Günther-van der Meij and Joana Duarte.-  “Colibrí” ‘Hummingbird’ as Translanguaging Metaphor; Brian Seilstad and Somin Kim.- Translanguaging and Task Based Language Teaching: Crossovers and Challenges; Corinne Seals, Jonathan Newton, Madeline Ash and Bao Trang Thi Nguyen.- Translanguagingfor Vocabulary Development: A Mixed Methods Study with International Students in a Canadian English for Academic Purposes Program;  Angelica Galante.- EFL Instructors’ Ambivalent Ideological Stances Toward Translanguaging: Collaborative Reflection on Language Ideologies; Christian Fallas Escobar.- Chapter 15. Effects of Teachers’ Language Ideologies on Language Learners’ Translanguaging Practices in an Intensive English Program; Laila Aghai, Peter Sayer, and Mary Lou Vercellotti.- Conclusions: Translanguaging as Transformation in TESOL; Peter Sayer.