Examining Teacher Candidates’ Understanding of Translanguaging-for-Critical Multilingual Language Awareness

Drawing on a case study of a teacher education course on supporting multilingual learners, this paper examines teacher candidates’ (TCs’) engagement with translanguaging-for-critical multilingual language awareness (CMLA) in their pedagogical supports for K–12 multilingual learners (MLs). Data sources were TCs’ responses to the Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Language-Inclusive Teaching (PeCK–LIT) test. A total of 531 responses from two tasks assessing TCs’ knowledge of supporting multilingual learners in math and history were coded using a 4-point rubric developed by the authors and grounded in a translanguaging-for-CMLA framework. The findings indicate that TCs plan to utilize a variety of strategies such as scaffolding vocabulary multilingually and relating classroom topics to students’ experiences in their home countries. However, the analysis also reveals limitations in TCs’ understanding of translanguaging-for-CMLA. Some TCs framed translanguaging through monolingual perspectives, while others demonstrated language awareness without integrating the critical and multilingual dimensions essential to CMLA. The study calls for teacher educators to foster a critical understanding of translanguaging and to use an integrative approach to CMLA, ensuring that future teachers can effectively apply critically informed and equity-oriented translanguaging pedagogies in their support for MLs.