Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 621
18th International Conference of the Asia Association of Computer-Assisted
Language Learning (AsiaCALL–2-2021)
The Importance of Translanguaging in Improving
Fluency In Speaking Ability of Non-English Major
Sophomores
Tran Thi Thu Ha1 - Thach Thi Ngoc Phan1* - Tran Hoang Anh1
1
Language Institute, Van Lang University, Vietnam
Corresponding author. Email: thach.ptn@vlu.edu.vn
*
ABSTRACT
This observational study aims to investigate the use of translanguaging to foster speaking fluency development
among students at a university in the south of Vietnam. A total of individual 70 sophomores were tracked over
eight weeks and studied in 4 modules conducted in a translanguaging instructional context. The findings suggest
that the students had a positive experience with the lesson that included translanguaging resources and did
promote students' speaking ability. Their use of L1 is reported to be a supportive approach in increasing their
confidence and fluency in communication when learning English. Also, the results indicate that the students'
language in the English lesson contributed to a positive change in behavior, engagement, and motivation. The
implication of this study suggests that there is a need for more focus to be put on the use of a blending approach
when teaching and learning the English language. In addition, teachers need to be formally trained in using
translanguaging and supported in their use of translanguaging in alignment with current language policies and
programs.
KEYWORDS: Speaking fluency, translanguaging, low level, motivation
1. INTRODUCTION
Fluency in English speaking is often defined as a
high degree of proficiency in English- the fluency of
an educated native speaker [22] or an automatic
procedural skill [5] or the features which give the
speech the qualities of being natural and normal,
including native-like use of pausing, rhythm,
intonation, stress, rate of speaking, and use of
interjections and interruptions [19]. According to
those definitions, the students can only achieve
fluency when they devote time to practice, fulfill the
assessment needs, and repeat the activity in the
limited time constraint [3.16]
Fluency in speaking English is not only a
communicative need but also a work-quest.
Therefore, making a foundation and improving
fluency in English speaking skills of the students,
who mainly learn receptive skills, is a quest in any
university program. Mckay and Brown [14] mention
the two steps to develop English as an international
language (EIL) fluency: teaching the students the
strategies for handling linguistic and cultural
differences in various contexts and then encouraging
the performance of those languages (mentioned in
step 1) in groups, pairs, task-based activities so that
1
Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 621
the students will learn the skills necessary to
communicate effectively. This is achievable but
needs many efforts since the students face many
troubles ranging from their own characteristics, their
linguistic levels, and their adaptation to the learning
environment. To build the students’ fluency ability,
especially with low level students, translanguaging is
considered as one of the effective strategies that can
help.
careful preparations. Some often keep quiet due to
their shyness or fear of losing face. About the
student’s anxiety, Horwitz and Young [9] described
that anxiety is an obstacle when we are learning
foreign languages and trying to speak up. However,
learningenvironment-relatedd difficulties do not
completely hinder students from speaking [23].
Those psychological difficulties just play roles as
reluctant factors which may (or may not) affect
students' speaking abilities to a certain degree.
2.2. Motivation
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The students’ language performance is influenced
by many elements. As Stokols [20] said, "on the basis
of the social-ecological model, an individual's
behavioral choices are affected through the dynamic
interplay between individual characteristics and
environmental features."
2.1. Speaking Difficulties
There are many elements that cause the student’s
speaking difficulties. The primary difficulty is the
students’ linguistic backgrounds. They often refuse to
practice and speak English in class partly because of
their linguistic backgrounds. According to Lukitasari
[13], linguistic problems like pronunciation,
grammar, and vocabulary hinder students from
speaking English well in class. The most common
difficulties that the students are afraid of include
knowledge
about
new
vocabulary,
their
pronunciation, grammatical structures, and how to
put words appropriately to form sentences while
speaking. Liu [12] also has the same opinion when
explaining the fact that some students are reluctant to
speak due to anxiety. It may be caused by low
English proficiency, lack of practice, competition,
and tasks difficulty. It is especially true with
non-majored students, who are not familiar with
using English at high schools and have no or little
interest in English in comparison to their major.
Besides the trouble in the level of background
knowledge, the students' own characteristics also
influence their speaking, such as their own
personality, and their level of anxiety. Thee
psychological matters, Park and Lee [21] agree that
those matters play an important role in affecting
students’ speaking performance. Depending on their
own manners, the students have different styles of
living, and thus, different styles of learning,
especially in speaking. Some are always ready to
speak out the target language. Some need time for
Students’ motivation in learning English
correlates significantly to the students’ speaking
competence [6]. There are two main kinds of
students’ motivation: Integrative and Instrumental.
Integrative motivation refers to “an openness to
identify at least in part with another language
community “ [15]. Integrative motivation is mainly
developed by the students themselves with just a little
influence from the environment. However,
instrumental motivation is the one that can be more
easily influenced by educators, as Gardner and
Masgoret in Nawaz [17] define - the desire from
learners to get a social and economic reward, like
getting a good salary or getting into college.
Therefore, what the teacher can mostly do is increase
the students' instrumental motivation by encouraging
the students' interaction and meaning negotiation
during classes. It has been observed that students who
interact and speak achieve better oral skills in most
cases than those who always keep silent [15].
2.3. Translanguaging
Translanguaging is seen as an effective way to
motivate students to speak and partly help them
overcome the psychological problems they face with
their low linguistic abilities. Originally, Cen Williams
first used the term Translanguaging (in Welsh) to
refer to pedagogical practices in which English and
Welsh were used for different activities and purposes.
Then, Baker [1] translated the term into English as
"Translanguaging." In his definition, he refers to it as
the ability to use the linguistic resources of bilingual
people to make meaning and communicate.
There are two versions within the translanguaging
theory: the weak version and the strong version. In
the strong version, translanguaging prefers to the
ability that the learners build a single linguistic
repertoire by selecting appropriate features. The
educators play an important role in constructing the
language categories, regulating language use,
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 621
maintaining the standard of languages [18]. It is
different from code-switching, as "When the
bilinguals select and deploy their linguistic features
to communicate (translanguaging), it appears as if
they are using two separate codes to communicate
(code-switching). However, code-switching preserves
named
language
categories
intact
when
translaguaging
dismantles
named
language
categories. It means that they learn through social
interactions, and from which they select and deploy
features to make meaning in context"[24].
The benefits that translanguaging can bring to the
students' speaking ability lie in its pedagogy's core
components [8]. The first component is "stance"- a
belief that students' diverse linguistic practices are
valuable resources in developing their levels. The
second is "design"- the design of lessons driven by
the students. The last is "shift"- an ability to make
flexible changes in lessons, based on the students'
feedback. It is also because of translanguaging
pedagogy's interrelated purposes of use [8]: providing
opportunities to develop linguistic practices for
academic contexts, making space for students’
bilingualism, and supporting the students’ bilingual
identities and social-emotional development.
Generally, “a translanguaging pedagogy develops
both of the named languages that are the object of
bilingual instruction precisely because it considers
them in a horizontal continuum as part of the
learners’ linguistic repertoire, rather than as separate
compartments in a hierarchical relationship.” [8]
3. THE STUDY
3.1. Design
The study was designed as a time-series
investigation, in which 70 sophomores studying
English at university, who had already studied 90
in-class periods in modules one and two, were
randomly sampled by the cluster sampling scheme.
3.2. Context and Participants
The participants are studying at Van Lang
University, in their English module three. In the first
and second modules, the students were supposed to
study A2 plus to B1 minus level, with forty-five
in-class periods. In module three, the students were
supposed to study B1 minus level, also with
forty-five in-class periods.
The participants’ levels are mixed, with the low to
medium level of English, around A2, and few
students with B1 minus level.
3.3. Data Collection Procedure
The first questionnaire was delivered to seventy
participants at the beginning of the course with the
purpose of diagnosing the students' current levels and
attitudes toward English speaking.
The in-class teaching and observation is carried
out with the purpose of instructing the students to
practice using translanguaging every time they speak
(both in pairs, groups, and public speaking)
The second questionnaire is delivered at the
course end with the aim of tracking the students’
level of speaking English. There are 69 students
participating in answering the second questionnaire.
3.4. Measurements of endpoints
The primary
speaking ability
is increasing
communicating
speaking.
endpoint is increasing the student’s
in English. The secondary endpoint
the students’ confidence in
with others, especially in public
3.5. Data analysis
Descriptive statistics were run to reveal patterns
in the students’ fluency in speaking ability at the
beginning of the course and tracked their progress at
the end of the course. Percentages were calculated.
The data were tabulated, and teachers' and students'
open comments on the use of translanguaging were
analyzed to add evidence to the quantitative results.
4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. The first questionnaire
In the first questionnaire, the student's current
level of fluency and their confidence in speaking are
studied.
Firstly, in figure 1, although the students’ level is
mixed in the study, the majority of them self-evaluate
themselves in the medium level (51.4%) and weak
(34.3%).
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 621
Figure 1: The English speaking ability
Secondly, in figure 2, the data collected in the
second question is consistent with the first one as the
majority of the students report that they are not
confident in using English.
Figure 3: Ways to express English
To sum up, the data of the first questionnaire
shows that the students are mainly at the low level
and thus do not have much confidence in speaking
out the language. However, they are unconsciously
use translanguaging in their communication.
4.2. The second questionnaire
Figure 2: the confidence of using English
Next, in figure 3, although the way the students
used when facing the problems of their incompetence
in English fluency, nearly 90 percent of them
subconsciously use translanguaging (with the use of
mother tongue, and gesture, posture, objects
descriptions…) to describe their ideas.
In the second questionnaire, the student's
confidence in speaking, their level of fluency when
applying translanguaging, their general speaking
ability, and their future trend to further enhance their
English speaking skills are studied.
To begin with, in figure 4, the majority of the
students agree that their confidence in expressing
English is increasing. To make clear this point,
around 82 percent of the participants report that they
are more confident or fairly more confident with their
English speaking. Moreover, another positive signal
is that, in comparison with the start-of-course
questionnaire, none of them report that they are at the
lowest point of the confidence scale. In addition, the
percentage of the "less confident" and "least
confident," which is even lower than the percentage
of "less fluent" and "least fluent" (as shown in Figure
5) show another benefit of translanguaging that is
despite the student's lower level in fluency, their
confidence in speaking out the target language- one
of the decisive elements to be fluent in this languageis increasing.
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 621
Figure 4: the confidence after the course
Secondly, in figure 5, the participants’ fluency
level is also better due to the use of translanguaging.
Around 73 percent of the participants report that they
have a gradual improvement in fluency (more fluent
and fairly more fluent). The result partly shows that
using translanguaging can help to increase the
student's fluency, but it cannot be effective with all
the students in achieving their linguistic targets (with
25 percent of them showing the vague signal or no
upgrading in their fluency level)
Figure 5: the fluency after the course
Thirdly, the result of the third question shown in
figure 6, which strongly links to the first and the
second question in the second questionnaire, shows
the improvement of the majority in their speaking
skill. In this study, about 80 percent of the students
reveal that their fluency is becoming better than their
level at the course’s beginning. Especially, 11.6
percent of them have approved that they are changing
completely better (they choose the highest mode in
the survey’s scale).
Figure 6: The speaking ability after the course
Lastly, in figure 7, the study also indicates when
reaching a certain fluency level, the students have a
trend of not using translanguaging often and
improving their speaking fluency through linguistic
resources instead. To illustrate this point, when being
asked about how to improve their fluency
performance, the majority of the students agree that
when their fluency is basically formed, they need the
"real" resource (autonomy, interaction, linguistic
inputs) for stable and sustainable development in
their linguistic ability, rather than relying heavily on
a methodical aid, such as translanguaging. For
example, only 26.1 percent of the participants state
that they will continue using translanguaging to
improve their fluency performance, while 76,8
percent of the students state that they will improve
their vocabulary and grammar, and 44.9 percent of
them will improve their speaking skills through
interactions and self-studying.
Figure 7: further improvement methods
To sum up, the data of the second questionnaire
shows a certain positive result of translanguaging in
the majority of the students, especially in their
confidently speaking out the target language, and the
students’ trend of improving their speaking fluency
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 621
through linguistic resources instead of using
translanguaging when reaching a certain level of
fluency in English speaking skill.
5. DISCUSSIONS
At the beginning of the course, nearly four-fifths
of the students are not fluent, and thus, not confident
in speaking English. After the course, there is about
three-fourths of the participants find translanguaging
helpful to their speaking level’s improvement. The
finding in this study is consistent with the ones in
other studies about the ability of multilingual
speakers using translanguaging to shuttle between
languages [4], or the belief that bilingual students can
participate in more situations when allowed to trans
language [7].
Even with those who report that translanguaging
does little or even no help to their speaking level's
improvement, they still agree that they have a slight
improvement in their confidence in expressing
themselves in English, which are believed to lead to
their future improvement in their fluency.
Another finding is that around half to two-thirds
of the students realize that translanguaging is only a
temporary way to help them overcome the fear of
speaking English and be able to speak better. Thus,
they need to have learning autonomy, interaction, and
linguistic input improvement to boost their fluency
performance. It is the same as a result from Lewis,
Jones, and Baker [10] that translanguaging provides
scaffolding and support that can be removed when
children are more advanced in their language
competence.
6. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Translanguaging is used as an effective way to
help the majority of low-leveled students overcome
the fear of speaking English because it boosts the
participants’ confidence. And thus, it can also help to
improve the students’ fluency in speaking.
With the participants reporting improvement, the
educators should depend on the students’ levels to
have adequate use of translanguaging in the class. For
example, at the very beginning of the course or at the
students' low-level stages, translanguaging should be
used more often to encourage the students'
confidence. Then, when the confidence is gradually
built up, the "real" input for the fluent performance,
such as vocabulary, grammar, should be gradually,
continually, and logically added. Moreover, to
maximize the students' fluency, it should be
combined with the students' self-studying and
group/pair studying.
With those who report very little or even no
positive change in their fluency, there is a need for
the teachers to get those students tested, arrange them
into extra classes based on that results, provide them
extra lessons (with more input or repetitive practice).
It is also necessary that they be more autonomous in
their self-studying and group/ pairs interaction.
It is also suggested that another further
time-series investigation with the purposive sampling
scheme should be done to find out the reasons, and
thus suggest some solutions, for the retrogression in
English fluency of the students when studying with
the aids of translanguaging.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors of this article acknowledged the
supports of Van Lang University at 69/68 Dang Thuy
Tram St. Ward 13, Binh Thanh Dist., Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam.
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