Translanguaging pedagogical practice in a tutorial programme at a South African university

This qualitative study explores translanguaging pedagogical practices in the undergraduate tutorial classroom at a South African university. The paper reports that tutors and tutees draw from their different linguistic repertoires to make sense of the facilitation of learning in the tutorials. In this process, they decide which languages to use and when and how to deploy them to enhance their tutorial practices. To generate data, tutors and tutees participated in semi-structured and focus group discussions. Translanguaging theory was utilised as a theoretical framework. Data were then analysed using thematic analysis. Findings showed that translanguaging pedagogical practices have the potential to (a) assist tutors and tutees in creating a comfortable space for learning and (b) enhance content understanding and collaborative learning, and (c) could be valuable in decolonising tutorial pedagogies. Tutors indicated that they require specialised tutor training on how to use translanguaging in multilingual tutorials.