"THE IMPACT OF TRANSLANGUAGING ON STUDENT ASSESSMENT PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW"

Abstract

"In today's increasingly multilingual classrooms, traditional monolingual assessment practices often fail to accurately measure the conceptual knowledge and academic competence of language learners, leading to validity and fairness concerns. While translanguaging - the flexible use of an individual's full linguistic repertoire - is advocated as a pedagogical approach, a systematic, synthesized review detailing its specific implementation and tangible impact on student assessment performance remains elusive, particularly in contexts transitioning towards bilingual education. This systematic review, adhering to the PRISMA 2020 framework and the SPIDER model, examines the implementation and impact of translanguaging strategies on student assessment performance. A comprehensive search was conducted across ERIC, ProQuest, and ScienceDirect, resulting in the inclusion of eight empirical studies (n=8) published between 2014 and 2024. Thematic synthesis revealed that translanguaging is primarily used in two main categories: translanguaging as a learner support tool (e.g., L1 use in brainstorming) and translanguaging as a planned strategy in assessment design (e.g., Dynamic Multilingual Assessment). Key findings indicate translanguaging’s consistent effectiveness in reducing language anxiety, enhancing concept articulation, and promoting fairness, particularly in high-stakes assessments. However, the review identified methodological limitations (e.g., small sample sizes) and a critical lack of evidence from Vietnamese educational contexts. The review proposes a logic model for connecting translanguaging strategies to assessment outcomes and calls for local research. These findings offer specific, actionable implications for practitioners seeking to enhance the validity and equity of assessment practices in multilingual classrooms."