One approach is that we learn together, regardless of the language, regardless of the school subject: the translanguaging stance of teachers in a migration school scenario in southern Brazil

Authors

  • Anamaria Welp UFRGS
  • Eduardo Henrique Sampaio Marques UFRGS
  • Gláucia Helena Sarmento Malta EMEF Gov. Ildo Meneghetti, Secretaria Municipal de Educação de Porto Alegre

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-460X202440364105

Keywords:

language education, translanguaging stance, linguistic diversity

Abstract

This article presents the results of a study conducted at Escola das Pontes, a school in southern Brazil that serves local, immigrant, and refugee students, primarily from Haiti and Venezuela. The research is grounded in the theory of translanguaging, which offers a humanizing approach that places students and their diverse repertoires at the center of learning, breaking down traditional language barriers. Through a critical-collaborative research perspective, the study investigated the teachers' translanguaging stance, i. e., their orientation towards social justice, across different subject areas during a teacher development meeting. The meeting aimed to create a space for teachers to discuss their daily experiences and challenges in school. The results suggest that these teachers demonstrate a translanguaging stance in their teaching, as they report using students' language repertoires to leverage language and content learning. This is observed even before their formal introduction to translanguaging theory. Their approach values students' ways of knowing and promotes linguistic diversity in favor of meaningful education. The teachers' accounts reveal that learning in their classrooms is not hierarchical, as teachers and students learn together.

Author Biographies

Anamaria Welp, UFRGS

Anamaria Welp holds a PhD in Linguistics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS). She is an associate professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), where she teaches in the English Language Teaching programme. She is a permanent faculty member of the Graduate Programme in Language Studies in the Applied Linguistics Research Area. As a postdoctoral researcher, she has conducted research under the Carolina Foundation at the University of Málaga and under the Fulbright Commission at the City University of New York. Her research interests are in the areas of teacher education, literacy, language teaching materials development, language policy, internationalisation of higher education and bilingual education, with a particular focus on the theory and pedagogy of translanguaging.

Eduardo Henrique Sampaio Marques, UFRGS

Eduardo Sampaio is a Phd Cadidate at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), where he develops studies and research on teacher development in contexts of language diversity. He is a research member of the Transliguar Project at UFRGS. He holds a master degree in Applied Linguistics from Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), where he currently works for the Unisinos Bilingual Program (Unisinos Education). Eduardo is majored in Languages and Literature - Portuguese and English - from Federal University of Pernambuco and holds specialization degrees in Methodologies and Practices for Bi/Multilingual Education from Singularidades Institution and Language, Technology and Teaching from Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Gláucia Helena Sarmento Malta, EMEF Gov. Ildo Meneghetti, Secretaria Municipal de Educação de Porto Alegre

Glaucia Helena Sarmento Malta holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a Master's degree in Mathematics Education from UFRGS. She has experience in primary education, both in the private and public sectors, working with students in the early years. She has also taught at the higher education level, specializing in Science with a Mathematics focus and Administration. Since 2008, she has been working as a Mathematics teacher in the final years of elementary education within the Municipal Education Network of Porto Alegre.

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Published

2024-12-28

How to Cite

Welp, A., Sampaio Marques, E. H., & Sarmento Malta, G. H. (2024). One approach is that we learn together, regardless of the language, regardless of the school subject: the translanguaging stance of teachers in a migration school scenario in southern Brazil. DELTA: Documentação E Estudos Em Linguística Teórica E Aplicada, 40(3). https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-460X202440364105

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 3 (2024): Número regular

Section

Articles