Enacting Translanguaging Pedagogy through Informal Family Research: Preparing Elementary Preservice Teachers for Linguistic Justice with Refugee and Immigrant Children

Teacher education needs to prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to develop linguistic justice and support the multilingual needs of all students. This article describes a qualitative study in which PSTs enacted an informal multilingual family research project to implement translanguaging pedagogy, creating learning experiences where students can validate their identities through learning in their home languages. Translanguaging remains a challenge for PSTs who have been trained in monolingual instructional norms. In this study, PSTs took on the roles of both researchers and teachers in a literacy methods course: observing immigrant families in an informal setting (a children’s museum), reflecting on language use in home and community contexts, and designing lesson plans that incorporated translanguaging approaches. The study drew on field notes, reflective essays, and lesson plans to explore two questions: (1) How does engaging in a multilingual family research project shape PSTs’ understanding of translanguaging pedagogy and their views of home language and cultural practices as learning assets? (2) How do PSTs apply translanguaging strategies in lesson planning after participating in multilingual family research? Findings showed the study facilitated PSTs to perceive translanguaging as a pedagogical stance and see home languages as legitimate resources for learning. However, some PSTs still struggled to reconceptualize home languages as anything more than a support mechanism in instruction. The study provides evidence that raciolinguistic ideologies must be challenged within teacher education, and that PSTs must be supported to maintain translanguaging practices to advance educational equity for refugee and immigrant children.