Maria Estela Brisk is a professor of education and chair of the Teacher Education, Special Education, and Curriculum and Instruction Department at Lynch School of Education, Boston College. Her research and teacher preparation interests include bilingual learners, and teaching writing. Dr. Brisk is the author of several books.

Alsu Gilmetdinova (AG): How do you understand translanguaging?

Maria Estela Brisk (MEB): I think translanguaging is a version of what they call code-switching. It is more about the move from a pure linguistic term into a sociopolitical perspective. It is more about the use of the language practices. Translanguaging is also a normal behavior of bilinguals. This term can be described not as a noun, but more as a verb, a process—that has been a change in the way we talk about the term.

AG:Why do you think the word came about if it has this additional layer of social and political context?

MEB: I have been largely focusing on how children develop writing in elementary school classrooms, so it is not something I have been studying much. I came to this definition based on what I see in the current literature. It is a change in vocabulary; this seems to be a reframed phenomenon of bilingualism that we have already seen for years.

AG: What do you think is the role of translanguaging in the classroom? Does it happen in the classroom?

MEB: What is important about translanguaging is the fluidity of communication, seeing how bilingual children communicate, express their ideas, rather than a specific outcome; the fact that a child can access both languages at the same time in order to say what he wants. A child might have fluency, be able to speak and think in several languages. Translanguaging allows using this rich language potential. The teachers’ role is to establish and validate the use of several languages for bilingual children, and this depends on the environment they are in. In Massachusetts, I do research in the mainstream classroom in elementary schools where I study how teachers develop students’ language and literacy skills in the content area classes. Teachers create an environment where students are able to use their full language repertoire.

AG:Can you give a specific example from one of your projects?

MEB: So, in my current project, after 4 weeks of research, instruction, and writing, students in Michelle’s class had just finished writing animal reports in the form of picture books. Michelle gathered the whole class to discuss their impressions about their reports. Different students raised their hands and offered comments. Daisy gave a comment in Spanish, which one of her classmates quickly translated, and the conversation continued seamlessly. A little later in the discussion, Daisy stood close to Michelle and whispered a comment in English. Michelle asked for everybody’s attention and asked Daisy to repeat her comment out loud, which she did. Michelle picked up Daisy’s comment and continued the discussion.

What is interesting is that during the discussion, sometimes the native Spanish speaker would give comments in English, and sometimes in Spanish, and one of them would translate from English into Spanish. Thus, the discussion was in two languages, and the teacher could make sure that the beginner could participate in the discussion, and in small groups could share her ideas in Spanish, even though she didn’t understand what the student would say. It is important to add that half of the classroom is bilingual children, where 60% are bilingual in Spanish and English, 20% are bilingual in English and other languages, and the rest are newcomers who are only Spanish-speaking children. So, it is the environment where the teacher validates and supports the use of multiple languages to ensure that also beginning language users can actively participate in the classroom discussions.

AG: How then can teachers support translanguaging practices in the classroom? Can monolingual teachers create a space for translanguaging to take place despite not knowing any other language except English?

MEB: Most teachers I work with are monolingual English-speaking teachers, a few have some high school Spanish. Some might say a few words in Spanish, like “dímelo en español” [tell me in Spanish]. It is more about giving permission to use more than one language. In such a classroom, students are able to use their language skills in a way they can. By being able to speak in a language they choose, they make themselves visible. It is not important for a teacher to be multilingual to create a translanguaging inclusive classroom. More so, translanguaging is natural in interactions among any bilinguals; when bilinguals talk to one another, they easily and naturally switch between the languages. So, translanguaging allows for a free choice of a language in interactions.

AG: Do you think that monolinguals can translanguage?

MEB: Let’s look at the research project that I am currently in. A child had just arrived at the school in the 5th grade. At this age, it is quite hard to integrate and to learn a new language, much more difficult than for a kindergartener. So, at the beginning the child was very quiet when they were discussing the book chapter. Then, the teacher encouraged the child to speak in his native language. She would say “Tell me in Spanish”/ “Dímelo en español.” Although the teacher didn’t understand what he would say in Spanish, she wanted the child to lose the fear and just to say it in whatever language that she thought he could say something in. The bilingual students in the group helped integrate his comments into the discussion.

AG: What are some misconceptions around translanguaging practices? How can we address these misconceptions?

MEB: Well, the first popular misconception is that translanguaging is considered poor language or incorrect language, that children are mixed up, when they translanguage. The best way to debunk the myths about translanguaging is when parents can see children using two languages. These children are able to use their native language, to maintain it. They can use both languages, native language and English. Translanguaging is not to be confused with multilingual education. For example, in some dual language programs there is no translanguaging. In such programs languages are kept separate. Here, you don’t have translanguaging because such programs are strict about keeping language apart, either they use one language in the first half of the day and another language in the other half, or they can separate languages in other different ways.

AG: How can translanguaging enhance multilingual education?

MEB: We have opportunities to do research and see the impact of translanguaging both in monolingual and multilingual education. There have been people who think that languages should be kept separate, but others support the use of more than one language in the content-area classroom. Here I mean that both languages are used to teach literacy and content-area subjects.

AG: Thank you, and my last question, what do you think is the future of term translanguaging? How will it evolve?

MEB: Terms come and go, and we need to study normal behavior of students in the classroom. We need to see language as a resource, where the context is important, the function of a language is important. We need to study how translanguaging practices help bilinguals understand, comprehend, develop academic and linguistic skills. The function here means whether translanguaging is used for learning purposes or it is used for political purposes. I have a problem when these functions are mixed up. When you talk about education of children, it should be used for educational, not political reasons. We should show that languages other than English are important, but it is not enough. The purpose should also be to engage students in developing their cognitive skills, for the holistic development of a child.

AG: Thank you very much for your time and valuable perspective on translanguaging.

Alsu Gilmetdinova is head of the Office of International Affairs at the Kazan National Research Technical University named after A.N.Tupolev-KAI (KNRTU-KAI) in the city of Kazan, Russia. Her interests revolve around bilingual education, language policy, and TESOL.