Translanguaging in Multilingual English Language Teaching in the Philippines: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The debate on language preference in English language teaching in a multilingual setting has stirred the traditional monolingual “English Only Policy” in the Philippines. As a result, the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) was institutionalized in 2009. The question still lies as to the multilingual teaching practices employed in the Philippine schools. This study was conducted in order to review the translanguaging strategies of teachers in teaching English in the Philippines. It utilized the qualitative approach using systematic literature review. 14 papers were initially examined using 4 inclusion and exclusion criteria. 7 papers have qualified and selected as samples. The findings of the literature review showed that: 1.) Both natural and official translanguaging are employed in ELT and 2.) Translanguaging bridges the linguistic gap of learner’s L1, L2 and the target language, which in common in a linguistically diverse country such the Philippines. Future researches may look at building a theoretical framework of translanguaging as a language teaching pedagogy in mainstream education.