Exploring the Role of Transknowledging in Enhancing EFL Learners' Multilingual Competence and Cultural Awareness: Perspectives from Saudi EFL Classrooms

Abstract

This study examines transknowledging as a transformative and epistemically interdisciplinary approach to enhancing multilingual competence and cultural awareness among Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Unlike translanguaging, which mainly focuses on how learners alternate and integrate multiple languages to facilitate communication and comprehension, transknowledging also involves drawing on learners’ local cultural practices, prior social experiences, indigenous knowledge, and discipline-specific perspectives to interpret, negotiate, and produce knowledge in educational contexts. This involved 42 Saudi undergraduates at Majmaah University and 14 international faculty members.  Using a mixed-methods design, data were collected via a 3-point Likert-scale questionnaire with both open- and closed-ended items. Qualitative responses were analyzed using conceptual thematic coding to ensure rigorous categorization and interpretation. Findings reveal that 78.6 percent of Saudi participants reported that their multilingual skills enhanced their core language abilities. In comparison, 73.8 percent suggested that multilingualism engages individuals in ways that break cultural stereotypes. 85.7 percent of the faculty members in the study reported supporting transformative transknowledging practices in their EFL classrooms, and 78.6 percent also reported believing that transknowledging enhances the educational experiences and learning of Saudi students. These findings demonstrate that transknowledging unites language fluency with indigenous cultural knowledge, fostering engagement, global communication readiness, and highlighting the need for institutional commitment, educator training, and curricular innovation to build equitable, epistemically and culturally enriched learning environments.