Translanguaging in Fijian ESL Classrooms: Reframing Multilingual Repertoires for English Language Teaching

Abstract

Fiji’s English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms are situated within a multilingual ecology in which learners may draw on iTaukei, Fiji Hindi, standard Hindi, Urdu, Rotuman, and other community or heritage languages alongside English. Yet, the presence of English as a high-value language of schooling can create a tension: learners are expected to develop proficiency in English, while the linguistic resources they already possess may be underused during formal learning. This literature-based conceptual paper brings two studies into dialogue-Shaikh’s quantitative study of translanguaging in a multilingual English classroom in Oman and Hendricks and Xeketwana’s qualitative study of translanguaging in South Africa-to consider what their findings may mean for Fijian ESL education. The paper synthesises scholarship on translanguaging, classroom talk, language ideologies and multilingual learning, and contextualises these ideas within Fiji’s language-in-education history and rich contemporary linguistic diversity. It argues that translanguaging should be considered a planned pedagogical resource rather than an unstructured replacement for English. Suggested practices include multilingual brainstorming, bilingual vocabulary displays, collaborative reading, translation and back-translation, multilingual planning followed by English drafting, and carefully scaffolded oral presentations. The paper also identifies implementation challenges, including unequal language proficiency among teachers, uneven availability of learning materials, assessment expectations, and the risk that some learners’ languages may be privileged over others. Since this is a literature-based conceptual paper and not a report of new classroom data, its recommendations require local empirical evaluation with a proposed research agenda for Fijian ESL classrooms.