• Support Us
  • The Whole Child Model
School-to-School InternationalSchool-to-School InternationalSchool-to-School InternationalSchool-to-School International
  • Home
  • About STS
  • Our People
  • Our Expertise
  • Where We Work
  • STS Spotlight

The Case for Translanguaging

    Home STS Blog The Case for Translanguaging
    NextPrevious

    The Case for Translanguaging

    By STS | STS Blog | 0 comment | 5 March, 2019 | 5

    Recently, STS’s Measurement and Evaluation Specialist Fernanda Gándara co-authored an article with UMass Amherst’s Jennifer Randall for the Comparative Education Review. The article, “Assessing Mathematics Proficiency of Multilingual Students: The Case for Translanguaging in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” questions the current testing practices in international education when it comes to language.

    As Fernanda writes

    Many tests used in international education—especially large-scale standardized tests—tend to be monolingual in nature. Sometimes, students are provided with the option to take the test in “one language among several” or to “respond in the language of their choice,” yet this does not acknowledge that multilingual students do not behave as multiple monolinguals. And many times, even these options are “too difficult” to implement for practitioners, who are used to equating reliability and validity with standardization.

    As I mention in the article, the concept of translanguaging invites us to reflect differently upon language. Among other ideas, translanguaging states that multilingual students use their linguistic resources in a strategic, contextual, and flexible manner, without making distinctions between one language or the other. Accordingly, in this study we analyzed the experience of administering an Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) using language flexibly and interactively. Very broadly, the translingual EGMA consisted of testing the same content as the traditional EGMA but having two enumerators interacting with the student in flexible ways and making optimal language choices based on such exchange. By all criteria, the translingual administration was more appropriate than a traditional administration.

    As a researcher, I take this study as an invitation to challenge our notions around language—to spark new ways of developing and administering assessments that do not restrict the opportunities nor constraint the identities of the students we are trying to help. As a practitioner, I would highlight the idea that teachers’ assessment practices are highly influenced by the textbooks we provide them. If translingual assessments have the promise to improve practice in multilingual contexts, a major policy implication would be to incorporate translingual assessments into the textbooks that they use.

    Learn more about Fernanda’s study and read her article in full online now.

    DRC, EGMA, Research and Evaluation

    Leave a Comment

    Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    NextPrevious

    Subscribe and Learn More

    STS Staff Spotlight

    Assunta Hardy

    Principal Researcher

    STS Project Spotlight

    The Integrated Child & Youth Development Activity in Uganda

    research and evaluation

    View more

    The Integrated Child & Youth Development Activity in Uganda

    research and evaluation

    The Integrated Child & Youth Development Activity in Uganda

    research and evaluation

    The Integrated Child & Youth Development Activity in Uganda

    The Integrated Child & Youth Development Activity in Uganda
    2021-06-30

    Connect

    Subscribe

    Contact

    Questions? Comments? Want to get involved? Contact us.

    Careers

    Take the next step in your career with STS. Apply.

    • Home
    • About STS
    • Our People
    • Our Expertise
    • Where We Work
    • STS Spotlight
    • Whole Child Model
    • Support Us
    • Contact Us
    School-to-School International