Translanguaging: Towards a strength-based literacy curriculum

In this article we discuss ways teachers might think about extending school-based language practices with home-based language practices for multi-lingual young people. We use an example of middle years aged young Aboriginal people storytelling around a mobile phone using a mixture of their preferred language, Ndjébbana, and English. The concept of translanguaging is defined and discussed, and the article considers how translanguaging transgresses and destabilises language hierarchies, and, at the same time, expands and extends practices that are typically valued in school literacy classes and in the everyday world of communities and homes. We consider the value of student-driven elements in the curriculum and the importance of the speaking and listening modes of the curriculum.