Manifestations of an expert teacher’s practical theory of language pedagogy in translanguaging situations in early childhood education and care

Abstract

This case study explores how an expert teacher’s practical theory of language pedagogy is manifested in translanguaging situations involving the use of multilingual children’s home languages in early childhood education and care. Practical theory encompasses teachers’ views of good teaching in relation to values, aims and principles. We applied nexus analysis to observation data, analysed interactions in translanguaging situations involving multilingual children’s home languages and related them to the teacher’s practical theory of language pedagogy. The main result was that some principles and aims, such as pedagogical tact, were variously manifested in different situations, while others, such as utilising children’s language expertise, stayed the same across situations. Furthermore, multiple principles and aims from a practical theory can affect even activities of short duration. The results also show that translanguaging occurred both in teacher- and child-initiated situations, implying a dual locus of power when using the children’s home languages. The expert teacher’s practices were mostly in line with how she had previously verbalised her practical theory. The findings point to the importance of enhancing reflection on the dynamic relationship between practical theory and situational practices in both pre- and in-service teacher training.