Translanguaging in Elt: Theoretical Foundations and Pedagogical Implications for Efl Oral Storytelling Among Low-Proficiency Learners in Vocational High Schools

Abstract

Despite growing scholarly attention to translanguaging in Indonesian EFL contexts, its theoretical dimensions and pedagogical implications in oral storytelling tasks at vocational high schools (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan/SMK) remain substantially underexplored. This conceptual paper argues that the multilingual behaviors displayed by low-proficiency EFL learners during oral storytelling are not linguistic deficits but constitute purposeful translanguaging: the fluid deployment of a speaker’s full linguistic repertoire across named languages and semiotic resources (García & Wei, 2014; Otheguy, García, & Reid, 2015). Drawing on translanguaging theory, (Li Wei’s 2011) translanguaging space concept, pedagogical translanguaging frameworks (Cenoz & Gorter, 2022), and (Li Wei’s 2023) transformative pedagogy, this paper examines two interrelated conceptual functions of translanguaging in the SMK EFL oral storytelling context: (1) as learning support, enabling low-proficiency learners to manage the cognitive and communicative demands of oral narrative tasks; and (2) as cultural identity expression, through which learners assert their regional linguistic and cultural heritage within the EFL classroom space. The paper advances a conceptual argument for reorienting EFL pedagogy from a deficit-oriented, English-only model toward an asset-based, translanguaging-affirming approach. Concrete pedagogical implications are proposed for task design, classroom ideology, cultural content integration, and assessment practice in Indonesian vocational EFL settings, with broader relevance for ELT in multilingual peripheral contexts globally.