Change Through Creative Learning: Toward Realizing the Creative Potential of Translanguaging

Creative expression is not always welcome in educational settings. However, when encouraged, it can open up new possibilities for educational and cultural change. This chapter aims to discuss how a particular form of creative expression called creative learning can serve as a vehicle for more meaningful and equitable learning practices in the classroom, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Creative learning refers to the interrelated processes of developing new and personally meaningful understandings of academic subject matter, and how young people’s personally meaningful understandings can contribute to the learning and lives of others. As the authors describe, creative learning thrives in difference, not sameness, and thereby benefits from drawing on students’ and teachers’ diverse cultural, socio-historical and linguistic experiences. The discussion focuses on how translanguaging, a dynamic process of communication using one’s entire cultural and linguistic repertoire, plays a central role in creative learning. The authors conclude by highlighting future directions and considerations for researchers and educators committed to unlocking the creative potential of translanguaging to promote more just and equitable creative learning experiences for students.