The call for improving students' academic achievement in science education has increased in urgency in recent years. It has also increased in complexity in the face of the growing cultural and linguistic diversity of present-day classrooms following inter- and intra-state migration. Although "translanguaging" pedagogy, where languages of…

In today's increasingly multilingual classrooms, leveraging students' diverse linguistic resources is essential for fostering equity, inclusion and deeper learning. This action research explored the impact of translanguaging on student engagement, joy, and identity in a middle school science classroom. Translanguaging, which is leveraging…

The continuous underrepresentation of the Latinx population in STEM fields and careers requires urgent attention. This study addresses this issue by designing and implementing a science curriculum based on culturally relevant and translanguaging pedagogies. Focusing on chemical and physical reactions, the curriculum was implemented in two…

The Multimodalities-Entextualization Cycle (MEC), proposed by Lin (2015, Conceptualizing the potential role of L1 in content and language integrated learning (CLIL). "Language, Culture and Curriculum," 28(1), 74-89), is a curriculum model designed for teachers to systematically incorporate translanguaging in lessons. Limited studies have…

Translanguaging in science includes the use of semiotic repertoires complete with non-linguistic modes of meaning (e.g. gesture, tactile) that until recently have gone unnoticed in research into content language integrated learning (CLIL). Currently, there are calls for classroom research in CLIL settings that examines the semiotic processes in…

Background/Context: Bi/multilingual students' STEM learning is better supported when educators leverage their language and cultural practices as resources, but STEM subject divisions have been historically constructed based on oppressive, dominant values and exclude the ways of knowing of nondominant groups. Truly promoting equity requires…

To address the challenges of teaching and learning among multilingual elementary students, the Philippines, a multilingual country with over 180 languages, implemented the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). Studies on the use of mother tongue have reported positive results among students who share a common language. However, in…

Background: South Africa's "Language-in-Education Policy" (LiEP) provides for bi/multilingual education, but schools are only supported to choose monolingual English language policies from Grade 4 and ignore the learners' home language or languages as resources for learning. Many teachers translanguage orally, using the learners' home…

Among inequities faced by multilingual learners, engagement in science education is one of the most persistent. Research suggests leveraging students' full multilingual repertoires in science education can help address this gap. However, pervasive monolingual norms in schooling may impede multilingual engagement, impacting students' multilingual…

All learners bring ideas about science phenomena to classroom learning, including formative assessment tasks. Educators and scholars have long been interested in making school science, including assessment, more equitable and culturally meaningful for (bi)multilingual learners. Translanguaging is increasingly seen as an important assessment design…

This paper explores how "transmodalising pedagogy" contributes to equitable STEM literacy education for emergent bilingual learners (EBLs). Attending to the urgent call for serving linguistically and culturally diverse learners in STEM classrooms and informed by the supporting theories and practices of transmodalising pedagogy, this…

In spite of the fact that increased transnational flows of people have altered the social, cultural, and linguistic landscape, education in Zimbabwe still follows a monolingual trajectory. The use of a language of instruction different from the students' home language has been identified as the major factor in students' academic underachievement.…

Research suggests that translanguaging can be transformative for teaching and learning by making students' diverse linguistic resources a meaningful part of classroom discourse. Building on this study, researchers have explored how translanguaging practices can support learning in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), primarily…

This study describes multilingual students' authentic use of their first and second languages in a "translanguaging science classroom," from a sociocultural perspective. The study is ethnographic, and has followed some lessons each month in a translanguaging science classroom at a primary school for three years. The observed lessons were…

The choice of which language strategies to use in schools in Africa is the subject of much debate. In the Life Sciences, cultural issues associated with the use of biological terminology add to this debate. In our study, we examined the language choices made by Grade 7 Natural Sciences teachers in South Africa during their teaching of human…