TRANSLINGUAL ARTS-BASED PEDAGOGY FOR YOUNG EFL LEARNERS: A VIETNAMESE TEACHER’S NARRATIVE
Main Article Content
Abstract
In early English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms, young learners’ meaning-making is often hindered by language-focused pedagogies that prioritize accuracy over expression. This study examined how a Vietnamese EFL teacher implemented translingual arts-based pedagogy with young learners. Using a qualitative case study design, the study explored one Vietnamese EFL teacher’s experiences through an in-depth narrative interview. The interview was conducted in Vietnamese, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis informed by narrative analysis to capture the teacher’s pedagogical experiences, decision-making, and contextual influences. The findings show that the translingual arts-based activities, especially drawing, facilitated the children’s meaning-making through the flexible use of Vietnamese, English, and other semiotic resources. This pedagogical approach assisted the teacher in supporting children’s learning through the incorporation of greater involvement, confidence, and gradual expansion of English use. Nonetheless, the teacher encountered challenges of classroom management, curricular requirements, and parental expectations. The research findings - insights into teacher cognition rather than direct evidence of classroom interaction - highlight the potential of translingual arts-based pedagogy for early EFL education and emphasize the significance of understanding educators’ lived experiences when they innovate and develop new multilingual methods.
Keywords
translanguaging, arts, translingual arts-based, young learners, EFL
Article Details
References
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Choi, J., Cleeve Gerkens, R., & Tomsic, M. (2024). “My book ideas were spinning in my head”: arts-rich bookmaking experiences to create and sustain multilingual children’s meaning making flows and authorial voices. TESOL Quarterly, 58(4), 1372-1400. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3279
Chowdhury, R. (2024). Vietnam: Towards heteroglossic bilingual education—Implications for teaching English in Vietnam. In R. A. Giri, A. Padwad, & M. M. N. Kabir (Eds.), Equity, social justice, and English medium instruction (pp. 379-391). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8321-2_21
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Eppich, W. J., Gormley, G. J., & Teunissen, P. W. (2019). In-depth interviews. In D. Nestel, M. Phalen, & B. Macaulay (Eds.), Healthcare simulation research (pp. 85–91). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26837-4_12
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Hirsu, L., Futro, D., McAdam, J., Arizpe, E., Nguyen, N. A., Le, A. V., Bui, T. D., & Tran, M. N. (2023). Arts-based language learning in Vietnam. Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi. https://4610829c-0113-4715-b255-c8db504ea14b.filesusr.com/ugd/493128_20445fddfd254b5299c6ca1467d7e0ad.pdf
Hirsu, L., Zacharias, S., & Futro, D. (2021). Translingual arts-based practices for language learners. ELT Journal, 75(1), 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa064
Lee, T. K. (2015). Translanguaging and visuality: Translingual practices in literary art. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(4), 441-465. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0022
Leung, S., K. Y. (2019). Translanguaging through visual arts in early childhood: A case study in a Hong Kong kindergarten. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 13(1), 47–67. https://www.pecerajournal.com/detail/30000131
Lewis, G., Jones, B. & Baker, C. (2012). Translanguaging: Origins and development from school to street and beyond. Educational Research and Evaluation, 18(7), 641–654. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2012.718488
Li, W. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222–1235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.035
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied linguistics, 39(1), 9-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx044
Liando, N. V. F., Dallyono, R., Tatipang, D. P., & Lengkoan, F. (2023). Among English, Indonesian and local language: Translanguaging practices in an Indonesian EFL classroom. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 204–216, https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v13i1.58270
Lucero, J. R. (2011). Ways of being: Conceptual art modes of operation for pedagogy as contemporary art practice [Doctoral dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/openview/40220224bea382e78df7441445ca25ae/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
MacSwan, J. (2017). A multilingual perspective on translanguaging. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 167-201. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216683935
Mavers, D. (2007). Semiotic resourcefulness: A young child’s email exchange as design. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 7(2), 155–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798407079285
McKay, R. A., & Kendrick, M. E. (2001). Children draw their images of reading and writing. Language Arts, 78(6), 529-533. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41483186
Narvaez, D., Braungart-Rieker, J. M., Miller-Graff, L. E., Gettler, L. T., & Hastings, P. D. (2016). Contexts for young child flourishing: Evolution, family, and society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ACPROF:OSO/9780190237790.001.0001
Ngo, L. H. P (2021). Translanguaging Practices in EMI Settings from the Perspective of Student Agency: An example from Vietnamese Higher Education. In W. Tsou & W. Baker (Eds.). English-medium instruction translanguaging practices in Asia (pp. 121-141). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3001-9_7
Otheguy, R., García, O. & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281-307. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839950080103
Rasman, R. (2018). To translanguage or not to translanguage? The multilingual practice in an Indonesian EFL classroom. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(3), 687–694. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i3.9819
Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage. https://books.google.je/books?id=0DdzM-vh54UC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Rowe, D. W., & Miller, M. E. (2016). Designing for diverse classrooms: Using iPads and digital cameras to compose eBooks with emergent bilingual/biliterate four-year-olds. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 16(4), 425–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798415593622
Sullivan, G. (2010). Art practice as research: Inquiry in visual arts (Second edition). Sage. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/art-practice-as-research/book233902
Thy, T. K., Kieu, T. K., Pham, T. T., Dang, M. T., An, T. T., Carlton, K., & Dang, T. N. L. (2023). Theoretical framework on the use of art‑inspired pedagogy in early childhood to mitigate urban barriers. In The Asian Conference on Education & International Development 2023: Official conference proceedings (pp. 321–336). https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-101X.2023.27
Vygotsky, L. S. (1967). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Soviet Psychology, 5(3), 6-18. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-040505036
Wright, S. (2014). The art of voice: The voice of art – Understanding children’s graphic narrative-enactive communication. In D. Machin (Ed.), Visual communication (pp. 517–538). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110255492.517
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Sage. https://www.sagepub.com/shop/buy-a-book/case-study-research-and-applications-6-250150
Yoon-Ramirez, I. (2021). Inter-weave: Creating a translanguaging space through community art. Multicultural Perspectives, 23(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2021.1877544
Anderson, J. (2018). Reimagining English language learners from a translingual perspective. ELT journal, 72(1), 26-37. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccx029
Arreguín-Anderson, M. G., Salinas-Gonzalez, I., & Alanis, I. (2018). Translingual play that promotes cultural connections, invention, and regulation: A LatCrit perspective. International Multilingual Research Journal, 12(4), 273–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2018.1470434
Baker, C., & Wright, W. E. (2021). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (7th ed.). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/BAKER9899
Bradley, J., & Atkinson, L. (2020). Translanguaging beyond bricolage: Meaning making and collaborative ethnography in community arts. In E. Moore, J. Bradley, & J. Simpson (Eds.), Translanguaging as transformation: The collaborative construction of new linguistic realities (pp. 135–154). Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788928052-013
Bradley, J., Moore, E., Simpson, J., & Atkinson, L. (2018). Translanguaging space and creative activity: Theorising collaborative arts-based learning. Language and Intercultural Communication, 18(1), 54–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2017.1401120
Canagarajah, S. (2012). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203073889
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2021). Pedagogical translanguaging. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009029384
Cheung, S. K., Ling, E. K., & Leung, S. K. Y. (2017). Beliefs associated with support for child-centred learning environments among Hong Kong pre-service early childhood teachers. Journal of Education for Teaching, 43(2), 232-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2017.1286785
Choi, J., Cleeve Gerkens, R., & Ohki, S. (2025). Multilingual authors ‘standing taller’ in arts-rich translanguaging spaces. Language and Education, 39(3), 586–613. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2024.2348599
Choi, J., Cleeve Gerkens, R., & Tomsic, M. (2024). “My book ideas were spinning in my head”: arts-rich bookmaking experiences to create and sustain multilingual children’s meaning making flows and authorial voices. TESOL Quarterly, 58(4), 1372-1400. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3279
Chowdhury, R. (2024). Vietnam: Towards heteroglossic bilingual education—Implications for teaching English in Vietnam. In R. A. Giri, A. Padwad, & M. M. N. Kabir (Eds.), Equity, social justice, and English medium instruction (pp. 379-391). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8321-2_21
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage. https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/research-design-4-237357
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage. https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/qualitative-inquiry-and-research-design-4-246896
Duangsaeng, W., & Thongrin, S. (2025). Translanguaging in practice: Insights from a Thai university EFL classroom. Journal of Studies in the English Language, 20(3), 52–83. https://doi.org/10.64731/jsel.v20i3.282705
Eppich, W. J., Gormley, G. J., & Teunissen, P. W. (2019). In-depth interviews. In D. Nestel, M. Phalen, & B. Macaulay (Eds.), Healthcare simulation research (pp. 85–91). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26837-4_12
García, O., & Leiva, C. (2014). Theorising and enacting translanguaging for social justice. In A. Blackledge & A. Creese (Eds.), Heteroglossia as practice and pedagogy (pp. 199–216). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7856-6_11
García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education. Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765
Hirsu, L., Futro, D., McAdam, J., Arizpe, E., Nguyen, N. A., Le, A. V., Bui, T. D., & Tran, M. N. (2023). Arts-based language learning in Vietnam. Vietnam National University Press, Hanoi. https://4610829c-0113-4715-b255-c8db504ea14b.filesusr.com/ugd/493128_20445fddfd254b5299c6ca1467d7e0ad.pdf
Hirsu, L., Zacharias, S., & Futro, D. (2021). Translingual arts-based practices for language learners. ELT Journal, 75(1), 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa064
Lee, T. K. (2015). Translanguaging and visuality: Translingual practices in literary art. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(4), 441-465. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0022
Leung, S., K. Y. (2019). Translanguaging through visual arts in early childhood: A case study in a Hong Kong kindergarten. Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 13(1), 47–67. https://www.pecerajournal.com/detail/30000131
Lewis, G., Jones, B. & Baker, C. (2012). Translanguaging: Origins and development from school to street and beyond. Educational Research and Evaluation, 18(7), 641–654. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2012.718488
Li, W. (2011). Moment analysis and translanguaging space: Discursive construction of identities by multilingual Chinese youth in Britain. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(5), 1222–1235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2010.07.035
Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied linguistics, 39(1), 9-30. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amx044
Liando, N. V. F., Dallyono, R., Tatipang, D. P., & Lengkoan, F. (2023). Among English, Indonesian and local language: Translanguaging practices in an Indonesian EFL classroom. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 204–216, https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v13i1.58270
Lucero, J. R. (2011). Ways of being: Conceptual art modes of operation for pedagogy as contemporary art practice [Doctoral dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/openview/40220224bea382e78df7441445ca25ae/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750
MacSwan, J. (2017). A multilingual perspective on translanguaging. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1), 167-201. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216683935
Mavers, D. (2007). Semiotic resourcefulness: A young child’s email exchange as design. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 7(2), 155–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798407079285
McKay, R. A., & Kendrick, M. E. (2001). Children draw their images of reading and writing. Language Arts, 78(6), 529-533. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41483186
Narvaez, D., Braungart-Rieker, J. M., Miller-Graff, L. E., Gettler, L. T., & Hastings, P. D. (2016). Contexts for young child flourishing: Evolution, family, and society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ACPROF:OSO/9780190237790.001.0001
Ngo, L. H. P (2021). Translanguaging Practices in EMI Settings from the Perspective of Student Agency: An example from Vietnamese Higher Education. In W. Tsou & W. Baker (Eds.). English-medium instruction translanguaging practices in Asia (pp. 121-141). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3001-9_7
Otheguy, R., García, O. & Reid, W. (2015). Clarifying translanguaging and deconstructing named languages: A perspective from linguistics. Applied Linguistics Review, 6(3), 281-307. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2015-0014
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839950080103
Rasman, R. (2018). To translanguage or not to translanguage? The multilingual practice in an Indonesian EFL classroom. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(3), 687–694. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i3.9819
Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage. https://books.google.je/books?id=0DdzM-vh54UC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Rowe, D. W., & Miller, M. E. (2016). Designing for diverse classrooms: Using iPads and digital cameras to compose eBooks with emergent bilingual/biliterate four-year-olds. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 16(4), 425–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798415593622
Sullivan, G. (2010). Art practice as research: Inquiry in visual arts (Second edition). Sage. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/art-practice-as-research/book233902
Thy, T. K., Kieu, T. K., Pham, T. T., Dang, M. T., An, T. T., Carlton, K., & Dang, T. N. L. (2023). Theoretical framework on the use of art‑inspired pedagogy in early childhood to mitigate urban barriers. In The Asian Conference on Education & International Development 2023: Official conference proceedings (pp. 321–336). https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2189-101X.2023.27
Vygotsky, L. S. (1967). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Soviet Psychology, 5(3), 6-18. https://doi.org/10.2753/RPO1061-040505036
Wright, S. (2014). The art of voice: The voice of art – Understanding children’s graphic narrative-enactive communication. In D. Machin (Ed.), Visual communication (pp. 517–538). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110255492.517
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). Sage. https://www.sagepub.com/shop/buy-a-book/case-study-research-and-applications-6-250150
Yoon-Ramirez, I. (2021). Inter-weave: Creating a translanguaging space through community art. Multicultural Perspectives, 23(1), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/15210960.2021.1877544