Fostering creative engagement through an integrated multimodal-translanguaging framework in multilingual English classrooms

This study examines how secondary English teachers in Guangdong, China, integrate multimodal and translanguaging strategies to support creative engagement and language development in multilingual classrooms. Drawing on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the research adopts a qualitative case study approach that includes classroom observations, semi-structured teacher interviews, focal student interviews, and analyses of students' multimodal work. Data were coded thematically and triangulated across multiple sources. Findings show that teachers used multimodality to enhance accessibility and interaction, particularly through digital storytelling, collaborative media production, and visual-textual scaffolds. At the same time, translanguaging emerged as a complementary practice that students used to plan, clarify concepts, and build narrative coherence. Evidence of translanguaging appeared in bilingual drafting, multilingual peer explanations, teacher-initiated L1 scaffolding, and mixed-language annotations within multimodal compositions. These practices enabled students to generate ideas more effectively and construct richer English narratives, demonstrating a synergistic relationship between multimodality and translanguaging rather than a series of isolated strategies. The study contributes empirical documentation of how an integrated multimodal-translanguaging framework operates in practice and highlights the central role of teacher agency in mediating these strategies within institutional constraints. Implications include the need for teacher training that addresses multilingual meaning-making, curriculum flexibility, and the development of multimodal literacy.