Institutional and gender influences on translanguaging practices among Indian university students

Abstract In India’s multilingual higher education system, language use reflects complex negotiations between institutional policies, social hierarchies, and identity practices. Within this context, translanguaging, understood as the strategic use of a multilingual speaker’s full linguistic repertoire offers a valuable framework for examining how individuals navigate these linguistic and social dynamics. However, limited research has examined how institutional structure and gender shape such translanguaging behaviours within Indian universities. This study investigates how institutional type and gender affect translanguaging among 522 university students across India. Drawing on data from both public and private institutions, it analyses language use across three domains: home, social and public, and academic and professional environments. The analysis employs Chi-square tests of independence to examine associations between institutional type, gender, and language use. The findings reveal that students from private institutions engage more frequently in English-dominant translanguaging, particularly in social and academic-professional environments, whereas female students demonstrate stronger maintenance of heritage languages within the home domain. These patterns highlight how institutional language policies and gendered expectations mediate multilingual behaviour in higher education. The study positions translanguaging as both an index of sociocultural identity and an adaptive communicative practice. It contributes to ongoing discussions on linguistic repertoires, social positioning, and multilingual agency in Indian educational contexts.