Innovation in Language Learning
From Multilingual Resources to Pedagogical Innovation: Designing a Translanguaging-Informed Approach to English Language Teaching in Cameroon
Charity Besingi Masumbe, University of Yaounde I (Cameroon)
Abstract
Cameroon’s multilingual classrooms present both challenges and opportunities for English Language Teaching. English remains the main language of instruction in many schools. However, learners draw on a wide range of linguistic resources to build meaning and take part in classroom interaction. This study investigates how translanguaging can be purposefully integrated into English Language Teaching as an innovative pedagogical approach in multilingual Cameroonian classrooms. Drawing on García and Li’s (2014) translanguaging framework and work that treats translanguaging as a classroom pedagogy (Creese & Blackledge, 2010), it examines how teachers use learners’ wider linguistic repertoires during English lessons and what pedagogical functions these practices serve.
The study adopts a mixed-methods design involving English language teachers and secondary school learners in selected multilingual classrooms. Data will be collected through teacher questionnaires, classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. These will show which languages are used during instruction, when teachers and learners draw on multilingual resources and for what purposes, including clarification, scaffolding, meaning-making and learner interaction. The study will also explore how participants perceive the contribution of translanguaging to comprehension, participation and inclusion, along with teachers’ concerns about its limitations.
The study seeks to move beyond treating translanguaging as an informal response to multilingual classroom realities. It asks instead how translanguaging can be organised deliberately and strategically within English language pedagogy. On the basis of the findings, it aims to propose practical principles for a translanguaging-informed approach that values learners’ multilingual resources while keeping English learning objectives clear. In this way, it aims to contribute to discussions of innovative language teaching by showing how the linguistic diversity of contemporary classrooms can serve as a pedagogical resource.
Keywords: translanguaging, multilingualism, English Language Teaching, pedagogical innovation, learner participation, Cameroon
References
[1] Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? The Modern Language Journal, 94(1), 103–115.
[2] García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.
