Teacher, ¿Puedo hablar en español? Principal concepts

The article “Teacher, ¿Puedo Hablar en Español? A Reflection on Plurilingualism and Translanguaging Practices in EFL” addresses issues such as plurilingualism and translanguaging in the context of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Throughout the article we reflect on the implications of these issues in education, to understand it, we must first be clear about these concepts: 

Translanguaging:

Translanguaging is an approach that allows flexibility in language to communicate.

In which two languages can be used without the need to separate them or put up strict barriers, allowing students to use their entire linguistic repertoire to solve problems and also helps them connect their ideas even if they use translation..

The text also points out the advantages of translanguaging , for example, the strengthening of the weak language, helps the integration of students where they help each other and promotes the importance of the subject.

Plurilingualism:

Plurilingualism refers to the number of languages or even variations of the same languages that coexist in the same society.

According to the text, plurilingualism does not only imply speaking three or more languages but also understanding the cultures and contexts5 associated with them, which helps us to adapt to multiculturalism.(it is not only knowing a language, but also having the ability to speak and understand cultural aspects).

An interesting example is the one we found there about the guy who was born in Brazil and traveled to other places for educational purposes and managed to acquire four languages besides knowing indigenous languages that his grandparents used to speak. That is plurilingualism.

Bilingualism:

Bilingualism is an old term that refers to a person's ability to use two languages proficiently. For example, a person who grows up in an environment where two languages are spoken is bilingual or may also be a person who learns a second language in addition to his or her mother tongue. The text suggests that plurilingualism and translanguagin can empower bilingual speakers to engage in "flexible bilingualism" where code-switching is used as a social resource to perform and function in social situations.

Languagin:

languagin uses language to mediate the cognitive process where cultural aspects are considered, speaking a language while being aware of the social implications.

Languaging refers to how we incorporate language into our lives, through languaging we express our feelings and emotions even through interaction with others. For example “I love boyacá It has an important meaning for me.”

All these concepts make us reflect on the importance of knowing them, from bilingualism, one of the oldest concepts, to translanguagin, which may have existed some time ago but we were not aware of its use.

It is important to learn them because as future language teachers we must make our students feel comfortable and express themselves without fear of being judged for using their language because it is part of their identity and it will never be wrong to use it.