Translanguaging Practices in Early Childhood Classrooms From an Intercultural Perspective

Abstract

The term ‘translanguaging' not only has appeared in the field of Applied Linguistics, but also it entered in the field of Multilingual/Multicultural Education in early childhood classrooms. Translanguaging is mostly seen as an opportunity to build on emergent bilingual speakers' full language repertoires in order to scaffold language learning; however, it also provides an opportunity for young learners to gain cross-cultural knowledge. The authors observed translanguaging practices during play time in the AraNY János Hungarian Kindergarten and School in New York City (USA) to understand how different languages and cultures presented in the early childhood classes might contribute to shaping an anti-biased mindset towards social and cultural diversity. The overarching aim of this study was to reveal some of the translanguaging practices both students and teachers used in a diverse ethnic community of Hungarian descendants living in New York City.