Abstract:
This qualitative case study investigates how English-medium multilingual
student teachers in a Sri Lankan National College of Education utilize
translanguaging practices and how such practices impact their personal and
professional identity transformation. The study focuses on Tamil-speaking
student teachers who initially struggled to communicate in a Sinhala-dominant
context and how translanguaging enables them to reposition themselves from
linguistically marginalized individuals to empowered, inclusive future teachers.
Five second-year student teachers representing diverse ethnolinguistic
backgrounds participated in the study. Data collection was done using semi
structured interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), and classroom
observations. Content Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) were
employed to examine the participants’ experiences. The analysis revealed that
translanguaging enabled these students to navigate complex power dynamics
between dominant and non-dominant language speakers, facilitating
communication, and identity transformation. Simultaneously, the minority
students demonstrated strong motivation to acquire Sinhala and English
languages investing significant effort to overcome initial marginalization. The
CDA revealed the impact of linguistic hierarchies, particularly the dominance
of the Sinhala language which initially positioned Tamil-speaking students as
“outsiders.” Three participants described themselves as “silent” or “mute” at
the beginning of the course, expressing a desire to return home due to their
inability to communicate effectively. However, Content Analysis showed
a gradual shift in language ideologies, as these students managed to use
their full linguistic repertoires: Tamil, Sinhala, and English, based on the
communicative demands of the context. Further, the findings highlighted
that translanguaging creates new understandings and new spaces for these
student teachers to move between languages, and it makes those “silenced”
voices “heard” in the teacher education context. It was interesting to observe
the tolerance, acceptance, and linguistic complementarity they displayed
towards each other’s language and culture at the end of the course. The
study also suggests that changes are required in current teacher education
programmes to raise awareness of modern pedagogy and practice.
