English-Chinese bilingual instruction in EFL secondary classroom in China: translanguaging as a strategic action to scaffold student learning

Abstract This study investigates how Chinese secondary school students and teachers navigate English language learning through translanguaging practices in South-Eastern China, drawing on data obtained from classroom observations and interviews with teachers from secondary schools from rural and urban contexts of China. In this qualitative study, we analyzed the data thematically under the translanguaging perspective in teaching and learning of English. The findings showed that students and teachers were primarily engaged in learning English through allowing Chinese as a language of content communication that facilitated collaboration in learning between teachers and students and among students. Although the findings reveal English monolingual tendency and ideology of teachers in facilitating English learning, they negotiated with students in bringing in students’ home language semiotic resources through creation of bilingual engagement opportunities in the classrooms, thereby acknowledging the emergent translanguaging space for both content and language learning for the students whose English language proficiency is weak.