A common feature of   English  classrooms in  Government-run  schools in  Kerala  is that  a  vast  majority of children  have  Malayalam as a  mother tongue  and the  teacher of  English,  being familiar with the mother tongue,  regularly  switches from  English to Malayalam to  teach the target language viz; English.  The investigator,  a  teacher  educator  found that  in  most government-run schools,   teachers  of  English,  liberally  translates  words and phrases in  English to  Malayalam and  relies  regularly on ‘local texts’  for  teaching English. Of  late,  a  new  approach to pedagogy viz; ‘Translanguaging’ has captured the imagination of  teachers.  One  reason being that  it  is actively promoted by a  leading organization, ‘Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages’(TESOL). According to its  advocates, ‘Translanguaging’ emancipates  learners from  the adverse  impact of  second language learning pedagogies. Some teachers of English  are of the opinion that ‘Translanguaging’ helps learners  understand the content. They also see no harm in enabling learners  utilizing  their available linguistic  resources to make sense of  a given content  of a  language like  English  which  they  are  trying to learn. The  investigator  drawing on  own experience of   teaching  English for  two decades  have noted that  leading  private  schools in Kerala State,  usually  insist  on  students  speaking in  English  inside the  campus. The  teachers of  English in such schools,  unlike in  government-run schools,  seldom  translates  English words into  Malayalam nor  relies on  ‘local  texts’ in Malayalam. Data collected through interaction  and informal interviews with  students  who have  completed  secondary  level  in   both type of schools  revealed  that  those  who  studied in  private schools which  insisted on compulsory use of  English in the campus  had a  better  command of the language  particularly in  speaking   and  writing unlike those  who studied in Government-run schools.   The investigator  attributes the  difference in  ability  to  two major  flaws  in the pedagogic process employed in Government-run schools. First to the  liberal use of  mother tongue and excessive focus on enabling the learner to grasp the content, secondly the flawed  decision to abstain from teaching vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar.  So the  attempt to  welcome  ‘Translanguaging’  as  a pedagogic  strategy in  classrooms in Kerala, the  investigator  argues is likely to be both a challenge and a fiasco as  it  only   aids  in developing an understanding of  the  content in English  and not in  fostering  a  mastery  in the use of  English.  To overcome  this  challenge,   the  investigator  proposes   a change in existing  Course books which abound in  writings by British and American authors  set in European settings which is  unfamiliar to learners of English  in schools  in  Kerala. This the investigator  suggests should be replaced by  English translations of   content  from  ancient Indian  and  vernacular  literature. Such a  strategy, the investigator affirms will not only make learning English more user friendly by matching the pedagogic strategy of   ‘Translanguaging’, but also help fulfill the  prescriptions  for an India-centred pedagogy  advocated by the National Education  Policy (2020).

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Keywords: Communication, English, Learner, Strategy, Translanguaging.