This SSHRC-funded project Advancing Agency in Language Education examines language teacher beliefs and situated language education practices in relation to plurilingual, action-oriented, and technology-mediated approaches across three Canadian provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Alberta). It is being led by Dr. Enrica Piccardo (OISE, University of Toronto) in collaboration with Drs. Geoff Lawrence (York University), Aline Germain-Rutherford (University of Ottawa), and Angelica Galante (McGill University). There are also collaborators and graduate students supporting this project.

Project Goals

To study the beliefs of language educators, along with their knowledge, practices and current realities in order to understand the factors that facilitate/impede the adoption of the action-oriented approach, technology-mediated pedagogy, and plurilingualism/pluriculturalism in the classroom.

To work with teachers to determine which of these factors can be realistically addressed in order to identify and create co-constructed innovative material and professional development to help teachers better align their practice (action-oriented approaches/plurilingualism/technology integration). These supports would be made available through an open access online toolkit.

To examine and evaluate the capacity of the supports in the toolkit to help teachers implement and sustain such curricular innovation in face-to-face, blended, and online classrooms.

Month: Apr   Year: 2021

Month: Mar   Year: 2026

This 3-year SSHRC-funded project examines how educational technologies are being used in post-secondary EAP programs across North America.

The goal of this project “Examining Language Teaching Technology Use in Post-Secondary English for Academic Purpose (EAP) Programs” is to examine, document and share the largely unknown ways technology is being used in post-secondary EAP programs. This multi-staged, mixed methods study has surveyed teacher, administrator and student views towards technology use in EAP along with examining technology-mediated EAP teaching practices and their impacts on varied stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of technology-mediated practices in English language teaching, program design and research, recognizing the needs of increasing numbers of international students in North American post-secondary programs requiring academic English language skills.

LINCDIRE (LINguistic and Cultural DIversity Reinvented - funded through a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant) is a project with partners in Canada, the USA, and France designed to formalize an international partnership focusing on enhancing linguistic and cultural awareness, and to develop an online environment to foster plurilingualism in language education practices. The goal of LINCDIRE is to form a partnership among institutions with expertise in different languages and cultures that can allow for the development of a plurilingual theoretical framework to guide pedagogical innovation in language teaching and learning.

The project includes the design and implementation of an e-portfolio digital environment – Language Integration through E-portfolio (LITE) – which is being used in language classrooms in K-12 and post-secondary institutions to enhance and maintain diversity by interconnecting a plurality of languages and cultures. By networking across institutions that have knowledge in language education, LINCDIRE will become a leading voice in the theory and practice of plurilingualism. This partnership research project has involved a range of international institutions: M’Chigeeng First Nation School, Institute for Innovation in Second Language Education, University of Toronto, University of Toronto Schools, University of New Brunswick, York University, University of Ottawa, Middlebury College and the University of Grenoble. For more information, see: https://www.lincdireproject.org/