Transspråking på yrkesfag: En nøkkel til elevens kompetanse

This article presents a case study of translanguaging in the vocational programme in skin therapy at a Norwegian upper secondary school. The term translanguaging is used to describe a communicative practice and pedagogical approach that enables students to utilise a diverse range of linguistic and semiotic resources to comprehend and communicate themselves. This is deemed particularly suitable for recently arrived minority language learners who are still in the process of developing their verbal skills in the language of instruction. Based on observations and recordings of assessment dialogues, where students used a self-designed model to communicate their competencies, we show how the use of this model, alongside students’ and teachers’ use of gestures, as well as students’ use of several languages, together strengthens students’ potential for communicating, meaning making and learning. The model, the gestures and the use of multiple languages serve to structure and support the students’ communication, memory and language, and have an important interactional function. As such, they provide cognitive, communicative and interactional scaffolding. Based on these findings, we discuss the particular need and potential for translanguaging in vocational education programmes.