Translanguaging in a Swedish Multilingual Classroom.

The overarching aim of this article is to investigate perceptions regarding linguistic potential and language competence in relation to translanguaging strategies. The data presented consists of classroom activities, texts, and pictures produced by eleven-year-old pupils and their teacher in a multilingual classroom context. The pupils have varying lengths of in-country residence, from being born in Sweden to being newly arrived. At many schools only the target language is supposed to be used in teaching (Cummins, 2007). But the simultaneous use of multiple languages, also called translanguaging, in the classroom leads to broader and deeper knowledge of language and subjects (Williams, 1996). Teaching based on pupils' resources is crucial for multilingual pupils' thinking and learning (Meier & Conteh, 2014). The results show that the pupils have large linguistic potential, but there are great differences in estimating and perceiving their languages. A pattern stands out: Those pupils who have given their ...