Roots and wings: Empowering translanguaging pedagogy with Chinese American bilingual community teachers

This dissertation examines two Chinese American bilingual teachers' translanguaging pedagogy within two Mandarin Language Arts classrooms in a community school. Drawing on a three-year ethnographic study in a Chinese Bilingual Community School, the research addresses two primary questions: 1) How do the two Chinese American bilingual teachers articulate and enact their translanguaging stance in a community school? And 2) How do two Chinese American bilingual teachers’ interactions with students and parents inform their translanguaging pedagogy? Through classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, and artifact analysis, the study documents the evolving practices of Ning and Summer—two Chinese American bilingual teachers—who leveraged their personal and professional experiences and close connections with the community they serve to inform their translanguaging pedagogy with Chinese American bilingual students. The findings reveal that translanguaging stances grow out of teachers’ transnational lived experiences, professional experiences, and critical understanding of their Chinese American students’ translanguaging needs. Moreover, teachers’ translanguaging pedagogy was continuously refined through interactions with multiple stakeholders in the community school. Students’ challenges and critiques led teachers to critically reflect and refine their translanguaging design; parents recognized as co-educators, played a crucial role in scaffolding Chinese American bilinguals’ translanguaging practices in and outside of the classroom. By expanding conceptualizations of translanguaging beyond the classroom and foregrounding community engagement, this study contributes to bilingual and biliteracy education and teacher education in bi/multilingual settings by offering ideological, pedagogical, and theoretical insights on translanguaging for teachers, teacher educators, and researchers.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Jiadi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nuñez, Idalia
• Moller, Karla Jean
• Davila, Liv
• González , Mónica
• Tian, Zhongfeng

• translanguaging
• Chinese American
• bilingual education
• community school

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Jiadi Zhang

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129710

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129710