Leveraging linguistic repertoires for classroom engagement: pre-service EFL teachers’ translanguaging practices during teaching practicum

This qualitatively driven mixed-methods inquiry investigates how 39 pre-service EFL teachers (PSETs) in Indonesia negotiate pedagogical agency through strategic translanguaging. Analysis of survey and focus group data indicates a perceived relationship between the flexible orchestration of linguistic resources and heightened student involvement. Specifically, 84.6% of respondents reported that translanguaging increased students’ cognitive engagement, while 76.9% noted a positive shift in the affective climate. These findings suggest that strategic translanguaging functions as a situated form of pedagogical agency, providing essential anchors for meaning-making in superdiverse secondary classrooms. The study concludes that validating students’ full semiotic repertoires may mitigate foreign language anxiety and facilitate interactional inquiry, though these results remain tentative and context-specific.