This project investigates how teachers and students use and perceive generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in Canadian post-secondary English for Academic Purpose (EAP) programs. It will inform research and sector-specific guidance on GenAI integration, EAP pedagogy, and student learning. A key output will be an online teacher-focused community of practice platform that will feature emerging research, an online GenAI toolkit, and opportunities for ongoing critical discussion.

This project aims to investigate, document, and share insights into the largely undefined teacher and student uses of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) within Canadian post-secondary English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs. This study will inform research in post-secondary GenAI use, international student integration and EAP pedagogy. It will support the development of sector-specific guidelines for GenAI integration that will help fuel the competitiveness of Canada's post-secondary EAP sector. One of this project's important outputs will be a website designed to cultivate a teacher-focused community of practice (CoP) that will be developed through the study. This website, which will include an interactive community platform, will share emerging research, GenAI resources in an online toolkit, and will facilitate ongoing critical discussion of GenAI's role within post-secondary EAP education.

The three objectives that animate this project are:
1. To examine and define teachers’ uses of and beliefs about GenAI in post-secondary EAP teaching and learning;
2. To examine and define students’ uses of and beliefs about GenAI in EAP programs; and,
3. To identify any similarities and distinctions between teacher and student uses of and beliefs about GenAI to inform best practices and curricular innovation in EAP.

Month: May   Year: 2025

Month: Mar   Year: 2029

This SSHRC-funded project Advancing Agency in Language Education project 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: 2027

This 3-year SSHRC-funded project examined how educational technologies were 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” was to examine, document and share the largely unknown ways technology was being used in post-secondary EAP programs. This multi-staged, mixed methods study 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 was 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.

Month: May   Year: 2016

Month: Mar   Year: 2019

LINCDIRE (LINguistic and Cultural DIversity Reinvented), funded through a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, was a project with partners in Canada, the USA, and France. The project was designed to formalize an international partnership to enhance linguistic and cultural awareness, and to develop an online environment to foster plurilingualism in language education practices. The goal of LINCDIRE was to develop ongoing collaboration among institutions with expertise in different language education contexts to develop a plurilingual theoretical framework to guide pedagogical innovation in language teaching and learning. Findings from this multi-phased collaboration continue to inform the Advancing Agency in Language Education project currently underway.

The project included 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 diversity by interconnecting a plurality of languages and cultures. By networking across institutions that have knowledge in language education, LINCDIRE has become a leading voice in the theory and practice of plurilingualism. This collaboration 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.

Month: Apr   Year: 2015

Month: Mar   Year: 2019