Translanguaging as a metacognitive scaffold strategy: reframing EFL instruction

Metacognitive regulation—specifically planning, monitoring, and evaluation—is essential for effective foreign language learning. However, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction in Latin America rarely leverages learners’ linguistic repertoires to support higher-order processes. Translanguaging may serve as a potential scaffold for metacognitive engagement, but its cognitive mechanisms and pedagogical implications remain relatively under-theorized in regional EFL scholarship. This perspective article examines two guiding questions: (1) How can translanguaging function as a metacognitive strategy that enhances learners’ planning, monitoring, and evaluation processes? (2) What contextual, pedagogical, and policy-related factors influence the positioning of translanguaging as a metacognitive strategy in Latin American EFL classrooms, and what instructional patterns emerge from this analysis? Drawing on research published between 2015 and 2025, the article integrates sociocultural and metacognitive theory to propose a conceptual reframing in which translanguaging may function as a deliberate regulatory tool that can support learners in externalizing thinking, comparing meanings, and evaluating understanding. The analysis highlights insights and empirical evidence regarding vocabulary retention, reading comprehension, collaborative knowledge construction, and leaners’ autonomy. The analysis also suggests the presence of policy-level ambiguities regarding the role of learners’ linguistic repertoires in EFL instruction. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes pathways for practice, including bilingual learning objectives, prewriting in L1, translanguaging circles, and scaffolded content language integrated learning (CLIL) approaches. This article argues for rethinking EFL pedagogy through a metacognitive lens and calls for policy frameworks that acknowledge learners’ full linguistic repertoires as resources for language learning.