Attitudes towards translanguaging: how future teachers perceive the meshing of Arabic and English in children’s storybooks

Afaf al-Bataineh, Zayed University
Kay Gallagher, Zayed University

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Publication Date

5-4-2018

Abstract

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This paper seeks to identify the attitudes of bilingual future teachers towards translanguaging when writing stories for bilingual young learners, and to understand the various forces that shape their attitudes. Translanguaging, in the context of this study, refers to the dynamic and intended shuttling between languages or dialects. An assignment in a Children’s Literature course in a bilingual university in the United Arab Emirates required participants to move across Modern Standard Arabic, their native Emirati Arabic, and English both between and within sentences, and to allocate equal weight to these languages/varieties in the meaning-making process. As an ethnographic study, participants’ attitudes were elicited at various stages of the research project. The findings indicate that they held paradoxical and ambivalent attitudes towards translanguaging, and that language ideology played a crucial role in determining their attitudes, as well as the degree to which translanguaging in writing was accepted or rejected.

ISSN

1367-0050

Publisher

Routledge

First Page

1

Last Page

15

Disciplines

Education

Keywords

Arabic, attitudes, children’s literature, English, teacher education, Translanguaging

Scopus ID

85046414675

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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