Translanguaging as an innovated strategy for instruction in english language in comparison to language immersion strategy in subcounty secondary schools in Bungoma County, Kenya

Abstract

Translanguaging is a novel teaching strategy involving the use of one language to teach another language. The role of Translanguaging to create understanding, communicate, disseminate, store and solve linguistic problems and share meaning hence enhance the learning of English has attracted the interest of researchers in the recent past, hence the quest of this research. There are substantial gaps in the knowledge and understanding in terms of the function and extend to which Translanguaging can influence English language instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use and effects Translanguaging as a strategy in comparison to the Language Immersion model in teaching and learning English in sub-county secondary schools in Bungoma County. The objectives of this study were: to establish the languages used by teachers for instruction in English language; to investigate teachers’ use of Translanguaging strategy for instruction in English language; to investigate teachers’ use of Language Immersion strategy for instruction in English language and to compare the effects of Translanguaging strategy with Language Immersion strategy for learners’ achievement in English language in the sub-county Secondary Schools. The study was anchored on the theory of Translanguaging. The philosophical paradigm for this study was positivism. The mixed methods convergence research design was employed. This design combined qualitative and quantitative techniques by use of questionnaires and a quasi-experimental test. The target population was teachers of English and their students. This target population was 16 teachers and 160 students in 16 purposively selected sub-county secondary schools. The study respondents comprised one purposively selected teacher in each selected school, 10 students initially selected through stratified and simple random sampling from 8 schools for questionnaires. Due to the interest that the research elicited among some students, 16 extra students participated in filling questionnaires bringing their total to 96 students for questionnaires. 80 students from another 8 schools were selected for the quasi- experimental test. The total sample size therefore, was 192. The research tools used were questionnaires, and a quasi-experimental test. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data. The qualitative data was categorized under different themes and analysed using both narrative and discourse techniques. The findings revealed that teachers were using Kiswahili as another language to teach English, and that over 75% of the teachers were using Translanguaging as a teaching strategy as compared to those who use Immersion. The research also established that below 25% of the teachers use Immersion to teach English. The quasi-experimental test revealed that Translanguaging enhances Second Language achievement by 15.3125% more than Language Immersion does. The study concluded that the teachers of English commonly use Translanguaging as a teaching strategy despite the current policy guidelines. This study therefore recommends that the Ministry of Education should consider revising the policy on recommended strategies of instruction for English language as a paradigm shift in Language teaching to include Translanguaging.