Understanding Translanguaging in ELT: A Review of Chicherina and Strelkova’s Perspectives

Abstract

This research investigates how university teachers and students in Russia who have been using the school’s teaching methods, translanguaging, view the process of English Language Teaching (ELT). An extensive body of literature on ELT’s focus on using English exclusively in the classroom. As a result, much of the empirical work has focused on this paradigm. This study aimed to examine how the incorporation of Russian, the native language of students, may contribute positively to their learning experience. To collect data, the researchers conducted the study on 580 participants in Russia. They used an exhaustive questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of translanguaging. The authors then assessed these responses using ANOVA and reliability tests. The results showed that both teachers and students perceived the use of translanguaging to be useful and efficient. This method helps decrease students’ anxiety related to language learning, makes lessons more interesting, and better enables them to understand. Although the findings are based on self-reported data and are specific to the Russian context, our study provides solid evidence that strict policies restricting the use of English for all teachers might need to be reconsidered. In this study, when translanguaging is used with care, it can improve students’ learning outcomes and support their English language development.