Title: DEVELOPING SECONDARY TEACHERS’ CRITICAL LANGUAGE AWARENESS AND TRANSLANGUAGING STANCE IN AN ADOLESCENT NEWCOMER PROGRAM: A CRITICAL PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH STUDY

Abbreviated Abstract: This study employed cycles of mixed methods critical participatory action research (CPAR) to explore how content educators in a high school newcomer program conceptualized language in their instruction and developed their critical language awareness (CLA) and translanguaging stance. A new conceptual framework, the Translanguaging Instructional Core, integrated a critical translanguaging perspective into a longstanding educational leadership definition of instruction, and the accompanying Translanguaging Instructional Core Developmental Continuum was utilized as a holistic measurement tool to assist educational leaders in synthesizing multiple sources of data and positioning educators at stages on a continuum between a monoglossic approach and a robust translanguaging stance. The study found that most of the high school content educators developed their CLA and a translanguaging stance through a community of practice that engaged in storytelling, emotional processing, use of figurative language, and both social and internal/reflective experiences grounded in research. Five out of six educators who participated in the community of practice were found to have moved one stage or more along the Translanguaging Instructional Core Developmental Continuum through the experience. This study contributes findings to the underexplored intersection of translanguaging pedagogy, transformative teacher leadership, and multilingual education. It offers practical insights and a new conceptual tool for school leaders, district policymakers, and educator teams seeking to shift away from monolingual norms toward more inclusive, student-centered language policies.