LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 22:1 January 2022
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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A Study of the Attitudes of Chinese Language Teachers towards
the Application of Translanguaging during
Online Classes in an International School of Bangkok

Mengqiu Zhang

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the attitude of Chinese language teachers towards the application of translanguaging and explore the situations for Chinese language teachers to apply translanguaging in synchronous online foreign classes in the Kindergarten of an international school of Bangkok. Fifteen Chinese language teachers from Kindergarten of the international school participated in the two-month study in the academic year 2020-2021. The research conducted used a mixed method design. A questionnaire was conducted to investigate the attitudes of Chinese language teachers and possible situations they would apply translanguaging in their synchronous online classes. In addition, an observation on the situations in which Chinese language teachers applied translanguaging in their synchronous online classes was conducted. Analyses implied that Chinese language teachers from Kindergarten held positive attitudes towards translanguaging during online classes. The questionnaire results revealed that: 1) most Chinese language teachers held positive attitudes towards translanguaging during online classes 2) the teachers held positive attitudes towards translanguaging during online classes because translanguaging was beneficial to help students understand academic contents, help teacher conduct effective classroom management and build up a rapport with students; 3) most beneficial situations are content-related and management-related and most detrimental situations are content-related and relationship-related. The observation results revealed that: 1) Chinese language teachers applied translanguaging in their synchronous online teaching; 2) Chinese language teachers applied translanguaging in different situations; 3) the applications of translanguaging for the content-related purposes were more frequent in synchronous online teaching. Based on the findings, the use of translanguaging during online classes is recommended in teaching and learning Chinese language, especially for teachers from kindergarten.

Keywords: Translanguaging, Bilingual education, Code-switching, Language policy, Online learning

Introduction

The outbreak of the new pandemic Coronavirus, known as Covid-19, has affected the global economy and global education. Academic units were forced to shut down and forwent in-person teaching due to the deadly and infectious characteristics of the disease. It was uncertain when students could get back to school. The circumstances made academic units realize there is an urgent need to shift away from the traditional classroom teaching model to an online teaching model. In this study, the teaching models of this international school have also been shifted from classroom teaching models to online teaching models due to the global pandemic.

Singh and Thurman (2019) asserted: “online education is defined as education being delivered in an online environment by using the internet for teaching and learning. The adoption of online education has several more advantages. EI and Mupinga (2007) stated that one of the advantages is that students can take classes from any provided location as long as they have access to a computer. In addition to that, online education also raises issues of teaching and learning strategies, learner autonomy, and motivation. One of the concerned issues is the application of translanguaging.

The term translanguaging came from the Welsh trawsieithu and was coined by Cen Williams (1996), which refers to the intentional alteration of input and output of the languages within student activities in bilingual classrooms. Hereafter, Baker (2001) advocated the word ‘translanguaging’ to translate the term ‘trawsieithu’. As translanguaging was used to discuss the emerging discourses around the nature of language, second language acquisition, and bilingualism, the pedagogic scope of translanguaging has been extended. In 2003, Williams further defined translanguaging as using the more robust language to reinforce the weaker language to develop a balanced language repertoire for bilingual children. Translanguaging is not only viewed as a teaching strategy but also a cognitive process. Translanguaging can enhance the mental process which incorporates multilingual materials preparation, activities demonstration, and content scaffolding in the bilingual classroom (Michael-Luna & Canagarajah, 2007). Furthermore, Wei (2018) emphasized that translanguaging is not just a set of linguistic structures but a dynamic practice and a process of knowledge construction.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Mengqiu Zhang
Assumption University, Thailand
rachel.zhang@sisbschool.com
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