Scaffolds, signs, and bridges: Language ideologies and translanguaging in student-teaching experiences

This study examines preservice teachers’ (PSTs) experiences with language ideologies in clinical placements across an academic year. Using methods derived from phenomenology, it explores how PSTs constructed and contested language ideologies about translanguaging in dual-language and transitional bilingual education elementary classrooms. Findings show that PST discourse evidenced ideologies of translanguaging as a bridge for connecting languages, a scaffold for participation, and a sign of students’ linguistic expertise and understandings of content. Findings also suggest, however, that PST discourse evidenced ideologies of translanguaging as transgressive of language policies and norms. The study concludes with recommendations for supporting PSTs in clinical experiences through attention to curricular and dynamic approaches to translanguaging, as well as specific attention to language ideologies.