What Is Translanguaging?
If you teach Italian in the United States, you already know your students bring a rich mix of languages into your classroom. Many speak English at home, others speak Spanish, Mandarin, or even Italian dialects passed down from grandparents. For a long time, conventional language teaching wisdom said: keep the target language pure. English was the enemy. Mixing was a mistake.
But a growing body of research — and the lived experience of millions of multilingual people — tells a very different story.
Translanguaging is the practice of using all of a learner’s linguistic resources fluidly and strategically to make meaning, communicate, and learn. The term was coined by Welsh educator Cen Williams in the 1980s and later developed into a full pedagogical theory by scholars including Ofelia García and Li Wei.
Rather than seeing a student’s English (or Spanish, or heritage Italian dialect) as interference, translanguaging treats it as a resource — a bridge to new understanding. Translanguaging does not mean “anything goes” or abandoning Italian. It means strategically and purposefully drawing on students’ full linguistic toolkit to deepen learning — with the teacher guiding when and how.
Why It Matters for Italian Teachers in the U.S.
The United States is an extraordinarily multilingual country, and Italian classrooms reflect that reality. Consider some of the students you may already have:
Heritage learners who grew up hearing Sicilian or Calabrese at home but never studied Standard Italian formally
Spanish speakers who recognize romance language cognates and grammar patterns
Students of Italian descent who feel emotionally connected to the language but have limited formal exposure
Truly beginning learners juggling Italian alongside English-only schooling
A strict “Italian only” policy can unintentionally silence these students, make them feel their existing knowledge is wrong or irrelevant, and increase anxiety. Research consistently shows that language anxiety is one of the biggest obstacles to acquisition.
Translanguaging, when used intentionally, can reduce that anxiety, validate students’ identities, and actually accelerate Italian acquisition — especially in reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and metalinguistic awareness.
What Translanguaging Looks Like in Practice
Translanguaging is not haphazard code-switching. It is a deliberate pedagogical choice. Here are some concrete examples from Italian classrooms:
Strategic Preview and Review
Before introducing a complex grammatical concept — say, the congiuntivo — allow students a few minutes to discuss the concept in English (or their strongest language). What does “subjunctive mood” even mean? Once they grasp the concept, introduce the Italian form. Comprehension skyrockets.
Bilingual Journaling
Ask students to keep a learning journal where they reflect on what they are learning. They may write in Italian, English, or a mix — the goal is metacognitive reflection. You will often find students naturally begin using more Italian over time.
Heritage Language Validation
When a heritage learner uses a regional Italian word or phrase (e.g., “aggiustare” used in a regional sense), rather than correcting it as wrong, celebrate it: “That’s a beautiful regional expression! In Standard Italian, we say… — but both are authentic Italian.” This builds pride and engagement.
Cognate Exploration Activities
Have students — especially Spanish or Romance language speakers — hunt for Italian-Spanish/Romance Language-English cognates in a reading passage. This is a form of translanguaging that makes vocabulary acquisition feel like a discovery rather than memorization.
Think-Pair-Share Across Languages
When discussing complex cultural content (Italian immigration history, regional cuisine, political structure), especially at the Levels 3, 4 or 5/AP (Intermediate Low through Intermediate High/Advanced), allow students to think and pair in their home language before sharing in Italian. The content knowledge does not need to be acquired in Italian for students to discuss it in Italian later.
A simple rule of thumb: use translanguaging at the beginning of a unit or a lesson to build conceptual understanding or schema, then gradually shift to Italian-only production as the unit or lesson progresses. This is sometimes called a “translanguaging cycle.”
Common Concerns (and What the Research Says)
“Won’t students just use English all the time?”
This is the (my) most common worry — and a fair one. The key is intentional design. Translanguaging does not mean removing structure; it means designing activities where using Italian is meaningful and necessary. When students have a real communicative need to use Italian, they will (well, most of the time anyway).
“My school or program has an Italian-only policy.”
Many institutions do. Not to mention that ACTFL and others recommend the 90% Target Language rule in the foreign, world, or second language acquisition classroom. Translanguaging does not require abandoning 90% TL or Italian-only expectations for student output. You can still expect Italian in speaking and writing tasks while using students’ full linguistic repertoire in comprehension-support, journaling, and collaborative discussion moments.
“I don’t speak my students’ home languages.”
You don’t need to. In fact, positioning students as the linguistic experts of their own home language can be a powerful equalizer in the classroom. You might say: “I don’t know much Spanish, but I’d love for you to show the class what you notice about these two sentences.”
Getting Started: A Simple Framework
If this is new territory, here is a low-stakes way to begin:
Start with one lesson per week where you explicitly invite students to use their full linguistic repertoire in one activity.
Notice what students do. Are they making connections you hadn’t anticipated? Are heritage learners more engaged?
Reflect and adjust. Translanguaging pedagogy is iterative — there is no single correct approach.
Connect with colleagues. The field of Italian language education in the U.S. is increasingly attentive to heritage and multilingual learners. AATI (American Association of Teachers of Italian) has resources and discussions on inclusive pedagogy.
Remember: translanguaging is ultimately about recognizing that your students’ minds do not operate in one language at a time — and that honoring their full linguistic identity makes them better Italian speakers, not worse ones.
Additional Reading and Resources
I just took advantage of a multi-day professional development opportunity on translanguaging offered by UMass Amherst and the Consulate of Italy/Boston. It has been a liberating and fascinating journey and is transforming the way I view each unit in my classroom. If you are interested in doing some further reading, please see below – and don’t forget to let me know about your own thoughts and your own journey!
García, O. & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan.
García, O., Johnson, S. I., & Seltzer, K. (2017). The Translanguaging Classroom. Caslon Publishing.
Creese, A. & Blackledge, A. (2010). “Translanguaging in the Bilingual Classroom.” The Modern Language Journal, 94(1).
American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI): http://www.aati-online.org
ACTFL Position Statement on the Use of the Target Language in Language Instruction (for contrast and context): http://www.actfl.org
Project-Based Italian 