International Journal of Arts and Humanities

Translanguaging in Chinese as a Second Language writing Classroom

Abstract: Translanguaging as a new way of understanding language and communication, it has value at all levels of multilingual education, particularly for minority students. However, it has been insufficiently studied in Chinese as a second language context, where translanguaging is practiced to facilitate knowledge co-constructing by the Chinese teacher and culturally diversity students. This qualitative study draws on a theoretical framework of translanguaging and seeks to shed light on the question of the problems of culturally diversity students learning Chinese with translanguaging in writing classroom. This study focuses on 5 students who were part of an ethnographic study, which includes groups interview, individual interviews, as well as audio-recordings of classroom discussions that were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The finding provides implications for CSL teachers leading spontaneous translanguaging to develop student’s writing skills in the multilingual classroom. Both the pedagogical and theoretical implications for teaching Chinese using translanguaging are discussed..

Keywords: Translanguaging, scaffolding, Chinese as a second language, cultural diversity