Moving Beyond the Classroom: Translanguaging and Trans-semiotising in Dutch CLIL Classes

Abstract

Following the abolishment of nationally-enforced monolingual policies for Dutch bilingual education, schools are faced with designing their own rules regarding language use in the classroom (Oattes, 2021). In this light, the present study empirically uncovers the current communicative practises of teachers and students in secondary education CLIL classes from the theoretical lens of translanguaging and trans-semiotising. The data (i.e., audio recordings and observation notes) were gathered from biology, geography, history, and physics CLIL lessons in a third year of a certified senior bilingual school in the Netherlands. The findings indicate that teachers use translanguaging and trans-semiotising practises to scaffold content in their lessons. Where subjects in the natural sciences more frequently relied on physical demonstrations, subjects in the social sciences employed temporal methods of scaffolding. The results regarding students’ translanguaging and trans-semiotising suggest that students use these communicative practises to express their identities and roles, and to incorporate humour in the classroom. The current paper concludes by proposing that the implementation of these practises in the classroom might help foster an inclusive environment in which both teachers and students feel validated.