Report
Translanguaging and Scaffolding Strategies: A Case Study in a Primary Bilingual Classroom
University of Porto
2026
Appears in Recent Faculty of Education Publications
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Abstract
This study aimed at investigating when, and for which purposes, teachers and children translanguaged (by using their unique repertoire composed of English and Portuguese linguistic and multimodal features) in a third-grade classroom in a private bilingual school in northern Portugal. It also aimed at highlighting effective scaffolding strategies developed by the teachers in the Natural and Social Sciences (NSS), and English Language (EL) lessons. Classroom observations were conducted for a six-month period. Data was collected through participant-observation, using a single case study design with multiple embedded units of analysis (Yin, 1994). Data analysis was performed qualitatively through the analysis of language use in fieldnotes from classroom observations, audio recordings of NSS and EL lessons, and a pupil survey and through content analysis (Bardin, 1977/2011) for teachers’ written reflections. A total of 27 categories were derived under different types of translanguaging and scaffolding strategies used by both by the teachers and the pupils. It was found that translanguaging was used both for the teaching of content and to establish communication (Nikula & Moore, 2016), and it was both teacher-directed (Lewis et al., 2012b) and pupil-directed (Lewis et al., 2012a). This study contributes to scholarship by shedding light on previously known and new translanguaging and scaffolding strategies used by teachers for pupils’ bilingual development and used by pupils themselves. Findings have implications for educators when considering how translanguaging can be used as a pedagogical tool in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) classrooms.
Details
- Title
- Translanguaging and Scaffolding Strategies: A Case Study in a Primary Bilingual Classroom
- Creators
- Nayalin Pinho Feller - University of Porto (Portugal)
- Publisher
- University of Porto; Portugal
- Identifiers
- 991013358513802368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education
- Language
- English; Portuguese
- Resource Type
- Report