New Publication: Sustaining Translanguaging Pedagogies: Teacher-Learners' Approaches Towards L2 Motivational Development in the Thai EFL Context
Alexander Tang
➡️ My first qualifying paper, co-authored with my doctoral advisor, Dr. Betsy Gilliland, is now published in the International Journal of Applied Linguistics. I want to thank Betsy for adopting me as her academic child two years ago and taking me to Thailand with her to supervise practicum students in the Isan region. It was a very memorable and transformative experience, and I got to learn a lot about the Isan region (which borders my mom's hometown in Laos)!
📝 The article is about sustaining translanguaging pedagogies in an international practicum. In particular, we focus on four focal teacher-learners. Together with the teacher-learners, we read, talked, and reflected on translanguaging pedagogy. Through reflection meetings, the teacher-learners utilized various funds of knowledge in their teaching, reflecting on their students' first language. One of the major takeaways is how a student's first language in the multilingual classroom could be used as a resource for meaning-making and L2 motivation. We hope that our teacher research can assist supervisors in similar practicums with sustaining translanguaging pedagogies and L2 motivational development in multilingual classrooms.
🙏🏼 We would like to thank Professor Kevin W. H. Tai for guiding us throughout the editorial process, and for inviting us to contribute to this special issue on translanguaging, medium of instruction, and LX learning motivation. We would like to also thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their constructive comments and Dr. Christina Higgins for providing feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript. In addition, we thank Ayano Kawasaki and Ruge Zhao for their collaboration on the practicum interviews and reflection meetings, as well as Isan University for providing us the opportunity to conduct our teacher research too. We would like to also thank Assistant Professor Suttipong Permpoon for providing assistance with Thai translations. Lastly, I would like to thank Jisei, Sampalok, Trixie, and Rose for their time and dedication, and for trusting me with supervising them during the practicum.
This research was supported in part by the 2024 University of Hawaiʻi Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Award, 2024 Consortium on Graduate Communications Research Award, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa SLS Graduate ʻOihana Maikaʻi Fund.
The article can be found online (and also attached in this email):
Tang, A. F., & Gilliland, B. (2026). Sustaining translanguaging pedagogies: Teacher-learners' approaches towards L2 motivational development in the Thai EFL context. International Journal of
Applied Linguistics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.70309
Mālama pono,
Alex
Graduate Assistant, Center for Language & Technology and National Foreign Language Resource Center
College of Arts, Languages, and Letters
Isbell, D. R., Choe, A. T., Holden, D., Kawasaki, A., Kim, J., Kim, Y., McGehee, M., Nishizawa, H., Park, L., & Tang, A. F. (forthcoming). Investigating Duolingo English Test washback: A focus on test preparation activities. In B. Naismith, A. A. von Davier, J. Burstein, & G. LaFlair (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of digital language assessment: Innovations and insights from the Duolingo English Test. Routledge.
Tang, A. F., & Gilliland, B. (2026). Sustaining translanguaging pedagogies: Teacher-learners' approaches towards L2 motivational development in the Thai EFL context. International Journal of Applied Linguistics. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.70309
Tang, A. F., & Roubinek, N. (2026). Reimagining support systems for Asian-American scholars: A duoethnographic account. In E. Trinh & S. Jang (Eds.), Beyond the academic pipeline for Asian scholars: The power of care, healing, and alternative pathways in language education (pp. 86–105). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003623151
Tang, A. F., & Roubinek, N. (2026). Review of the book Teaching Pride Forward: Building LGBTQ+ Allyship in English Language Teaching edited by Ethan Trinh, Kate Mastruserio Reynolds, and James Coda. Journal of Language, Identity, & Education, 25(4), 1389–1391. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2025.2523895
Tang, A. F., & Honeycutt, D. B. (2026). Multiliteracies for generative artificial intelligence-
assisted digital multimodal composing: A technology-in-practice approach. Language Learning & Technology, 30(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73671
Tang, A. F., & Pentón Herrera, L. J. (2025). Integrating affective knowledge into TPACK: A new visual representation. Technology in Language Teaching & Learning, 7(2), Article 102852. https://doi.org/10.29140/tltl.v7n2.102852
Tang, A. F. (2025). Review of the book Multimodal Conversation Analysis and Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis: A Methodological Framework for Researching Translanguaging in Multilingual Classrooms by Kevin W. H. Tai. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 28(8), 1026–1028. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2025.2528970
Song, D., & Tang, A. F. (2025). Exploring AI-assistance in L2 Chinese writing with standardized assessment tasks. Language Learning & Technology, 29(2), 161–189. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73615