Developing Thai learners' CIC through translanguaging in one-on-one English tutorial sessions

Abstract

This article presents a conceptual paper, which proposes a concept of employing translanguaging as a pedagogical tool to promote the learners’ CIC – Classroom Interactional Competence, which lies at the heart of learning. The aim of the concept is to bridge two practices of monolingualism between Thai teachers who teach English through Thai only and native speakers who use English only. Translanguaging reflects reality in terms of using both languages to interact to improve the interactional competence of the learners. When both the teachers and the learners translanguage in the classroom, ‘translanguaging space’ is established. This means boundary lines of the two languages are blurred and become so permeable that the learners are able to step in the space and utilize it to make their own ‘space of learning’ through interactions with the teachers. This concept implies that the more the learners interact with the teachers, the more they learn English. Thus, if the learners’ CIC develops in translanguaging classroom context, it can be argued that translanguaging promotes Thai learners’ CIC, which is seen the same thing as the progress of learning. The paper introduces the concept, reviews literature on translanguaging and CIC, discusses conceptual framework, and proposes significant issues in conducting a future study.