Bridging Languages and Literature: Exploring Reader Response and Translanguaging in a Chinese-English Bilingual School

This participatory action research study examined how adolescents engage in a bilingual book club within a Chinese-English bilingual school in Southeast China. The study employed translanguaging and reader-response theory in an after-school enrichment program, focusing on the interactions among bilingual students, a monolingual teacher, and multimodal and multilingual texts. With six Mandarin-English bilingual students, I investigated how multilingual learners utilize their full linguistic repertoires while engaging in the book club. Additionally, the research addressed the challenges faced by English-monolingual educators teaching in multilingual environments and examined how pedagogical practices could be adapted to better serve linguistically diverse students. Multiple data sources were collected over ten weeks, including student surveys, English test results, reading materials, lesson plans, reflective journals from both the students and the researcher, artifacts, and interview transcripts. The data was analyzed using a combination of in vivo and descriptive coding techniques to identify themes. The study found that using translanguaging in the bilingual book club supported participants’ understanding of multimodal and multilingual texts, as students engaged with reader-response approaches to explore cultural understandings and deepen their textual interpretations. Moreover, the participatory action research approach enabled students to advocate for changes to the lesson pedagogy. Findings suggest that when students are given agency in their language choices, access to multiple resources, and control over their learning processes, they demonstrate increased engagement and metacognitive awareness. This study contributes to the growing body of research on multilingual language and literacy education and offers practical implications for educators working in linguistically diverse educational settings.