Translanguaging as Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: Transforming Traditional Practices in an ESOL Classroom for Older Adults from Refugee Backgrounds

This chapter examines the equity aspects of implementing translanguaging as a form of culturally sustaining pedagogy to nurture linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism in an ESOL classroom for Nepali-speaking Bhutanese older adults resettled in the United States as refugees. Taking a teacher-action research approach, the authors collaborated to design and deliver lessons informed by translanguaging pedagogy. The study’s findings show that implementing translanguaging pedagogy enabled the reimagination of students’ and teachers’ traditional power roles toward becoming co-teachers and co-learners and challenged the linguistic hierarchy that posits English speakers and their language practices as more powerful and prestigious than any others. Findings also showed that this pedagogy disrupted the assimilationist and monolingual practices often found in traditional ESOL programs while embracing and fostering the linguistic and cultural practices older students brought into the classroom. Implications for ESOL practitioners are discussed.