Scaffolding reading comprehension for engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology – A translanguaging framework

Abstract

The study examines the cognitive affordances of translanguaging as a resource for scaffolding Engineering texts written in English for English Additional Language (EAL) students in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DEECE) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. It focuses mainly on the reading and task-related experiences and performances of students working with academic English and multilingually scaffolded (translanguaged) Engineering text settings. With this, the study consists of three phases guided by a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach, i.e., an exploratory phase and two experimental phases. These phases were constituted by focus-group discussions with interviews, questionnaires, and reading comprehension tests.