Elementary Translanguaging Writing Pedagogy: A Literature Review

Abstract

While a wealth of research shows the social and academic benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism, the education of bi/multilingual learners often focuses on transitioning students to English. Based on this fact, the first aim of this article is to highlight translanguaging as a model that challenges monoglossic language ideologies. The second aim is to present a systematic review of peer-reviewed studies (2000–2020, 47 studies) that highlight translanguaging as a pedagogy for elementary bi/multilingual students’ writing development. Due to the historical scholarly focus on reading over writing, especially at the elementary level, this study focuses on translanguaging pedagogy in the context of elementary writing. Findings showed four themes: (a) audience awareness and authentic products, (b) collaborative learning and composition, (c) multimodal composition, and (d) simultaneous literacy instruction. I argue for further engagement with students’ families, communities, and identities in the writing process and an exploration of the transformative potential of translanguaging writing pedagogy.