Abstract
Bilingual and multilingual academic readers in monolingual programs worldwide -whose first language is not English - typically experience comprehension difficulties with English texts. This paper identifies poor reading achievement as a pressing problem among multilingual students in South Africa. It complements the growing body of translanguaging scholarship challenging English-only norms in Higher Education by experimenting with fluid practices in an academic reading development intervention. The investigation addresses how literacy instructors could enrich reading university English texts within linguistically diverse higher education settings and push academic performance through a translanguaging stance and pedagogy. The study drew from sociocultural, heteroglossia, and translanguaging fluidity theories using mixed methods. The writer proposes alternative pluralistic practices that respect students’ identities, open spaces for heteroglot voices, and simultaneously use multiple languages to improve text comprehension and concept knowledge. Translanguaging integrated languages into one meaning-making system while deepening readers’ awareness of the different languages, including the English of the text. This humanising approach provided a safe space for first-year students whose languages and cultural repertoires were validated, legitimised, and mobilised in their academic learning. The study concludes that translanguaging gives bi/multilingual readers an edge in academic reading and is recommended.