Exploring translanguaging: a case study of a madrasah in Tower Hamlets

This paper is motivated by the empowering experience of one of the authors in a madrasah (private Islamic secondary school) setting where translanguaging was applied as a teaching and learning tool during analytical exegesis of historical sources. This positive experience subsequently provided the stimulus for the authors to explore the wider mainstream potential of translanguaging as a strategy to engage and extend bilingual and multilingual learners. This case study aims to investigate how multilingual competencies in a madrasah in Tower Hamlets, an east London borough, are utilised through translanguaging to teach the core content of the curriculum. Research has demonstrated the positive impacts of bi/multilingual learning in England (Kenner et al. 2008) and America (Thomas & Collier 2002); this case study will aim to expand on previous research by demonstrating how a variety of languages can be and are being employed effectively within classroom environments in the supplementary sector by observing how teachers and students combine and alternate between Arabic, Urdu, Sylheti and English to engage with the curriculum content.