Abstract
This chapter explores student translanguaging practices in English-medium instruction (EMI) at the University of Padova in northern Italy. EMI can be described as: ‘The use of the English language to teach academic
subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language of the majority of the population is not English’ (Macaro et al., 2018: 37). In line with developments on a national level, EMI has increased rapidly at the University of Padova in recent years, and it now offers 57 English taught programmes (ETPs). In this EMI setting, the relationship between English, the local language (Italian) and other languages is not specified; in fact, no guidelines are provided for lecturers regarding classroom language use. Yet despite the common belief in the benefits of an English-only approach (Chellin, 2018), studies have revealed
that in many EMI classes both lecturers and students activate translanguaging practices (Guarda, 2018). Translanguaging, as explained below, is intended here as the strategic use that multilingual speakers make of
their entire linguistic repertoire so as to facilitate the effective learning of content (Canagarajah, 2011).
The study presented in this chapter involved the observation and audio-recording of six two-hour EMI lessons from different disciplines. The authors chose classes in which they had been informed by lecturers that students would be invited to actively engage in group work or oral presentations, so as to unveil the possible use of spontaneous translanguaging practices. This chapter will focus on the following research
questions:
(1) Which translanguaging patterns emerge in student language
practices?
(2) Which functions do these instances of translanguaging perform?
After illustrating the communicative purposes of translanguaging in the observed lessons, the chapter will conclude with reflections on the extent to which these practices might be determined by the local Italian higher education (HE) context and whether there should be greater attempts to legitimise and foster translanguaging in EMI.