Multimodal translanguaging pedagogy as transformative praxis in refugee education: fostering engagement, integration, and disrupting linguistic hierarchies

Turkiye hosts over 3.4 million refugees, yet monolingual educational policies systematically marginalise non-Turkish speakers through institutional practices and peer interactions that delegitimise minoritised languages. This study examines multimodal translanguaging pedagogy as a transformative approach addressing these exclusionary structures. Through a five-week qualitative case study with 21 third-grade students (17 Turkish monolinguals, 4 multilingual refugees), we analysed how multimodal translanguaging – integrating visual, embodied, and multilingual meaning-making – challenged linguistic hierarchies while expanding learning possibilities. Findings reveal three patterns structuring exclusion: differential treatment of academic performance based on student background, peer and institutional monitoring of language use, and hierarchical valuations privileging European over minoritised languages. Multimodal translanguaging functioned as epistemological expansion – fundamentally broadening what counts as legitimate knowledge production – through validating diverse epistemologies, redistributing authority, and developing metalinguistic awareness. Outcomes included 75% reduction in refugee students’ absenteeism, significant increases in participation, and shifts in Turkish students’ language attitudes. However, transformations remained limited to English lessons, revealing tensions between individual teacher innovation and broader institutional structures. This study contributes to translanguaging scholarship by demonstrating how multimodal affordances create alternative participation pathways, examining mechanisms of linguistic exclusion in refugee education, and analysing relationships between classroom-level change and institutional constraints.