TRANSLANGUAGING IN HIDING: English-Only Instruction and Literacy Education in Nepal

Using a historical perspective and assessing current sociopolitical contexts behind language policy in Nepal, this chapter describes how specific power dynamics among languages in a certain multilingual context uniquely shape translanguaging in that context. The chapter shows that having evolved from a language of social privilege, English is increasingly imposed as the only medium of instruction, preventing teachers and students from using resources of local languages and also rendering other international languages irrelevant. It offers a few specific strategies that could be adapted in other contexts, urging educators to focus on particular “translingual conditions” before promoting translanguaging as it is.