Translanguaging as Communicative Agency: Bangladeshi EFL Teachers' Professional Identity Work in English Classrooms

Authors

  • Mohib Ullah International Islamic University Chittagong image/svg+xml Author
  • Md. Tohidul Islam Chattogram Cantonment Public College (CCPC), Chattogram, Bangladesh Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.65496/jssme.2026.109

Keywords:

Bangladeshi EFL, communicative agency, multilingual pedagogy, professional identity, translanguaging, translingual professional legitimacy

Abstract

This article examines how Bangladeshi EFL teachers use translanguaging as communicative agency and identity work. Drawing on an instrumental case study of five teachers in secondary, higher secondary and college classrooms, this study investigates how they organise Bangla–English movement during communicative tasks as well as how they narrate that movement's bearing on their professional legitimacy. Also, it explores how students at differing proficiency levels receive it: as scaffolding, as communicative access, or as a dependency risk. Ten classroom video recordings, ten semi-structured interviews and three student focus groups were analysed through classroom discourse analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. Theoretically, it puts translanguaging into dialogue with poststructuralist language teacher identity theory and Bourdieu's sociology of language. The central contribution is translingual professional legitimacy (TPL), an identity position grounding credibility in bilingual communicative effectiveness rather than monolingual English idealism. TPL names what practice already enacts; four empirical indicators make it analytically tractable. Three patterns emerge. Teachers' repertoires are purposeful and functionally differentiated; legitimacy claims form a gradient that institutions mediate and experience alone does not explain; and learners respond differentially by proficiency, unsettling celebratory accounts of multilingual pedagogy. The article reconceptualises translanguaging as communicative agency in Global South EFL settings, with implications for teacher development and language-in-education policy.

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Author Biographies

  • Mohib Ullah, International Islamic University Chittagong

    Dr. Md. Mohib Ullah is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh. A Fulbright FLTA alumnus (University of Georgia, 2012–2013) and IVLP fellow of US Department of State, USA, he was named IIUC's Best Researcher of 2024 in the Department of English Language and Literature, having published in peer-reviewed articles, including Q1 Scopus-indexed and Web of Science journals on AI in language education, critical pedagogy, translanguaging, and eco-orientalism. He serves as General Secretary of Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA) and President of Global Aid for Sustainable Development. 

  • Md. Tohidul Islam, Chattogram Cantonment Public College (CCPC), Chattogram, Bangladesh

    Md. Tohidul Islam is an Assistant Professor of English with fifteen years of dedicated experience in the teaching profession. Throughout his academic career, he has inspired students by fostering deep critical thinking and a genuine love for literature and language. Alongside his teaching, he maintains an active engagement with research, exploring intersections of literature, language pedagogy, and evolving classroom practices, and contributing to scholarly discourse through conference participation and academic writing.  Captivated by the charm of educating others, he also finds joy unwinding through music and film, appreciating narrative storytelling across mediums, while remaining steadfastly committed to academic excellence and nurturing future scholars.

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Published

2026-09-26

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026)

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Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Mohib Ullah, Md. Tohidul Islam (Author)

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How to Cite

Ullah, M. M., & Islam, M. T. (2026). Translanguaging as Communicative Agency: Bangladeshi EFL Teachers’ Professional Identity Work in English Classrooms. Journal of Social Science and Multidisciplinary Enquiry, 2(2), 51-66. https://doi.org/10.65496/jssme.2026.109

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