KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION

Adapting mainstream learning environments to and for learners from migrant backgrounds: Making digital and linguistic knowledge links

An International Research Network/ReN for AILA

Convener:

Dr. Shelley Taylor

Western Univerity

taylor@uwo.ca

Co-convener:

Dr. Saskia Van Viegen

York University

saskiast@yorku.ca

Title of the Symposium for our ReN (2021)

New dynamics for new cultural, linguistic and digital realities: Adapting mainstream learning environments to and for migrant learners

Summary

Knowledge production that is unrelated to real-world problems requiring urgent attention and alternate frames of reference has been likened to structures that are decontextualized, depoliticized and colonial (Lorente, 2019). Learning environments with decontextualized, depoliticized structures are ill-equipped to meet migrant learners' needs. Researchers have called for empirical work that supports educator initiatives to meet migrant learners' needs in mainstream educational settings; however, such initiatives meet resistance and are under-explored despite growing affordances of 4.0 technology linking people, information and digital supports. This Symposium highlights responses to the real-world needs of educators seeking to adapt mainstream instructional settings to migrant learner needs while drawing on their cultural/linguistic strengths and resources, and technological innovations. This alignment of mainstream and alternative knowledges adds a new dynamic to knowledge production, reflecting real-world language use in societies, and migrant learners' plurilingual/pluricultural backgrounds. The two featured speakers in our ReN's symposium, Gee Macrory and Jim Cummins, and the other contributors, address the types of re-imagining needed.

The first featured speaker, Gee Macrory, discusses the transnational use of technology to enable primary school-aged children of migrant backgrounds to work together, sharing and co-developing knowledge. The second featured speaker, Jim Cummins, discusses research involving software used by European and North American educators to reflect and support migrant learners' knowledges in mainstream settings. The other participants' contributions provide cutting-edge, international perspectives on how to develop and support the adaptations to learning environments needed in changing times when population shifts challenge educators' preparedness for meeting all learners' needs.

Plenary speakers

Dr. Gee Macrory, Manchester Metropolitan University, " Using video-conferencing to maximise engagement in foreign language learning by ethnic minority groups in two English primary schools"

Dr. Jim Cummins, University of Toronto, "Challenging the Pedagogical Divide: Mobilizing the Affordances of Digital Technology for Teaching Minoritized Multilingual Students"

TITLES OF TALKS & PRESENTERS

BLOCK 1 – Morning

featured talk- I (8.30-9.00 am)

Using video-conferencing to maximise engagement in foreign language learning by ethnic minority groups in two English primary schools

Gee Macrory – G.Macrory@mmu.ac.uk
Visiting Research Fellow, Faculty of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK)

STANDARD MULTIMODAL PRESENTATIONS (9.00-10.00 am)

Trans ‘lingual’ Approaches: Multimodal, Multilingual and Transcultural Pedagogies to Support Students from Refugee Backgrounds in Third-Tier City K-12 Classrooms

Burcu Yaman Ntelioglou – nteliogloub@brandonu.ca
Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Brandon University (Canada)

The role of culture when teaching French as a foreign language in primary school in Denmark. Eurocentric or francophone perspective?

Stephanie Löbl – s.lobl@hum.ku.dk
PhD Fellow, University of Copenhagen, Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

Digital Multimodal Composing in Popular New Media Genres: Possibilities for Second/Additional Language Learning

Amir Michalovich – amir.am880@gmail.com
PhD Candidate, Language & Literacy Education, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (Canada)

10:00-10:30 am – Coffee break

BLOCK 2 – Morning

STANDARD MULTIMODAL PRESENTATIONS (10.30-11.50 am)

Translanguaging pedagogies with youth from refugee backgrounds

Saskia Van Viegen – saskiast@yorku.ca (saskiastille@gmail.com)
Assistant Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University (Canada)

Nickesha McGregor – ntm1978@my.yorku.ca,
Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, York University (Canada)

Jaslyn Prihar – priharjaslyn@gmail.com
Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, York University (Canada)

Learning-through-translanguaging in monolingual school policy contexts

Kirsten Rosiers – Kirsten.Rosiers@ugent.be
Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Department of Translation, Interpreting & Communication, Faculty of Arts & Philosophy, Ghent University (Belgium)

Stef Slembrouck – Stef.Slembrouck@ugent.be
Professor, Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts & Philosophy, Ghent University (Belgium)

Youth refugees at the postsecondary level: Writing/righting their stories through multimodal products

Shelley K. Taylor – taylor@uwo.ca
Professor, Faculty of Education, Western University (Canada)

Kate Paterson – kpaters8@uwo.ca
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, Western University (Canada)

Yasmeen Hakooz – yhakooz@uwo.ca
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, Western University (Canada)

Wenmin Liang – wliang43@uwo.ca
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, Western University (Canada)

Bapujee Biswabandan – bbiswab@uwo.ca (bapujee.biswabandan@gmail.com)
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael's Hospital & University of Toronto (Canada)

Youth Return Migration (US-Mexico): Students & Citizenship in Mexican Schools

Colette Despagne – colette.despagne@gmail.com
Professor, Ciencias del Lenguaje Department, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma De Puebla/BUAP (México)

11:50 am -1:30 pm – Q & A from morning talks, Lunch & AILA Plenary

BLOCK 3 – Afternoon

featured talk- II (1.30-2.00 pm)

Challenging the Pedagogical Divide: Mobilizing the Affordances of Digital Technology for Teaching Minoritized Multilingual Students

Jim Cummins - jcummins320@gmail.com
Professor Emeritus, Centre for Educational Research on Language and Literacies (CERLL), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto (Canada)

STANDARD MULTIMODAL PRESENTATIONS (2.00-4.00 pm)

Digital ‘Me Mapping’ with Newcomer Youth & Their Future Teachers

Antoinette Gagné – antoinette.gagne@utoronto.ca
Associate Professor & Associate Chair of Student Experience, Department of Curriculum Teaching & Learning, OISE/University of Toronto (Canada)

Normalizing multilingualism in school: Preparing mainstream teachers for multilingual
practices

Ester de Jong – edejong@coe.ufl.edu
Professor & Director, School of Teaching & Learning, University of Florida (USA) Past President, TESOL International Association

Lessons Learned from Educators Working with Refugee Background Students

Margaret Early – margaret.early@ubc.ca
Associate Professor, Language & Literacy Education, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (Canada)

Maureen Kendrick – maureen.kendrick@ubc.ca
Professor, Language & Literacy Education, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (Canada)

4:00-5.00 pm – Coffee break

BLOCK 4 – Afternoon

STANDARD MULTIMODAL PRESENTATIONS (4.30-5.50 pm)

Developing a co-languaging pedagogy: the role of a multilingual digital learning tool called Binogi/Studi

Emmanuelle Le Pichon-Vorstman – e.lepichon@utoronto.ca
Assistant Professor & Head of the Centre de recherches en education franco-ontarienne (CREFO), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto (Canada)

Dania Wattar dania.wattar@utoronto.ca
PhD Candidate, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto (Canada)

Jim Cummins – jcummins320@gmail.com
Professor Emeritus, Centre for Educational Research on Language and Literacies (CERLL), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto (Canada)

Defying decontextualization, depoliticization and colonialism in plurilingual Brazil: Narratives
of fourth-generation Nikkei Brazilians

Mitsuyo Sakamoto – mitsuy-s@sophia.ac.jp
Professor, Department of English Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University (Japan)

Return Migration: A Spanish Literacy Program for Transnational Students in Puebla, Mexico

Coral Buitrón – coralbuitronh@gmail.com
PhD Candidate, Ciencias del Lenguaje Department, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma De Puebla/BUAP (México)

Mainstream learning environment as a contested space: Immigrant youth’s perceptions of high
school content classrooms in a U.S. public school

Peter de Costa – pdecosta@msu.edu
Department of Teacher Education & Department of Linguistics, Languages & Cultures (joint appointment), University of Wisconsin (USA) Co-editor of TESOL Quarterly

Hima Rawal – rawalhim@msu.edu
University of Wisconsin (USA)

5:50-6:00 pm – Q & A from afternoon talks