The reading materials from this week and the video presentation demonstrate that translanguaging functions as a liberation method that goes beyond being a classroom teaching tool. Herrera and España (2022) describe critical translanguaging literacies as practices that allow students to “affirm their community language and literacy practices while critiquing unjust social structures” (p. 203). The authors made a strong point that translanguaging pedagogy should be critical rather than merely providing basic support. Teachers should develop specific lesson plans that eliminate student language prejudice by using native languages as academic building blocks.
Their framework of the Temas, Textos, and Translanguaging offered a clear structure for doing this work. The three elements of Temas connect to culturally relevant issues, while Textos offer authentic representation through “own voices” literature, and translanguaging allows students to express themselves through their complete language abilities. The elements establish learning spaces that unite students' personal identities with their language abilities. The way Daniel José Older rejects italicized Spanish (p. 206) stands out to me because it demonstrates how punctuation systems work to enforce identity control. The removal of italics prevents Spanish from being identified as foreign, presenting bilingualism as an organic and unified aspect of communication.
The CUNY-NYSIEB video “Bilingual Superpowers” builds on these ideas by showing how teachers, bilingual or not, can recognize bilingualism as an intellectual strength. Educators who call bilingualism a "superpower" help students see their multilingual abilities as strengths rather than barriers. The concept that monolingual teachers can establish translanguaging spaces through their stance, curiosity, and validation methods impressed me the most. Teachers do not need to speak all their students’ languages; they need to value them. The perspective changes linguistic diversity from an educational challenge into a beneficial resource that supports collaborative learning.
Both the reading and the video emphasize that translanguaging is an act of identity work. The system opposes English-language dominance by establishing English as the dominant language while creating educational spaces for social change. It makes me wonder: How can teachers maintain translanguaging as a liberating and critical practice when English remains the primary success metric enforced by curriculum standards, evaluations, and publication conventions? Can emancipation be institutionalized without losing its transformational power?