Episode 6: Using Translation for Language and Literacy Teaching

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In this episode, Sarah, one of our co-hosts, takes a deep dive into using pedagogical translation for language and literacy teaching. Pedagogical translation can be used across ages, language-learning stages, and content-area contexts, so tune in to see how you might use it in your teaching environment.

Episode Resources:

For more information on topics discussed in this episode, please see the following:

OER teacher's guide using translation in the world language classroom (these activities can be adapted for other learning environments):

Incorporating Translation in the World Language Classroom: A Teacher's Guide: https://opentextbooks.library.arizona.edu/scolina/

Transfer of content learned in one language into another (common underlying proficiency):

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5571872/#:~:text=Cummins%20(1981)%20introduced%20the%20idea,L2%20are%20not%20separate%20abilities.

Escamilla et al.'s Así se dice translation activity:

Escamilla, K., Hopewell, S., Butvilofsky, S., Sparrow, W., Soltero-González, L., Ruiz-Figueroa, O., & Escamilla, M. (2014). Biliteracy from the start: Literacy squared in action (pp. 25-26). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing.

Preschool verbal translation activity:

Kultti, A., & Pramling, N. (2017). Translation activities in bilingual early childhood education: Children’s perspectives and teachers’ scaffolding. Multilingua, 36(6), 703-725.

Poetry translation in mixed world-heritage language Spanish class:

Albrecht, S. Pedagogical translation for reading comprehension in mixed HL‐L2 secondary classrooms. Foreign Language Annals.

Pedagogical translation as a culturally-sustaining pedagogy:

Albrecht, S., Hill, C., & Smith, K. J. (2023). Pedagogical Translation as a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Bilingual Language Environments. English in Texas, 53(2), 42-49.