Translanguaging as a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Teaching English to Multilingual Pakistani University Students

While Pakistan is a country with dual national languages, English and Urdu, there are over 74 regional languages actively spoken by its citizens. A changing and post-colonial world is placing demands on students to communicate and do business in English; however, their pre-university preparation across regions does not always, or often, provide adequate English mastery prior to their tertiary schooling where English is required knowledge. This study explores English teaching and learning of Pakistani learners attending a tertiary level institution. To seek solutions to some of the challenges they face, the study posits the possibility of translanguaging as a culturally responsive pedagogical approach to provide a pathway through which instructors might promote and maintain the country’s linguistic diversity while simultaneously promoting greater mastery of English. The data used for analysis were obtained from 1) 15 faculty instructors of English at this university and 2) 15 student participants who speak five of the major languages spoken in Pakistan. Findings reveal faculty perceptions and ideas about translanguaging as a culturally responsive pedagogy to be open to new considerations for meaning-making but in need of scaffolding in order to understand these approaches for teaching English to university learners. Insights into prioritizing students’ mother tongue as a point of departure and a resource in their learning suggests potential for creating a cross-over with the target language (English) to arrive at greater student engagement and more meaningful mastery of English as an outcome.