
Dr. Meike Wernicke
Assistant Professor
she / sie / elle
Bilingual/multilingual education
Critical Intercultural Studies
Decolonizing pedagogies and knowledges
Discourse Analysis
French Language Education
Identity
Language Planning and Policy
Teacher Education
Biography
I am a settler scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at UBC. I am grateful to be able to work and learn on the ancestral, traditional and unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, on whose territory the UBC Vancouver campus is situated. My research is situated at the intersection of teacher education and language learning and teaching and centers on the ideological and discursive workings of language as these relate to education policy, the construction of knowledge and the identities of language learners and teachers. In my work, I draw on critical perspectives and decolonizing/anti-colonial approaches in conjunction with discourse analytic research methodologies to advance equitable language practices in initial teacher education and teacher professional learning.
My research in international contexts has included collaborations at the Centre for Modern Language in Graz, Austria, as well as an international project on “Multilingualism and Teacher Education” at the Universität Hamburg, Germany. In Canada, my research examines the integration of decolonizing approaches and Indigenous ways of knowing and learning in teacher education as well as French language curriculum implementation. My other research projects center on multilingualism in language teacher professionalization and critical understandings of interculturality among FSL teachers in British Columbia, Canada.
I primarily teach courses in the online French Master of Education in Modern Languages and also coordinate this program as well as the Institut de Français – UBC à Québec, a summer institute for French language teachers in Quebec City.
Courses I teach in English and/or French include:
LLED 352 Teaching minoritized languages in BC: French, ancestral and heritage languages – Elementary | L’enseignement des langues minorisées en Colombie-Britannique à l’élémentaire : le français et les langues ancestrales et d’origine
LLED 353 Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language – Elementary | L’enseignement et l’apprentissage de l’anglais langue additionnelle à l’élémentaire
LLED 489 Applied Linguistics for Teachers | La linguistique appliquée dans l’enseignement du français
LLED 520 Theory and research in second language teaching | Théorie et recherche reliées à l’enseignement des langues secondes
LLED 521 Interculturality in Language Education : Theory, research and practice | Enseignement interculturel : théorie, recherche, et pratique
LLED 590 Graduating Paper/Project | Mémoire/Projet final
Projects
2022-2024: SSHRC Grant
A narrative inquiry into the multilingual lives of French language teacher candidates
This study examines how French language teacher candidates understand their linguistic identities in relation to their emerging instructional practices and professional identities, as well as the challenges and supports in validating a multilingual identity as French language educators in Canada.
2020–
Centering the Indigenous Languages Act in Canadian Multilingual Education
This project centers of relationship-building as part of an emerging network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, researchers, and community practitioners who are interested in better understanding of how to center Indigenous languages in official and heritage language education across Canada.
2020-2021: SSHRC Explore Grant
Fostering diversity in scholarship and teaching in a global university community
This study examines internationalization as it relates to linguistic diversity in the university context, specifically the documented constraints faced by linguistically and culturally diverse populations in English-medium higher education settings.
2020-2022: Canadian Heritage
Identifying Requirements and Gaps in French as a Second Language (FSL) Teacher Education: Recommendations and Guidelines
This two-year research project is a partnership with researchers at the University of Ottawa and the University of New Brunswick with the aim to identify ways to better equip new FSL teachers for success in the early stages of their careers.
2018-2021: Hampton Grant
Engaging Second Language Teachers in Intercultural Learning: Towards Greater Self-Awareness and Agency
A study with pre-service and in-service FSL teachers in British Columbia that investigated critical and decolonizing approaches to engaging with intercultural learning.
Selected Publications


















