Translanguaging as a Bridge Across the Medium-of-Instruction Transition in Tamil Nadu Schools

Abstract

Tamil Nadu has a distinctive language policy. For more than fifty years, the state has kept Tamil and English at the centre of schooling. It has resisted the three-language formula used in most other Indian states. This policy creates a specific problem. Many students learn in Tamil medium through middle school. Then, at the higher secondary level, they move to English medium with little structured support. This study examines how teachers and students handle this shift. It focuses on translanguaging, which involves using one’s full language repertoire in a flexible and purposeful way. The study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. It surveyed 224 students and 42 teachers from eight government and eight private higher secondary schools in three districts. It then used classroom observations and interviews in six of these schools to explain the survey results. Survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression, with a multilevel model to account for students being nested within schools. Interview and observation data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results show that students who studied in Tamil medium in middle school use translanguaging significantly more often than students who studied in English medium. Translanguaging frequency also correlates positively with students’ confidence in English. Teachers in government schools use translanguaging more often, and view it more favourably, than teachers in private schools. Both groups, however, report pressure to use English only. Interview and observation data show four functions of translanguaging: it supports comprehension, it builds social and emotional connection, it faces institutional resistance, and it gives rise to unresolved tension around assessment. The article argues that Tamil Nadu’s medium-of-instruction transition is a valuable, and currently under-studied, site for translanguaging research.