Meike Wernicke

Dr. Meike Wernicke

Assistant Professor

she / sie / elle

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

Culligan, K., Battistuzzi, A., Wernicke, M., & Masson, M. (2023)

Teaching French as a second language (FSL) in Canada: Convergence points of language, professional knowledge, and mentorship from teacher preparation through the beginning years. Canadian Modern Language Review. Advance access. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr-2022-0059

Kunnas, M., Masson, M., & Wernicke, M. (2023)

Stories and counter-stories from French second language researchers. Glottopol-Revue de sociolinguistique en ligne, 39, 212-230. https://doi.org/10.4000/glottopol.4039

Wernicke, M., Masson, M., Arnott, S., Le Bouthillier, J., & Kristmanson, P. (2022)

La rétention d’enseignantes et d’enseignants de français langue seconde au Canada: au-delà d’une stratégie de recrutement. Éducation et francophonie, 50(2). https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/ef/2022-v50-n2-ef07743/1097033ar/

Wernicke, M. (2022)

« M’améliorer, c’est pour le reste de ma vie »: L’importance d’une culture professionnelle dans la formation à l’enseignement du français. In R. Léger & G. Brisson (Eds.), La francophonie de la Colombie-Britannique: Éducation, diversité et identités. Les Presses de l’Université Laval.

Wernicke, M. (2022)

“I’m Trilingual – So What?”: Official French/English Bilingualism, Race, and French Language Teachers’ Linguistic Identities in Canada. The Canadian Modern Language Review, e20210074. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr-2021-0074

Wernicke, M. (2021)

Four ‘moments’ of intercultural encountering. Teaching in Higher Education, 26(7–8), 1130–1140. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1911988

Wernicke, M., Hammer, S., Hansen, A., & Schroedler, T. (Eds.). (2021)

Preparing Teachers to Work with Multilingual Learners. Multilingual Matters.

Wernicke, M. (2020)

Orientations to French Language Varieties among Western Canadian French-as-a-Second-Language Teachers. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 8(1), 165–190.

Wernicke, M. (2020)

Language Teachers on Study Abroad: A Discourse Analytic ‎Approach to Teacher Identity. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language, 8(2), 1–16.

Wernicke, M. (2020).

Constructing “other” identities as French second language teacher. In N. Rudolph, A. F. Selvi, & B. Yazan (Eds.), The complexity of identity and interaction in language education (pp. 43–61). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Wernicke, M. (2019).

Toward Linguistically and Culturally Responsive Teaching in the French as a Second Language Classroom. TESL Canada Journal, 36(1), 134–146.

Van Viegen, S., Wernicke, M., & Zappa-Hollman, S. (2019).

On reconceptualizing linguistic and cultural boundaries in Canadian universities. TESL Canada Journal, 36(1), vi–xxi.

Wernicke, M. (2018)

Plurilingualism as agentive resource in L2 teacher identity. System, 79, 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.07.005

Wernicke, M., & Talmy, S. (2018)

Interaction in qualitative questionnaires: From self-report to intersubjective achievement. Applied Linguistics Review, 9(4), 513–537.

Arnott, S., Brogden, L., Faez, F., Péguret, M., Piccardo, E., Rehner, K., Taylor, S., Wernicke, M. (2017)

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) in Canada: A Research Agenda. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 20(1), 31–54.

Wernicke, M. (2017)

Navigating native speaker ideologies as FSL teacher. Canadian Modern Language Review, 73(2, 1–29).

Wernicke, M. (2016).

Hierarchies of authenticity in study abroad: French From Canada versus French from France? Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(2), 1–21.

Wernicke, M. & Bournot-Trites, M. (2011)

Introducing the CEFR in BC: Questions and challenges. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 106-128.

Wernicke, M. (2010)

Study abroad as professional development for FSL teachers. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 4-18.