Toward a theory of (trans)bordering in language education

In this conceptual essay, I reflect on the development of translanguaging research over the past decades, highlighting its theoretical advancement and pedagogical shortcomings. While translanguaging encourages us to (re)think how humans construct meanings through a holistic repertoire – deconstructing the discrete language systems linguists construct in service of the European modern nation-state project – it does not imply that boundaries between languages or discourses vanish. Instead, translanguaging scholarship treats such boundaries as socially constructed and fluid, critiquing their reification as fixed categories. Much research has examined how teachers and students strategically use their semiotic repertoires for meaning-making, engagement, power shifting, and collaborative learning. However, if human language practices are inherently characterized by translanguaging, what do we gain from this framework beyond its theoretical innovation? In other words, what can language teachers learn from it if they are intrinsically engaged in translanguaging practices all the time? To answer this question, I propose a concept I term (trans)bordering, arguing that languaging is a semiotic process in which individuals create, negotiate, and transcend boundaries that define acceptable practices, identities, and modes of communication. I demonstrate how teachers can implement (trans)bordering in language classrooms and beyond.