From monolingualism to translanguaging pedagogy: what can we learn from Thai EFL classrooms?

This exploratory qualitative study investigated the attitudes of Thai EFL students towards translanguaging and the translingual strategies employed by Thai university lecturers in their EFL classrooms. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with undergraduate students (n = 10) and English lecturers (n = 5) and observations of five EFL classrooms led by Thai lecturers. The data were then analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that Thai EFL students hold mixed attitudes towards the implementation of translanguaging in their EFL classrooms. Based on established frameworks in translanguaging pedagogy and bilingual education, the study identified a context-specific typology of five translanguaging strategies used by Thai lecturers, including concept and language elaboration, attention-drawing, feedback-giving, student-lecturer communication, and instruction-reinforcing practices. While the majority of Thai EFL lecturers believed that the integration of translanguaging might enhance the students’ understanding, they believed it would not necessarily improve their English proficiency. These findings contribute to the current body of knowledge by demonstrating the need to legitimize translanguaging as a pedagogical practice already occurring in Thai EFL classrooms across both language and content-based instruction.