Translanguaging as Pedagogical Instruction in Indonesian Bilingual and Multicultural Higher Education Programs

Abstrak

Most research in translanguaging has been conducted in western contexts resulting in very little information on translanguaging used in non-western countries, particularly in Indonesian settings. This research fills this gap. This article reported lecturers employing translanguaging as a pedagogical instruction tool in Indonesian higher education. This qualitative study employed observation and semi-structured interviews of three lecturers who taught in different programs. The findings indicated that, as a pedagogical approach, translanguaging facilitated learners’ comprehension of subject matters on one hand and fosters the proficiency of English on the other. Translanguaging is used as pedagogical instructional strategies, procedural purposes, and helping students to understand curriculum content. These findings imply the success of similar programs within similar settings and contribute to the debate of earlier studies on translanguaging. This research recommended that translanguaging may be one of the effective bilingual instructional modes to deliver content to university students.