Translanguaging for STEM Learning: Exploring Tertiary Learning Contexts at a Hispanic-Serving Institution
Abstract
Deriving from a STEM curriculum redesign project adapting the Lesson Study model (Lewis et al., 2012), this paper examines unplanned translanguaging in tertiary settings and its implications for planned translanguaging pedagogy. The larger context involves an ongoing longitudinal study on how academic literacy is expressed, transformed, and appropriated by faculty and undergraduate STEM students in a Hispanic Service Institution (HSI) in Texas. A disciplinary transliteracy perspective provides opportunities for more inclusive and equitable multimodal teaching approaches.
This paper focused on two faculty and nearly 200 students enrolled in a gateway Engineering course. Data were drawn from (1) video-taped small group interactions (in Spanish and English) during target lessons, (2) structured student interviews following the lesson, (3) audio-taped meetings with participating faculty, and (4) course materials. Classroom data were analyzed to examine the nature of student-initiated translanguaging, focusing on both cognitive (learning) and social (identity) motivations for translanguaging. Interview data uncover the faculty and students’ underlying language ideologies on the potential values of (a) using translanguaging informally, and (b) planning for translanguaging pedagogy in university contexts that boast large numbers of multilingual speakers with varied past educational experiences both in and outside of the United States.
Initial findings suggest that (a) there is robust use of translanguaging in tertiary settings, often unrecognized or unacknowledged; and (b) this use contrasts with faculty and student views on the potential of designing intentional translanguaging pedagogy, often seen as either unnecessary or unfair for learners who are not bilingual. Further analysis unpacks the nature of these contradictions and discusses how the Lesson Study approach has begun to shift the conversation. This study contributes to a growing body of translanguaging research in STEM settings (Langman, 2014; Moschkovich, 2005; Solís et al., 2018) and expands it to tertiary contexts (e.g. Mazak & Carroll, 2016).
Presentation Slides
References
Langman, J. (2014). Translanguaging, identity, and learning: Science teachers as engaged language planners. Language Policy, 13(2), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-013-9312-9
Lewis, C. C., Perry, R. R., Friedkin, S., & Roth, J. R. (2012). Improving Teaching Does Improve Teachers: Evidence from Lesson Study. Journal of Teacher Education, 63(5), 368–375. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487112446633
Mazak, C., & Carroll, K. S. (Eds.). (2016). Translanguaging in higher education: Beyond monolingual ideologies. Multilingual Matters.
Moschkovich, J. (2005). Using two languages when learning mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 64, 121–144.
Solis, J.L., Bravo, M., San Martin, K. & Mosqueda, E. (2018). Preparing preservice teachers to support Latin@ student participation in science practices. In T.T. Yuen, E. Bonner, and M.G. Arreguín-Anderson (Eds.), (Under)Represented Latin@s in STEM: Increasing participation throughout education and the workplace (pp.63-81). Peter Lang Publishing.