The starting point for our presentation is the ongoing international discussion concerning the significance of translanguaging, the underlying view on language(s) and the ontological stance this implies for research and teaching practice (Cummins, 2021; García & Li Wei, 2014; Makoni & Pennycook, 2007). The discussion involves the question of language ideology, views on multilingualism and, as a consequence, which teaching and pedagogical practices are appropriate for supporting multilingual children and students. Central elements concern the question of monoglossic and heteroglossic ideologies, the hegemonic positioning of languages and power relations. In Nordic ECEC contexts, translanguaging as phenomenon has been applied to varying degrees and in various ways in second and multilingual language research (Pesch, 2021). Studies show that educational and language policy guidelines on multilingualism in education seem to be vague and ambiguous and that multilingualism as a concept is promoted in Northern-European education politics, while simultaneously native-like language competence appears as the norm (Alstad & Sopanen, 2020; Giæver & Tkachenko, 2020; Palviainen & Curdt-Christiansen 2020). Steering documents for ECEC involve conflicting discourses with some being characterized by more monoglossic and others by more heteroglossic ideologies. Language ideologies, on which pedagogical translanguaging is based, may be significant for both research and pedagogical practice in ECEC. In our presentation, we discuss the relevance of translanguaging and the connected language ideological debate for Norwegian ECEC. We point out how central elements, as the transfer from translanguaging in specific bilingual classrooms to linguistically diverse ECECs, raciolinguistic hierarchies and the concept of the listening subject and whitness (Flores & Rosa, 2015), need to be contexutalized in the transition from a US-American to a Norwegian and European context. Based on studies applying the concept of translanguaging in the Norwegian ECEC context, we discuss both the potential and challenges that tranlanguaging may bring to pedagogical linguistic practice in superdiverse ECECs on the one hand and on ECECs in Indigenous Sámi contexts on the other hand. While translanguaging practices may be in line with central pedagogical and professional ethical perspectives in the Norwegian ECEC context and bring with them important challenges to the language policy in the Norwegian education system, we also argue for the importance of norm-critical perspectives on translanguaging as pedagogical linguistic practices in ECEC.

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