Students’ perceptions of translanguaging in English classrooms: an exploratory research study at a HaNoi secondary school = Nghiên cứu khám phá về nhận thức của học sinh đối với việc sử dụng chuyển ngữ trong lớp học tiếng Anh ở một trường THCS tại Hà Nội

Tóm tắt

The debate surrounding the use of native language in second language teaching has been discussed by researchers and educators for a long time. Regarding this topic, the concept of translanguaging, a systematic use of two languages in a particular language teaching activity, has recently been suggested and widely applied in English language (EL) classrooms by teachers and researchers. Although translanguaging is not a novel idea, the research on its implementation in Vietnam and how Vietnamese students perceive this approach remains limited. Carried out in the context of a public secondary school in Hanoi, this study aimed to discover how translanguaging is practiced in classrooms as well as to investigate the perspectives of 94 participant students, all in grade 7, towards the application of this teaching method. A questionnaire employing Likert- scale questions and semi- structured interviews were utilized to gather data. The findings revealed Vietnamese was broadly in use for a variety of purposes in English language lessons but with different extent of application. The frequency for including Vietnamese in the lessons might vary depending on specific purposes, but mostly surrounding “sometimes” and does not fall over 50%. The analysis showed that most students generally expressed positive perceptions on translanguaging and claimed that it was essential for various purposes in classrooms. They acknowledged the effectiveness that translanguaging might bring but they were conscious of harmful impacts this pedagogy could cause as well. A number of situations that translanguaging was detrimental were indicated so that teachers and students might understand when to encourage or limit their L1 use. In short, this study’s results confirmed and supported several previous research. It highlighted the need for considering prudent and flexible use of Vietnamese in specific contexts, in accordance with students’ proficiency, particular purposes and lesson’s content or skills.