ON SABBATICAL
I am on sabbatical from July 1st, 2023 to June 30th, 2024, with exciting plans for conferences/workshops in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, China and Germany. This is in addition to the continuation of our SSHRC-funded research among public school teachers of French and English as second languages.
See the EDUCLANG websitehttps://www.educlang.ca/en/home/
My graduate thesis supervision and committee work continues.
I am on sabbatical from July 1st, 2023 to June 30th, 2024, with exciting plans for conferences/workshops in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, China and Germany. This is in addition to the continuation of our SSHRC-funded research among public school teachers of French and English as second languages.
See the EDUCLANG websitehttps://www.educlang.ca/en/home/
My graduate thesis supervision and committee work continues.
Douglas Fleming PhD.
Full Professor/ Professeur titulaire
University of Ottawa/ Université d’Ottawa
Faculty of Education/ Faculté d’éducation
145 J.J. Lussier
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
(613) 562-5800 ex. 4151
please email; I rarely monitor my campus phone
[email protected]
Faculty website:
http://www.education.uottawa.ca
GRADUATE SUPERVISION
Regretfully, given my plans to retire in the near future, I am very reluctant to accept new students for thesis supervision. Of course, plans change. In any case, I can only consider supervising students who have research interests very close to mine and have a reasonable prospect of completing quickly. Students seeking supervisors should do their own investigation and consult the faculty website for information about the research interests of my colleagues.
TEACHING
I do not have any teaching assignments during my sabbatical and do not yet know what my schedule is afterwards.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Please note that I do not use Facebook for professional purposes.
I no longer consult LinkedIn and rarely logon to Twitter or any other social media platform.
However, I do make use of the Research Gate and Academic.edu repositories for professional purposes.
RESEARCH
My research focuses on ESL and critical notions of citizenship that are related to second language immigrant and marginalized populations (esp. in terms of social class, race and gender), critical pedagogy, equity, multilingual communities, language assessment, philosophy (esp. Marx and Deleuze) and qualitative research methods.
Prior to graduating from UBC with a PhD in Language and Literacy Education in 2007, I taught for 20 years for the Toronto (Ontario) and Surrey (British Columbia) School Districts.
I teach courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels that focus on current social and political issues in second language research, ESL Language methodology, second language program development, multicultural citizenship education, equity and language policy.
I have worked on professional, curriculum and material development projects for the federal government, numerous NGO’s and school districts. In addition, I have participated in a variety of advisory boards and professional organizations, most notably as an executive member of the Adult Provincial Specialists Association of the British Columbia Teachers Federation.
In addition, I have served as a discussant and reviewer for various academic bodies. I recently sat on the Faculty of Education's Executive, Educational Policy Committee, Faculty Council and Dean Selection Committee.
My full c/v is accessed through the button on the top left of this page.
SELECTED ABSTRACTS
Fleming, D., Waterhouse, M., Bangou, F. & Bastien, M. (2017). Agencement, SLE and Becoming: A Deleuzian Take on Citizenship. Critical Inquiry into Language Studies.
This article makes novel use of the Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts of becoming and agencement to frame qualitative research on how youth from second language immigrant families conceptualize citizenship. Even though our work here is primarily conceptual, we refer to aspects of a previously published study to concretely illustrate these concepts for the reader.
The study in question found that the participants exhibited a mixture of conceptualizations of citizenship, some of which aligned with dominant trends in citizenship education. Other conceptualizations presented dimensions of citizenship that were unexpected and intensive.
In our discussion, we use two& Bastein, Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts to deepen our understanding of the complex relationships between competing discourses on citizenship in the context of second language education. We argue, in short, that becoming and agencement help “disturb” the once axiomatic linkage between citizenship education and the nation-state and challenge clichéd notions of “global citizenship”.
Keywords: Second language learners, immigrant, citizenship, Deleuze, becoming, agencement
Dr. Douglas Fleming; University of Ottawa
[email protected]
Dr. Monica Waterhouse; Laval University
[email protected]
Dr. Francis Bangou; University of Ottawa
[email protected]
Dr. Maria Bastien; Walla Walla University
[email protected]
Fleming, D. (2017). Talking back to second language education curriculum control: From nouns to verbs.IAACS Manifesto Edited Edition. Ibrahim, A. & Steinberg, S. (Eds.), IAACS Edited Collection. International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.
This chapter examines how second language teachers can control their own curriculum processes by taking into account of the notion of the hidden curriculum (Jackson, 1968) and taking the attitude that curriculum development is a complicated conversation (Pinar, 2012). These two concepts have had little play within second language education or applied linguistics. I argue that these concepts open up new possibilities for teacher autonomy and emancipatory practices within these highly politicalized fields. I make this argument through a discussion of an attempt by a government official to silence my research dissemination regarding the Canadian Language Benchmarks, a key federal curriculum and assessment document
Fleming, D. (2017). Deductive versus inductive teaching. TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. New York: TESOL, Wiley.
This brief encyclopedia entry discusses the theoretical background and the practical applications of
deductive and inductive teaching approaches within an ESL context. It argues that inductive approaches are more in line with desirable learner-centred teaching and functional conceptions of language.
Fleming, D. (2016). Canadian bilingualism, multiculturalism and neo-liberal imperatives. Journal of Language and Literacy Education. http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SSO-December_Fleming.pdf
Canadian second language and immigration policies have often been held up as positive models for Americans on both the right and the left. In particular, both the “English Only” and the “English Plus” movements in the United States have claimed that French Immersion programming in Canada support their own positions (Crawford, 1992; King, 1997). However, in this piece I argue that Canadian immigration and language policies are closely intertwined and have been carefully calculated to subsume linguistic and cultural diversity under what Young (1987) once characterized as a form of “patriarchal Englishness against and under which... all others are subordinated” (pp.10-11). These policies have served neo-liberal economic imperatives and have helped perpetuate inequalities. In fact, I am of the opinion that they are not incompatible with empire building.
Fleming, D. (2015). Second language research, the construction of gendered identity and the Deleuzian concept of becoming woman. Journal of Language, Identity and Education 14, 3, 206-214.
This article experiments with the concept of becoming woman, a controversial concept from Deleuzian philosophy. This concept, which has had a contentious history within continental philosophy, holds important explanatory power of benefit to our field. Previous work using the data under study revealed that there were significant gaps between the experiences of my respondents and how national assessment documents depicted ESL learners. This article, however, reexamines my data in light of how gendered subjectivity is constructed.
The women in this study conceptualized immigrating to a new country in ways that were significantly qualitative. They pointed to what they regarded as positive changes in their lives regarding work, family responsibilities, clothing, marriage, childbearing and access to public space. The men experienced immigration quite differently.Becoming explains the interrelationship between the genders in this context and broadens the possibilities for research into how subjectivity and identity is constructed.
Fleming, D. (2015). Encounters with SLE bureaucrats: Misunderstandings and misgivings. Citizenship
Citizenship Education Research Journal, 1, 80-88.
On June 5th of last year, the Director of the Canadian Centre for Language Benchmarks emailed me about a presentation I had recently given at the Centre Canadien D’études et de Recherche en Bilinguisme et Aménagement Linguistique (CCERBAL) regarding the qualitative research I have conducted pertaining to the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) (Pawlikowska-Smith, 2000; Hajer & Kaskens, 2012). He stated:
It has been brought to my attention that at a recent CCERBAL meeting in Ottawa you made a presentation that contained a number of inaccurate statements regarding the Canadian Language Benchmarks. As a result I asked a colleague who is a university-based language expert to review your presentation. The review is attached. We would be grateful if you would take the necessary steps to correct the inaccuracies in your work so that those attending your presentations or reading your work are not misled regarding the CLB.
The subsequent email exchange we had revolved around my contention that he was using the prestige of his position to put pressure on a scholar to suppress work he found threatening. He, on the other had, contended that he was not attempting to “silence your opinions” and that in any case it was “not a question of opinions here, but facts”.
In this piece, I outline some of the implications of the reviewer’s comments in terms of the nature and qualitative research and the value of academic freedom. I then use this email exchange with the Director as a starting point for some comments on politics, culture and the effects of high-stakes second language assessment documents on citizenship education curriculum development.
Fleming, D., René, M. C., Bangou, F. & Shahzad, G. (2015). The intersections of ESL and literacy education. TESL-Electronic Journal. http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume-19/ej73/ej73a6/
This article explores the links between English as a second language (ESL) and literacy instruction through an examination of the viewpoints expressed by eight experienced teachers participating in a qualitative research study conducted in two Canadian provinces. It argues that conceptual confusion is detrimental to the program planning and delivery. Teacher training should be take into account the links between the two fields and draw upon th experiences of veteran teachers in this context.
Fleming, D. (2015). Justice-oriented curricula, pedagogy and national identity construction. In J. Simpson & A. Whiteside (Eds.), Adult language education and migration: Challenging agendas in policy and practice (pp. 66-81). London, UK: Routledge.
This chapter reports two qualitative studies.
The first sheds light on how the learners in a government-sponsored adult ESL program were constructing new national identities (Fleming, 2010). Using survey and interview data, I noted that my respondents conceptualized citizenship in terms of multiculturalism, civic rights, and a respect for legal responsibilities. In contrast, I noted through document analysis that the most significant policy and curriculum resource in this context, the Canadian Language Benchmarks, constructed infantilised conceptions of second language learners. I argued that these learners were, in effect, racialized.
The second looked more closely at positive alternatives in which I asked veteran ESL and literacy teachers about how they treated citizenship over the course of their careers (Fleming, in press). The findings show that concrete classroom methods can link the skill-based literacy needs of learners to a justice orientation towards citizenship and that the temptation to link citizenship education solely to higher levels of English language proficiency can be successfully resisted.
This follows closely Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) argument that education should encourage students to become critical citizens who explore the causes of social problems in order to work for substantial societal change. Such a Justice-oriented citizenship education “critically assesses social, political and economic structures and explores strategies for change that address root causes of problems” (p.29). These studies show that we should be careful not to link citizenship and English language proficiency and pay attention to the experiences of veteran teachers in our policy development, programming and practice.
Fleming, D. (2014). Citizenship, race and second language education. In R. Kubota (Ed.), Race and language learning in multicultural Canada: Towards critical antiracism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Special Issue). DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2014.892500
This article explores the links between citizenship and race in second language education through an examination of the ways in which citizenship is linked to English language proficiency within a key Canadian federal adult ESL assessment document, the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB 2000; CLB 2012). It uses data and updates the analysis from a previously treated study that compared the way in which citizenship was conceptualised within that document with a sampling of adult second language learners in a federally funded ESL program.
The participants in the study from which this data is drawn described becoming Canadians predominantly in terms of human rights, multicultural policy, and the obligations of being citizens. The CLB, however, rarely referred to citizenship in these terms. Instead, it described being Canadian in terms of normative standards, including various forms of social behaviour, which implied the existence of a dominant and singular culture to which second language learners had to conform. This article argues that these normative standards have the effect of racialising second language learners in this context.
Fleming, D & Bangou, F. (2014). Invited article: Citizenship, becoming, literacy and schools: A study of second language immigrant students in a Canadian secondary school. Our Schools, Ourselves, 23/3, 91-100.
This article reports data collected from second language immigrant secondary and middle high schools students as part of a multi-year SSHRC-funded collaborative project that examined the interrelationship between literacy and Canadian citizenship in the context of pop culture, technology, school, home and community.
On the basis of the findings, we argue that concrete classroom experiences are essential to the processes of becoming citizens in the context of secondary education. It is not enough to teach citizenship as abstract subject matter. One must also be cognizant of how citizenship is also “lived” pedagogically. Furthermore, we argue on the basis of the theoretical framework that informed the study that the previous experiences of students must be taken into account. To express it in Deleuezian terms, students view becoming Canadian as a process of the deterritorialisation of their previous experiences and as a reterritorialisation of their new identities.
"Life Is What Happens When You're Busy Making Other Plans"
(Saunders, 1957; popularized by Lennon,1980)
CREATE A FREE WEBSITE
POWERED BY
Full Professor/ Professeur titulaire
University of Ottawa/ Université d’Ottawa
Faculty of Education/ Faculté d’éducation
145 J.J. Lussier
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
(613) 562-5800 ex. 4151
please email; I rarely monitor my campus phone
[email protected]
Faculty website:
http://www.education.uottawa.ca
GRADUATE SUPERVISION
Regretfully, given my plans to retire in the near future, I am very reluctant to accept new students for thesis supervision. Of course, plans change. In any case, I can only consider supervising students who have research interests very close to mine and have a reasonable prospect of completing quickly. Students seeking supervisors should do their own investigation and consult the faculty website for information about the research interests of my colleagues.
TEACHING
I do not have any teaching assignments during my sabbatical and do not yet know what my schedule is afterwards.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Please note that I do not use Facebook for professional purposes.
I no longer consult LinkedIn and rarely logon to Twitter or any other social media platform.
However, I do make use of the Research Gate and Academic.edu repositories for professional purposes.
RESEARCH
My research focuses on ESL and critical notions of citizenship that are related to second language immigrant and marginalized populations (esp. in terms of social class, race and gender), critical pedagogy, equity, multilingual communities, language assessment, philosophy (esp. Marx and Deleuze) and qualitative research methods.
Prior to graduating from UBC with a PhD in Language and Literacy Education in 2007, I taught for 20 years for the Toronto (Ontario) and Surrey (British Columbia) School Districts.
I teach courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels that focus on current social and political issues in second language research, ESL Language methodology, second language program development, multicultural citizenship education, equity and language policy.
I have worked on professional, curriculum and material development projects for the federal government, numerous NGO’s and school districts. In addition, I have participated in a variety of advisory boards and professional organizations, most notably as an executive member of the Adult Provincial Specialists Association of the British Columbia Teachers Federation.
In addition, I have served as a discussant and reviewer for various academic bodies. I recently sat on the Faculty of Education's Executive, Educational Policy Committee, Faculty Council and Dean Selection Committee.
My full c/v is accessed through the button on the top left of this page.
SELECTED ABSTRACTS
Fleming, D., Waterhouse, M., Bangou, F. & Bastien, M. (2017). Agencement, SLE and Becoming: A Deleuzian Take on Citizenship. Critical Inquiry into Language Studies.
This article makes novel use of the Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts of becoming and agencement to frame qualitative research on how youth from second language immigrant families conceptualize citizenship. Even though our work here is primarily conceptual, we refer to aspects of a previously published study to concretely illustrate these concepts for the reader.
The study in question found that the participants exhibited a mixture of conceptualizations of citizenship, some of which aligned with dominant trends in citizenship education. Other conceptualizations presented dimensions of citizenship that were unexpected and intensive.
In our discussion, we use two& Bastein, Deleuzo-Guattarian concepts to deepen our understanding of the complex relationships between competing discourses on citizenship in the context of second language education. We argue, in short, that becoming and agencement help “disturb” the once axiomatic linkage between citizenship education and the nation-state and challenge clichéd notions of “global citizenship”.
Keywords: Second language learners, immigrant, citizenship, Deleuze, becoming, agencement
Dr. Douglas Fleming; University of Ottawa
[email protected]
Dr. Monica Waterhouse; Laval University
[email protected]
Dr. Francis Bangou; University of Ottawa
[email protected]
Dr. Maria Bastien; Walla Walla University
[email protected]
Fleming, D. (2017). Talking back to second language education curriculum control: From nouns to verbs.IAACS Manifesto Edited Edition. Ibrahim, A. & Steinberg, S. (Eds.), IAACS Edited Collection. International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.
This chapter examines how second language teachers can control their own curriculum processes by taking into account of the notion of the hidden curriculum (Jackson, 1968) and taking the attitude that curriculum development is a complicated conversation (Pinar, 2012). These two concepts have had little play within second language education or applied linguistics. I argue that these concepts open up new possibilities for teacher autonomy and emancipatory practices within these highly politicalized fields. I make this argument through a discussion of an attempt by a government official to silence my research dissemination regarding the Canadian Language Benchmarks, a key federal curriculum and assessment document
Fleming, D. (2017). Deductive versus inductive teaching. TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. New York: TESOL, Wiley.
This brief encyclopedia entry discusses the theoretical background and the practical applications of
deductive and inductive teaching approaches within an ESL context. It argues that inductive approaches are more in line with desirable learner-centred teaching and functional conceptions of language.
Fleming, D. (2016). Canadian bilingualism, multiculturalism and neo-liberal imperatives. Journal of Language and Literacy Education. http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SSO-December_Fleming.pdf
Canadian second language and immigration policies have often been held up as positive models for Americans on both the right and the left. In particular, both the “English Only” and the “English Plus” movements in the United States have claimed that French Immersion programming in Canada support their own positions (Crawford, 1992; King, 1997). However, in this piece I argue that Canadian immigration and language policies are closely intertwined and have been carefully calculated to subsume linguistic and cultural diversity under what Young (1987) once characterized as a form of “patriarchal Englishness against and under which... all others are subordinated” (pp.10-11). These policies have served neo-liberal economic imperatives and have helped perpetuate inequalities. In fact, I am of the opinion that they are not incompatible with empire building.
Fleming, D. (2015). Second language research, the construction of gendered identity and the Deleuzian concept of becoming woman. Journal of Language, Identity and Education 14, 3, 206-214.
This article experiments with the concept of becoming woman, a controversial concept from Deleuzian philosophy. This concept, which has had a contentious history within continental philosophy, holds important explanatory power of benefit to our field. Previous work using the data under study revealed that there were significant gaps between the experiences of my respondents and how national assessment documents depicted ESL learners. This article, however, reexamines my data in light of how gendered subjectivity is constructed.
The women in this study conceptualized immigrating to a new country in ways that were significantly qualitative. They pointed to what they regarded as positive changes in their lives regarding work, family responsibilities, clothing, marriage, childbearing and access to public space. The men experienced immigration quite differently.Becoming explains the interrelationship between the genders in this context and broadens the possibilities for research into how subjectivity and identity is constructed.
Fleming, D. (2015). Encounters with SLE bureaucrats: Misunderstandings and misgivings. Citizenship
Citizenship Education Research Journal, 1, 80-88.
On June 5th of last year, the Director of the Canadian Centre for Language Benchmarks emailed me about a presentation I had recently given at the Centre Canadien D’études et de Recherche en Bilinguisme et Aménagement Linguistique (CCERBAL) regarding the qualitative research I have conducted pertaining to the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) (Pawlikowska-Smith, 2000; Hajer & Kaskens, 2012). He stated:
It has been brought to my attention that at a recent CCERBAL meeting in Ottawa you made a presentation that contained a number of inaccurate statements regarding the Canadian Language Benchmarks. As a result I asked a colleague who is a university-based language expert to review your presentation. The review is attached. We would be grateful if you would take the necessary steps to correct the inaccuracies in your work so that those attending your presentations or reading your work are not misled regarding the CLB.
The subsequent email exchange we had revolved around my contention that he was using the prestige of his position to put pressure on a scholar to suppress work he found threatening. He, on the other had, contended that he was not attempting to “silence your opinions” and that in any case it was “not a question of opinions here, but facts”.
In this piece, I outline some of the implications of the reviewer’s comments in terms of the nature and qualitative research and the value of academic freedom. I then use this email exchange with the Director as a starting point for some comments on politics, culture and the effects of high-stakes second language assessment documents on citizenship education curriculum development.
Fleming, D., René, M. C., Bangou, F. & Shahzad, G. (2015). The intersections of ESL and literacy education. TESL-Electronic Journal. http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume-19/ej73/ej73a6/
This article explores the links between English as a second language (ESL) and literacy instruction through an examination of the viewpoints expressed by eight experienced teachers participating in a qualitative research study conducted in two Canadian provinces. It argues that conceptual confusion is detrimental to the program planning and delivery. Teacher training should be take into account the links between the two fields and draw upon th experiences of veteran teachers in this context.
Fleming, D. (2015). Justice-oriented curricula, pedagogy and national identity construction. In J. Simpson & A. Whiteside (Eds.), Adult language education and migration: Challenging agendas in policy and practice (pp. 66-81). London, UK: Routledge.
This chapter reports two qualitative studies.
The first sheds light on how the learners in a government-sponsored adult ESL program were constructing new national identities (Fleming, 2010). Using survey and interview data, I noted that my respondents conceptualized citizenship in terms of multiculturalism, civic rights, and a respect for legal responsibilities. In contrast, I noted through document analysis that the most significant policy and curriculum resource in this context, the Canadian Language Benchmarks, constructed infantilised conceptions of second language learners. I argued that these learners were, in effect, racialized.
The second looked more closely at positive alternatives in which I asked veteran ESL and literacy teachers about how they treated citizenship over the course of their careers (Fleming, in press). The findings show that concrete classroom methods can link the skill-based literacy needs of learners to a justice orientation towards citizenship and that the temptation to link citizenship education solely to higher levels of English language proficiency can be successfully resisted.
This follows closely Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) argument that education should encourage students to become critical citizens who explore the causes of social problems in order to work for substantial societal change. Such a Justice-oriented citizenship education “critically assesses social, political and economic structures and explores strategies for change that address root causes of problems” (p.29). These studies show that we should be careful not to link citizenship and English language proficiency and pay attention to the experiences of veteran teachers in our policy development, programming and practice.
Fleming, D. (2014). Citizenship, race and second language education. In R. Kubota (Ed.), Race and language learning in multicultural Canada: Towards critical antiracism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (Special Issue). DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2014.892500
This article explores the links between citizenship and race in second language education through an examination of the ways in which citizenship is linked to English language proficiency within a key Canadian federal adult ESL assessment document, the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB 2000; CLB 2012). It uses data and updates the analysis from a previously treated study that compared the way in which citizenship was conceptualised within that document with a sampling of adult second language learners in a federally funded ESL program.
The participants in the study from which this data is drawn described becoming Canadians predominantly in terms of human rights, multicultural policy, and the obligations of being citizens. The CLB, however, rarely referred to citizenship in these terms. Instead, it described being Canadian in terms of normative standards, including various forms of social behaviour, which implied the existence of a dominant and singular culture to which second language learners had to conform. This article argues that these normative standards have the effect of racialising second language learners in this context.
Fleming, D & Bangou, F. (2014). Invited article: Citizenship, becoming, literacy and schools: A study of second language immigrant students in a Canadian secondary school. Our Schools, Ourselves, 23/3, 91-100.
This article reports data collected from second language immigrant secondary and middle high schools students as part of a multi-year SSHRC-funded collaborative project that examined the interrelationship between literacy and Canadian citizenship in the context of pop culture, technology, school, home and community.
On the basis of the findings, we argue that concrete classroom experiences are essential to the processes of becoming citizens in the context of secondary education. It is not enough to teach citizenship as abstract subject matter. One must also be cognizant of how citizenship is also “lived” pedagogically. Furthermore, we argue on the basis of the theoretical framework that informed the study that the previous experiences of students must be taken into account. To express it in Deleuezian terms, students view becoming Canadian as a process of the deterritorialisation of their previous experiences and as a reterritorialisation of their new identities.
"Life Is What Happens When You're Busy Making Other Plans"
(Saunders, 1957; popularized by Lennon,1980)
CREATE A FREE WEBSITE
POWERED BY