Talk by Dr Taehee Choi

Translanguaging Among English, the National Language, and Ethnic Languages: Initial Findings from a Participatory Action Research

@KCL Waterloo Campus, Franklin Wilkins Building (FWB) Room 1.17 on 15^th May, 5-7pm.

Dr. Tae Hee Choi will present the findings and key lessons from a British Council-funded project she co-leads, titled “Empowering English Language Teachers to Adopt Multilingual Pedagogy: The Case of Multilingual Nepal” (https://edpolicyresearch.wixsite.com/choitaehee/group/eltra-project-funded-by-the-british-council/about). Historically, Nepali was the sole medium of instruction in Nepal’s schools, but English gained prominence due to its perceived socioeconomic advantages (Choi & Poudel, 2024). Although a new multilingual policy now permits the use of ethnic languages as official instructional mediums, integrating them into the education system has been challenging.

To support this transition, the project team are developing pedagogical models through participatory action research, empowering teachers to implement multilingual practices. The study involved 12 teachers from four public schools across Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Makawanpur districts. These teachers co-planned lessons, maintained reflective journals on their use of translanguaging in various subjects, and participated in regular feedback sessions with the research team.

The findings indicate that the co-constructed translanguaging approach fostered epistemic justice while promoting inclusivity and autonomy for both teachers and students. Despite these successes, several obstacles had to be addressed. This presentation will share the experiences of both teachers and researchers from this transformative initiative, offering insights into the practical application and research process. Additionally, it will explore the broader implications for promoting multilingualism in the face of public preference for dominant languages like Nepali and English.

Reference

Choi, T. H., & Poudel, P. P. (2024). Enactment of English medium instruction in under-resourced educational contexts: A case of multilingual public secondary schools in Nepal. System, 121, 103223.

Bio

Dr. Choi Tae Hee is an Associate Professor at Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, and a Fellow of both the UK’s Higher Education Academy and the US’s East-West Center. She served as President of the Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong (2016–2018) and is currently a Co-Convenor for the Policy Studies and Politics of Education network within the European Educational Research Association (2023–present).

Dr. Choi’s research centres on the intersection of language and educational change, including areas like policy reforms. She has published over 100 academic and professional works, including a book on the outsourcing of English language teaching published by Springer (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-8573-5). Dr. Choi has delivered more than 80 keynotes, talks, and seminars across Europe, Asia, and North America. She also advises international organizations, including the Asian Productivity Organization and the British Council, offering expertise in educational change management, staff development, and curricular innovation.