A systematic review of research on translanguaging in EMI and CLIL classrooms

The past decade witnesses a surge of empirical research on translanguaging in educational contexts of English medium instruction (EMI) and content and language integrated learning (CLIL). This systematic review analyses the methodological development, the theoretical underpinning and research themes of translanguaging in EMI and CLIL contexts. A search of five databases identified 103 publications on translanguging in EMI/CLIL contexts, published from April 2015 to May 2022. Among them, 66 were peer-reviewed journal articles, with research conducted in EMI/CLIL classrooms across various subject disciplines. In-depth analysis identifies five major research foci, including translanguaging practices in pedagogy, translanguaging practices and language ideology, translanguaging practices in teacher-student and/or peer interactions, and the effect of translanguaging practices on language and content learning. The review suggests a need of conducting more empirical research on translangugaing-oriented assessment in EMI/CLIL, the lack of which may lead to unsustainability of the discussions on the issues related to equity, repertoire and creativity in translanguaging pedagogy. Furthermore, more research is needed to explore translanguaging practices in EMI/CLIL with the affordance and constraint of digital practices, considering the increasing integration of digital technologies in learning and teaching. The implications of the findings for methodology, research directions, and pedagogy are discussed.