The Application of Translanguaging in an English for Specific Purposes Writing Course

The current study examines how translanguaging contributes to college students' English for Specific Purposes (ESP) writing in Taiwan, and how students' multiple linguistic resources, including home languages, target language, and online tools, are utilized to produce quality writing. In this study, college students, aided by online translation software, underwent a translingual writing process that involved tasks from drafting in Chinese, drafting in English, online translation, to revision. The text was then analyzed with an assessment rubric to identify areas of improvement. Comparison of text indicates that translanguaging is shown to have synergistically helped students leverage their multiple linguistic resources to convey more information, express more ideas, while achieving a wider use of general, academic, and idea words. Analysis of the translanguaging writing process also indicates that students engaged in more writing steps, from pre-writing, reproducing, online translation, editing, to revising. Implications from the study indicate multiple benefits from creating a learning environment where translanguaging are encouraged.