To download article.DOI: 10.15507/1991-9468.109.026.202204.756-770
Beliefs about Multilingualism with Respect to Translanguaging: A Survey among Pre-Service EFL Teachers in Indonesia
Gede E. Putrawan
Lecturer at the Department of Language Education and Arts, University of Lampung (No. 1 Jl. Prof. Dr. Sumantri Brojonegoro, Bandar Lampung 35145, Indonesia), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7717-3634, Scopus ID: 57209692412, Researcher ID: AAM-8595-2021, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mahpul
Senior Lecturer at the Department of Language Education and Arts, University of Lampung (No. 1 Jl. Prof. Dr. Sumantri Brojonegoro, Bandar Lampung 35145, Indonesia), Ph.D. (Language Education), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3916-2608, Scopus ID: 57191896104, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tuntun Sinaga
Lecturer at the Department of Language Education and Arts, University of Lampung (No. 1 Jl. Prof. Dr. Sumantri Brojonegoro, Bandar Lampung 35145, Indonesia), Ph.D. (Language and Culture), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3716-3765, Scopus ID: 57216651896, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Son K. Poh
Senior Lecturer at the English Language & Literature Academic Group at National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore), Ph.D. (Language Education), ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1192-4044, Scopus ID: 57395610600, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Olga V. Dekhnich
Deputy Director for Science and Research of the Institute of Intercultural Communication and International Relations, Associate Professor of the Chair of English Philology and Cross-Cultural Communication, Belgorod State National Research University (85 Pobedy St., Belgorod 308015, Russian Federation), Cand.Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6088-2656, Scopus ID: 56436702200, Researcher ID: AAM-9877-2020, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Abstract
Introduction. Recently, multilingualism and translanguaging have received considerable attention and are always a topic of interest and public debate in language education. However, to our knowledge, studies on pre-service EFL teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism with respect to translanguaging in the Indonesian context have not appeared in the literature. Therefore, to address this gap, this research investigated beliefs about multilingualism with respect to translanguaging, including language separation, language use/mixing, and language support, among pre-service EFL teachers in the Indonesian context.
Materials and Methods. This study is quantitative in nature, adopting a survey research design. We collected data from 270 pre-service EFL teachers using an online Likert scale questionnaire that lacked any potentially sensitive questions. They were between the ages of 17 and 26, and were English teacher candidates majoring in English education at higher education institutions on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, which included the percentages and frequency distributions of the participants’ Likert scale responses.
Results. The current study’s findings corroborate previous research indicating that teachers believe multilingualism and collaborative use of languages are potential assets that can benefit their students’ language learning.
Discussion and Conclusion. Language separation in EFL classrooms appears to be a point of contention for the majority of pre-service EFL teachers surveyed, with a preference for and support for multilingualism and translanguaging over language separation in EFL classrooms. They agree on the importance of using or mixing other languages in their classes. On the one hand, they believe that it is critical to avoid other language support in classrooms; on the other hand, they believe that other language support can benefit students, offering a wave of optimism about future language education. Therefore, there is a need to gradually introduce and include pedagogical translanguaging to the existing curricula. The integration of new multilingual facts and the implementation of translanguaging pedagogies are part of a larger educational renewal. There is a need to intentionally create a multilingual space (translanguaging space) in EFL classrooms to fully utilise studentsʼ multilingual capabilities creatively and critically because today many teachers struggle to reconcile the disparities between monolingual educational policies and the realities of multilingual classrooms.
Keywords: EFL, multilingualism, translingualism, translingual approach in teaching foreign languages, pre-service teachers, survey
Acknowledgements: We would like to extend our appreciation to all pre-service EFL teachers who took part in this study. Dewi Lestari and Rella Islami, two of our students, deserve special recognition for assisting us with administrative tasks during the research. Additionally, we would like to express our gratitude to our colleagues on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan for assisting us with the online survey’s distribution.
Funding: The reported study was funded by the Institute for Research and Community Services of Universitas Lampung (Applied Research Scheme Grant Number: 1757/UN26.21/PN/2021 dated 21 April 2021).
Conflict of interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
For citation: Putrawan G.E., Mahpul, Sinaga T., Poh S.K., Dekhnich O.V. Beliefs about Multilingualism with Respect to Translanguaging: A Survey among Pre-Service EFL Teachers in Indonesia. Integration of Education. 2022;26(4):756–770. doi: https://doi.org/10.15507/1991-9468.109.026.202204.756-770
All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Submitted 30.12.2021; approved after reviewing 14.03.2022;
accepted for publication 21.03.2022.
Contribution of the authors:
G. E. Putrawan – conceptualization; literature review; critical analysis; data collection; data analysis; discussion; implications; original draft preparation.
Mahpul – literature review; critical analysis; data analysis; conclusion and implication drawings; writing review and editing.
T. Sinaga – critical analysis; visualization; revisions; conclusion and implication drawings.
S. K. Poh – critical analysis, revisions; presentation of findings; conclusion drawing; writing review and editing.
O. V. Dekhnich – literature review; critical analysis; Russian part assistance; organizational guidance and editing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.