Translanguaging as an official support measure for newly arrived students in Sweden

Abstract

This paper analyses interviews to explore translanguaging practices and views in Study Tutoring in the Mother Tongue (ST). ST is an internationally rare and under-researched support measure typically offered to newly arrived students in Swedish education. It is often referred to as ‘a space for translanguaging’ because in ST students meet a tutor proficient in their L1 to discuss subject matter using the L1 in alternation with L2 Swedish. ‘Translanguaging’ originally referred to a specific pedagogical strategy of language alternation but can now refer to either the framework of spontaneous translanguaging or that of pedagogical translanguaging. Spontaneous translanguaging is about encouraging in the classroom multilingual speech used in everyday communication. Pedagogical translanguaging, on the other hand, refers to various types of planned instructional strategies that alternate or compare languages to teach content and language more efficiently. This study indicates that, in ST, spontaneous and pedagogical translanguaging take place next to each other and cannot be seen as complete dichotomies. The tutors, however, view spontaneous translanguaging as a scaffolding means that should decrease over time. The tutors also use some crosslinguistic instructional strategies, but would benefit from receiving training so as to implement pedagogical translanguaging in a more planned and varied manner.

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