Co-learning about translanguaging and testing in dual language bilingual education: examining ideological and implementational spaces

Abstract

Abstract Tests, assessments, and evaluation instruments have long been ill-equipped to account for practices of translanguaging inherent within multilingual communities. Within the field of testing and assessment, much more emphasis has been placed on ensuring the design principles of the assessment. Countering over 100 years of deficit positioning of multilingualism in testing, recent work has emerged that values the knowledge, beliefs, and experiences of teachers. Drawing on Hornberger’s (2005) distinction between ideological and implementational spaces, this participatory action research project examines translanguaging and assessment practices during a 5-week online course for classroom language testing for four Spanish/English bilingual teachers working in dual language bilingual education programs in elementary schools in the United States. Transcripts from online synchronous (via Zoom) and asynchronous discussions and individual and paired assignments served as our key data sources. We illustrate the co-learning, co-planning, and co-shifting of translanguaging and assessment practices during this course. We argue that collaboration such as the work presented in this paper is critical for creating communities to open and expand ideological and implementational spaces for translanguaging in general and in testing specifically.