Multilingual practices in EAP/academic literacy instruction

The importance of enabling students to use their full linguistic and semiotic repertoire in their academic activities, particularly writing, as well as the need for EAP practitioners to adopt multilingual practices have been increasingly recognised in the last two decades. This chapter begins with introducing the ‘multilingual turn’, which marked a paradigm shift in language education. I then clarify various terms and concepts, as in some contexts, the terms ‘plurilingualism’ or ‘translingualism’ are preferred to multilingualism. Key terms and concepts are then clarified, acknowledging that in certain contexts, terms such as ‘plurilingualism’ or ‘translingualism’ may be preferred over ‘multilingualism’. The discussion then turns to translanguaging as a multilingual practice in educational contexts and the barriers to its implementation in higher education settings. A review of studies into the implementation of translanguaging in EAP instruction is presented. The chapter concludes with a set of recommendations for EAP practitioners seeking to integrate multilingual practices into their courses.