Mobilising multilingual and multimodal resources for facilitating knowledge construction: implications for researching translanguaging and multimodality in CLIL classroom context

Abstract

The articles in this special issue of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development highlight three significant areas of research that have evolved in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) education: (1) the implementation of translanguaging pedagogy and the use of multimodal resources in scaffolding content and language in CLIL classrooms, (2) CLIL teachers’ awareness of the pedagogical philosophies of multilingualism and translanguaging, and (3) the role of multimodality in CLIL assessments. This commentary will begin with a discussion of the articles in this special issue and draw out key theoretical and methodological themes. This commentary will advance the field of CLIL education by critically reflecting on the implications of adopting translanguaging as a methodological framework in CLIL research, which enables teachers and researchers to achieve a greater understanding of the meaning-making processes in CLIL classrooms.