Translanguaging in an Infant Classroom: Using Multiple Languages to Make Meaning

Numerous theories of development position infants as inherently driven to make sense of the world around them, and the acquisition of language is a fundamental developmental milestone of this period. The purpose of this study was to document the first year of implementation of a Spanish/English dual language program in an infant classroom, using a descriptive, phenomenological research design and qualitative methodology. Translanguaging emerged as a powerful construct that helped us make sense of our particular context, giving meaning to the data and providing a cogent framework to help us explicate our findings. As social novices, the infants in our study were not bound by implicit or explicit rules about what language to use when, with whom, or in what context, and our data highlighted the reality of a multilingual infant classroom in which both children and teachers used language fluidly as they went about their daily lives.