ABSTRACT
Classrooms in the United States are increasingly becoming “linguistic contact zones”, where students’ language varieties coexist with schools’ dominant English discourses. Translanguaging can act as a powerful tool for students’ literacy learning, and has been employed as a deliberate pedagogical strategy by teachers. However, more research is needed to understand how students themselves engage in translanguaging, specifically in peer learning interactions, where translanguaging can potentially allow bilingual students to use their “liminal linguistic zones as a mediational sense-making tool”. Research has shown that teachers can use translanguaging to facilitate bilingual students’ literacy development in contexts such as bilingual and heritage language schools. Little buddies were introduced to the definitions of the week’s target words and asked to choose their favorite target word and draw a picture about it. During the 45-minute buddy session, big buddies and little buddies were paired up, each week with the same buddy.
