Venue: Ponderosa Commons Oak House, Multipurpose Room 2012
All welcome. Light refreshments will be provided.
This talk will take place on the traditional, unceded, and ancestral territories of the Musqueam people.
LLED Research Seminar presents:
Maureen Kendrick, Margaret Early, Amir Michalovich, Denise Blanch, Jonathan Ferreira
Language and Literacy Learning Among Refugee Background Children and Youth in Canadian Classrooms
Our research focuses on identifying and addressing the language and literacy needs of refugee background children and youth in Canadian classrooms. In this presentation, we highlight the component of our SSHRC-funded study that addressed the research question: What do key stakeholders identify as the unique language and literacy learning needs and resources of refugee background learners in Canadian schools? This study overall adopts an ecological perspective on language and literacy learning, drawing methodologically on research in ethnography (Barton & Hamilton, 1998) and multimodal ethnography (Kendrick, 2016). Our data for this presentation are derived from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders in one school district. Thematic analysis using NVivo was undertaken and the researchers conferred regarding the emerging themes and refined the categories constructed. The findings are summarized in two emergent visual models showcasing resilience and success, with a focus on language and literacies attainments for refugee background children and youth. The results revealed considerable “diversity within diversity” concerning learners, and implications are discussed.
Maureen Kendrick is a Professor of Literacy Education in LLED. Her research examines literacy and multimodality as integrated communicative practices, and addresses a range of social and cultural issues in diverse contexts. She has a particular interest in visual communication. Her current SSHRC-funded research project focuses on the language and literacy learning needs of refugee background children and youth in Canadian schools.
Margaret Early is an Associate Professor in the Department of Language and
Literacy Education. Her research addresses English Language Learners’ development of language, literacy, and content knowledge in K-12 multilingual schools, most recently with a focus on language and literacy learning among refugee background students.
Amir Michalovich is a PhD student in LLED. His doctoral research employs participatory video with youth from refugee and immigrant backgrounds to make visible their language and literacy resources, practices, and challenges. His interests include multimodal literacies, media literacy, qualitative data analysis, classroom interaction, language education, and arts-based research.
Jonathan Ferreira an M.A. student in Literacy Education. He is presently carrying out research on the affordances of multiliteracies and play-based pedagogies to support language and literacy education of learners from refugee backgrounds in Canadian elementary classrooms. His research interests include critical literacy, multimodality, multiliteracies, and play-based approaches to English language teaching/learning.
Denise Blanch has been teaching English for over fifteen years and has worked with primary, secondary and adult learners in EFL and ESL contexts. She is currently undertaking a TESL MA in LLED. Her research interests are affective pedagogy, multimodality, multiliteracies, multilingualism and intercultural education. Her research focuses on buddy reading (K and Gr. 6/7) among refugee background learners in an elementary school.