Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-qr5l4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-03T19:12:13.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

45 - Is the Transformative Claim about Translanguaging Too Powerful?

Or Not Powerful Enough?

from Part VII - A Critical Look at Multilingual Pedagogies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 December 2025

By
M. Rafael Salaberry
Edited by
Piotr Romanowski
Piotr Romanowski
Affiliation:
University of Warsaw
Get access

Summary

Within the timespan of one decade, there have been numerous publications on the viability and educational benefits of translanguaging. In this chapter, I will focus on two publications (Block, 2018 and Jaspers, 2018) that appear to offer conflicting arguments about the shortcomings and perils of pursuing the agenda proposed by translanguaging. That is, whereas Jaspers argues that its ‘transformative’ claim ‘is becoming a dominating rather than a liberating force’, Block argues that the ‘transformative’ agenda advanced by researchers and practitioners of translanguaging does not go far enough to address the systematic and damaging effects of social injustice.

Keywords

translanguagingtransformativemonoglossicheteroglossicrepertoire

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Multilingual Education , pp. 867 - 885
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Auer, P. (2022). ‘Translanguaging’ or ‘doing languages’? Multilingual practices and the notion of ‘codes’. In MacSwan, J. (ed.), Multilingual perspectives on translanguaging. Multilingual Matters, pp. 126–153.Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Ed. Holquist, M.. Trans. by C. Emerson and M. Holquist. University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Beatty-Martínez, A. L., Navarro-Torres, C. A., Dussias, P. E., Bajo, M. T., Guzzardo Tamargo, R. E., & Kroll, J. F. (2020). Interactional context mediates the consequences of bilingualism for language and cognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 46(6), 1022–1047. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000770.Google ScholarPubMed
Blanco-Elorrieta, E., & Caramazza, A. (2021). A common selection mechanism at each linguistic level in bilingual and monolingual language production. Cognition 213, 104625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, D. (2015). Social class in applied linguistics. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 35, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190514000221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, D. (2017). Political economy in applied linguistics research. Language Teaching 50(1), 32–64. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444816000288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, D. (2018). The political economy of language education research (or the lack thereof): Nancy Fraser and the case of translanguaging. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 15(4), 237–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2018.1466300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, D., & Corona, V. (2014). Exploring class-based intersectionality. Language, Culture and Curriculum 27(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2014.894053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J., Leppänen, S., & Spotti, M. (2012). Endangering multilingualism. In Blommaert, J., Leppänen, S., Pahta, P., Virkkula, T., & Räisänen, T. (eds.), Dangerous multilingualism: Northern perspectives on order, purity and normality. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonacina-Pugh, F., Da Costa Cabral, I., & Huang, J. (2021). Translanguaging in education. Language Teaching 54(4), 439–471. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444821000173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2012) Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2013). Towards a plurilingual approach in English language teaching: Softening the boundaries between languages. TESOL Quarterly 47, 591–599. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2017). Minority languages and sustainable translanguaging: Threat or opportunity? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38, 901–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2017.1284855.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2022). Pedagogical translanguaging. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGraff, M. (2020). Toward racial justice in linguistics: The case of Creole studies (Response to Charity Hudley et al.). Language 96(4), e292–e306. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2020.0080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGraff, M., & Stump, G. S. (2018). Kreyòl, pedagogy, and technology for opening up quality education in Haiti: Changes in teachers’ metalinguistic attitudes as first steps in a paradigm shift. Language 94(2), e127–e157. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2018.0030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Valle, J. (2014). The politics of normativity and globalization: Which Spanish in the classroom? The Modern Language Journal 98(1), 358–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2014.12066.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faltis, C. J. (2020). Pedagogical codeswitching and translanguaging in bilingual schooling contexts. In MacSwan, J. & Faltis, C. J. (eds.), Codeswitching in the classroom: Critical perspectives on teaching, learning, policy, and ideology. Routledge, pp. 39–62.Google Scholar
García, O. (1993). From Goya portraits to Goya beans: Elite traditions and popular streams in US Spanish language policy. Southwest Journal of Linguistics 12, 69–86.Google Scholar
García, O. (2006). Lost in transculturation: The case of bilingual education in New York City. In Putz, M., Fishman, J. A., & Neff-Van Aertselaer, J. (eds.), Along the routes to power: Exploration of empowerment through language. Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 157–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
García, O. (2019). Reflections on Turnbull’s reframing of foreign language education: Bilingual epistemologies. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 22(5), 628–638. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1277512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O., & Alonso, L. (2021). Reconstituting US Spanish language education: US Latinx occupying classrooms. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching 8(2), 114–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/23247797.2021.2016230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O. & Kleyn, T. (eds.) (2016). Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O. & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García, O., Rubdy, R., & Alsagoff, L. (2014). Countering the dual: Transglossia, dynamic bilingualism and translanguaging in education. In Rubdy, R. & Alsagoff, L. (eds.), The global–local interface and hybridity: Exploring language and identity. Multilingual Matters, pp. 100–118.Google Scholar
García, O., Flores, N., Seltzer, K., Wei, L., Otheguy, R., & Rosa, J. (2021). Rejecting abyssal thinking in the language and education of racialized bilinguals: A manifesto. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 18(3), 203–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427587.2021.1935957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garza, E., & Arreguín-Anderson, M. G. (2018). Translanguaging: Developing scientific inquiry in a dual language classroom. Bilingual Research Journal 41(2), 101–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2018.1451790.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 25(5), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.796377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosjean, F. (1989). Neurolinguists, beware! The bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person. Brain and Language 36, 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/0093-934x(89)90048-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, M. (1999). Linguistic minorities and modernity: A sociolinguistic ethnography. Continuum.Google Scholar
Heller, M. (2007). Bilingualism as ideology and practice. In Heller, M. (ed.), Bilingualism: A social approach. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, K. I., & Ingram, M. (2018). ‘Mister, you’re writing in Spanglish’: Fostering spaces for meaning making and metalinguistic connections through teacher translanguaging shifts in the bilingual classroom. Bilingual Research Journal 41(3), 253–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2018.1481894.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, K. I., & Palmer, D. K. (2020). Dual language bilingual education: Teacher cases and perspectives on large-scale implementation. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Hesson, S., Seltzer, K., and Woodley, H. H. (2014). Translanguaging in curriculum and instruction: A CUNY-NYSIEB guide for educators. CUNY-NYSIEB.Google Scholar
Ho, W. Y. J., & Feng, D. (2022). Orchestrating multimodal resources in English language teaching: A critical study of an online English teaching video. Pedagogies: An International Journal 17(4), 368–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2022.2139257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Honneth, A. (1996). The struggle for recognition. The moral grammar of social conflicts. Polity Press.Google Scholar
Honneth, A. (2004). Recognition and justice: Outline of a plural theory of justice. Acta Sociologica 47(4), 351–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699304048668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaspers, J. (2018). The transformative limits of translanguaging. Language & Communication 58, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2017.12.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaspers, J. (2019). The deliberative teacher: Wavering between linguistic uniformity and diversity. In Jaspers, J. and Madsen, L. (eds.), Critical perspectives on linguistic fixity and fluidity: Languagised lives. Routledge, pp. 217–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, J. N., and Møller, J. S. (2014). Polylingualism and languaging. In Leung, C. & Street, B. (eds.), The Routledge companion to English Studies. Routledge, pp. 67–83.Google Scholar
Joubert, A. (2021). Deconstructing the idea of language. In Tamburelli, M. & Tosco, M. (eds.), Contested languages: The hidden multilingualism of Europe, vol. 8. John Benjamins, pp. 105–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karrebæk, M. S. (2013). ‘Don’t speak like that to her!’: Linguistic minority children’s socialization into an ideology of monolingualism. Journal of Sociolinguistics 17(3), 355–375. https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleyn, T., & García, O. (2019). Translanguaging as an act of transformation: Restructuring teaching and learning for emergent bilingual students. In de Oliveira, L. (ed.), The handbook of TESOL in K-12. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 69–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language 33(2), 149–174. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1994.1008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., & Wodniecka, Z. (2006). Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 9(2), 119–135. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728906002483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemke, J., & Lin, A. (2022). Translanguaging and flows: Towards an alternative conceptual model. Educational Linguistics 1(1), 134–151. https://doi.org/10.1515/eduling-2022-0001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, G., Jones, B., & Baker, C. (2012). Translanguaging: Developing its conceptualisation and contextualisation. Educational Research and Evaluation 18(7), 655–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics 39(1), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx044.Google Scholar
Lippi-Green, R. (2011). English with an accent: Language, ideology and discrimination in the United States, 2nd ed. Routledge.Google Scholar
Lowry, M., Dubé, C., & Schotter, E. (2021). Evaluating theories of bilingual language control using computational models. Journal of Memory and Language 117, 104195. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-010-0016-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyster, R. (2019). Translanguaging in immersion: Cognitive support or social prestige? Canadian Modern Language Review 75(4), 340–352. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.2019-0038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacSwan, J. (2017). A multilingual perspective on translanguaging. American Educational Research Journal 54(1), 167–201. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216683935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (2005). Disinventing and (re)constituting languages. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 2(3), 137–156. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15427595cils0203_1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A. (eds.) (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting languages. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Milroy, J. (2001). Language ideologies and the consequences of standardization. Journal of Sociolinguistics 5, 530–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otheguy, R., García, O., and Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review 6(3), 281–307. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otsuji, E., and Pennycook, A. (2010). Metrolingualism: Fixity, fluidity and language in flux. International Journal of Multilingualism 7(3), 240–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790710903414331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, D. K., Martínez, R. A., Mateus, S. G., & Henderson, K. (2014). Reframing the debate on language separation: Toward a vision for translanguaging pedagogies in the dual language classroom. The Modern Language Journal 98(3), 757–772. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12121.Google Scholar
Poza, L. (2017). Translanguaging: Definitions, implications, and further needs in burgeoning inquiry. Berkeley Review of Education 6(2), 101–128. https://doi.org/10.5070/B86110060.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prada, J. (2019). Exploring the role of translanguaging in linguistic ideological and attitudinal reconfigurations in the Spanish classroom for heritage speakers. Classroom Discourse 10(3–4), 306–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/19463014.2019.1628793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prada, J., & Nikula, T. (2018). Introduction to the special issue: On the transgressive nature of translanguaging pedagogies. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages Special Issue 5(2), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.9.166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prilutskaya, M. (2021). Examining pedagogical translanguaging: A systematic review of the literature. Languages 6(4), 180. https://doi.org/10.17632/8FG5JHP9PC.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J., & Stroud, C. (2021). Multilingualism as racialization. Multilingual Margins: A Journal of Multilingualism from the Periphery 8(1), 2–11. https://epubs.ac.za/index.php/mm/article/view/1373.Google Scholar
Salaberry, M. R. (2020). The ‘transformative’ potential of translanguaging and other heteroglossic educational practices. The Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices 1(2), 266–289. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmtp.16459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, M. R. (2023). The pedagogical implementation of translanguaging: The challenge of linking theory and practice. In Fusco, F., Marcato, C., & Oniga, R. (eds.), Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium on Plurilingualism. Forum Editrice Universitaria Fumine, pp. 271–282.Google Scholar
Siegal, J. (2006). Language ideologies and the education of speakers of marginalized language varieties: Adopting a critical language approach. Linguistics and Education 17, 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2006.08.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singleton, D., & Flynn, C. J. (2021). Translanguaging: A pedagogical concept that went wandering. International Multilingual Research Journal 16(2), 136–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2021.1985692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Solorza, C., Aponte, G., Levernz, T., Becker, T., and Frías, B. (2019). Translanguaging in dual language education: A blueprint for planning units of study. CUNY-NYSIEB.Google Scholar
Stroud, C. (2001). African mother-tongue programmes and the politics of language: Linguistic citizenship versus linguistic human rights. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 22(4), 339–355. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630108666440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroud, C., & Kerfoot, C. (2021). Decolonizing higher education: Multilingualism, linguistic citizenship and epistemic justice. Language and Decoloniality in Higher Education: Reclaiming Voices from the South 19. https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.23985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Train, R. (2007). ‘Real Spanish’: Historical perspectives on the ideological construction of a (foreign) language. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 4(2–3), 207–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427580701389672.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trentman, E. (2019). Reframing monolingual ideologies in the language classroom: Evidence from Arabic study abroad and telecollaboration. In Dupuy, B. & Michelson, K. (eds.), Pathways to paradigm change: Critical examinations of prevailing discourses and ideologies in second language education. Cengage, pp. 108–132.Google Scholar
Trentman, E., & Shiri, S. (2020). The mutual intelligibility of Arabic dialects. Critical Multilingualism Studies 8(1), 104–134.Google Scholar
Turner, M., & Lin, A. M. (2020). Translanguaging and named languages: Productive tension and desire. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23(4), 423–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1360243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdés, G. (2015). Latin@ s and the intergenerational continuity of Spanish: The challenges of curricularizing language. International Multilingual Research Journal 9(4), 253–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2015.1086625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdés, G. (1997). Dual-language immersion programs: A cautionary note concerning the education of language-minority students. Harvard Educational Review 67(3), 391–430. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.67.3.n5q175qp86120948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdés, G., González, S. V., García, D. L., and Márquez, P. (2003). Language ideology: The case of Spanish in departments of foreign languages. Anthropology & Education Quarterly 34(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1525/aeq.2003.34.1.3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villa, D. (1996). Choosing a ‘standard’ variety of Spanish for the instruction of native Spanish speakers in the U.S. Foreign Language Annals 29, 191–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.1996.tb02326.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villa, D. (2002). The sanitizing of U.S. Spanish in academia. Foreign Language Annals 35, 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2002.tb03156.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, C. (2002). A language gained: A study of language immersion at 11–16 years of age. School of Education, Bangor. www.academia.edu/37435946/A_LANGUAGE_GAINED_A_Study_of_Language_Immersion_at_11_16_years_of_age_CEN_WILLIAM.Google Scholar
Woodley, H. H. (2016). Balancing windows and mirrors: Translanguaging in a linguistically diverse classroom. In Kleyn, T. & García, O. (eds.), Translanguaging with multilingual students: Learning from classroom moments. Taylor & Francis, pp. 83–100.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Inaccessible, or known limited accessibility

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

The HTML of this chapter is known to have missing or limited accessibility features. We may be reviewing its accessibility for future improvement, but final compliance is not yet assured and may be subject to legal exceptions. If you have any questions, please contact accessibility@cambridge.org.

Content Navigation

Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.

Reading Order & Textual Equivalents

Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.

Visual Accessibility

Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.

Structural and Technical Features

ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×