ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how advancement of translingualism has impacted the field of TESOL and English language teaching (ELT). The chapter begins by reviewing major concepts and theoretical contributions of translingualism, providing theoretical articulations on how translingualism contends with monolingual and monomodal conceptualizations of language and literacy. Highlighting the epistemological shift away from the English-only, monolingual perspective in language learning, teaching, and practice, the chapter directs attention to how translingualism, by extension, challenges the way fundamental notions in language education in general, and ELT in particular, such as language, learning, competence, and proficiency are understood and defined. The chapter argues that translingualism’s reconceptualization of these key terms is more attuned to the multilingual realities and emphasizes the dispositional shift that is at the core of this reconceptualization. The chapter concludes by offering suggestions and caveats for both practitioners and teacher educators in ELT to develop a pedagogy and teacher education program that foregrounds translingual orientations in its enactment.
