Exploring the Transpositioning‐Translanguaging‐Co‐Learning Approach as a Motivational Driver in Learning Japanese as a Third Language

ABSTRACT Existing research highlights the role of translanguaging in multilingual education and its contribution to learner engagement, L2 motivation and identity formation. However, little is known about how translanguaging and transpositioning, when jointly mobilised to create a co‐learning space, contribute to learners’ motivation in third‐language (L3) learning. This study, drawing on a translanguaging learning experience perspective, addresses this gap by examining how the Transpositioning–Translanguaging–Co‐Learning (TTCL) practices are engaged and how they (de)motivate Japanese L3 learners in a Chinese university. Video‐recorded classroom interaction across six weeks was analysed through Multimodal Conversation Analysis (MCA) and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Findings show that TTCL practices enhance learners’ motivation to participate by creating low‐risk motivational microclimates through supportive translanguaging interaction. The motivational impact of transpositioning, however, is highly situational and contingent on learners’ perceived readiness. Crucially, motivation is interactionally accomplished through conditions that make engagement possible, manageable, and socially supported. More broadly, the study demonstrates that motivation emerges from TTCL‐enabled translanguaging learning experiences situated within a micro‐, meso‐ and macro‐level ecology of classroom interaction, institutional arrangements and language policies related to the National College Entrance Examination. TTCL thus operates as a micro‐level motivational engine within a multi‐level translanguaging learning ecology, offering both pedagogical and theoretical insights for L3 instruction.