Transforming adult L2 education through translanguaging and multimodal co-creation across the classroom and the museum

Educational linguistics is increasingly focusing on holistic approaches; however, research involving adult migrants remains scarce, particularly regarding translanguaging pedagogy and arts-based methods. This study addresses this gap by describing the project "Io vado al museo" ("I go to the museum"), a collaboration between an university in Italy and a local museum. The project involved a group of learners in museum-based interactions with artworks and the subsequent classroom production of artifacts as creative responses to themes encountered at the museum. These artifacts eventually became formal museum objects through the creation of a virtual museum on izi.TRAVEL. Adopting a qualitative critical ethnography, data were collected through student focus groups, teacher interviews, and the analysis of the artifacts. Findings demonstrate a positive impact across four dimensions: linguistic, personal/affective, social, and civic/democratic.