Translanguaging Practice in the Teaching and Learning of English and Kiswahili in Kakuma Refugee Camp School

Abstract

This study discusses translanguaging practices in the teaching and learning of English and Kiswahili in Kakuma refugee camp school in North Western part of Kenya. The aim of the study was to explore how teachers draw on their students’ entire linguistic repertoires in the teaching and learning of English. This study was guided by translanguaging theory. Through a case study approach, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and unstructured interviews, data were collected and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study show that although teachers use translanguaging in the teaching and learning of English and Kiswahili in Kakuma refugee camp school, they do not utilise it effectively as a teaching pedagogy. The findings of this study are consistent with other studies carried in refugee camps that have indicated that translanguaging facilitates the teaching and learning of new languages used as language of teaching and learning in the host countries. The findings of this study may inform the need to recognise translanguaging as a legitimate teaching pedagogy in the language-in-education policy in Kenya and in refugee camp schools in Kenya.