plurilingualism_a_review_of_theory_and_current_practice_july_2022.docx | |
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In Press: TESL Canada Journal 2024
As an initial part of a new SSHRC-funded 4-year study, this review utilizes an extensive literature search of the Anglophone literature related to plurilingualism in order to summarize the empirical work that has focused to date on related concrete classroom treatment options. We note that the previous trends within this literature bear many similarities to the notion of plurilingualism, especially in terms of the problematization of decontextualized and standardized orientations towards language. Even though there are important caveats to be considered, we argue that plurilingualism is not simply a matter of “old wine in new bottles” and that the notion offers valuable conceptual insights. At the same time, we acknowledge that teachers have a right to be suspicious of the latest fashions within second language education and criticize the attitude that practitioners should automatically adhere to the recommendations proposed by theorists. Real curriculum innovation depends on understanding the nature of teaching practice and decision-making and argue that much depends on working collaboratively with teachers to see what works concretely in the classroom. The study related to this review is aimed to do precisely that. |
problematizing_language.docx | |
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Problematizing Language:
English as an International Language, the Native Speaker
and Deleuze’s Use of the Notion of Becoming
Fleming, D. (2020) Problematizing language: English as an international language, the native speaker
and Deleuze’s use of the notion of becoming. In The Magic of language: Productivity in linguistics and language teaching (T. Tinnefeld, Ed.), Saarbrücken Series on Linguistics and Language Methodology. Vol 11. Saarbrücken: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (pp.109-120).
Abstract
This chapter explores how one of the principles of mainstream linguistics, as critiqued by Deleuze & Guattari (1987), has complicated (and even countered) our work in international language teacher education. I do this first by briefly reviewing how some of the major figures in Western philosophy have debated the nature of language. Then Deleuze & Guattari’s critique of some of the tenets of modern linguistic theory is outlined. My discussion then turns to applied linguistics and the notion of the native speaker. This is concretized through a discussion of how this notion affected the design of a multi-year professional development project for English-as-a-Second / Foreign-Language (ESL / EFL) teachers from rural and remote areas in Western Chinese provinces. I conclude with reflections on how Deleuze’s use of the concept of becoming helps us understand the language teacher’s role as a “sorcerer” in this context.
English as an International Language, the Native Speaker
and Deleuze’s Use of the Notion of Becoming
Fleming, D. (2020) Problematizing language: English as an international language, the native speaker
and Deleuze’s use of the notion of becoming. In The Magic of language: Productivity in linguistics and language teaching (T. Tinnefeld, Ed.), Saarbrücken Series on Linguistics and Language Methodology. Vol 11. Saarbrücken: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (pp.109-120).
Abstract
This chapter explores how one of the principles of mainstream linguistics, as critiqued by Deleuze & Guattari (1987), has complicated (and even countered) our work in international language teacher education. I do this first by briefly reviewing how some of the major figures in Western philosophy have debated the nature of language. Then Deleuze & Guattari’s critique of some of the tenets of modern linguistic theory is outlined. My discussion then turns to applied linguistics and the notion of the native speaker. This is concretized through a discussion of how this notion affected the design of a multi-year professional development project for English-as-a-Second / Foreign-Language (ESL / EFL) teachers from rural and remote areas in Western Chinese provinces. I conclude with reflections on how Deleuze’s use of the concept of becoming helps us understand the language teacher’s role as a “sorcerer” in this context.
decolonization_in_the_concrete.docx | |
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Fleming, D. (2020). Decolonialization in the concrete: Honoring the expertise of local teachers in English as a Foreign Language contexts. Multilingual education yearbook 2020. (W. Tao & I. Liyanage, Eds.), Deakin University Press, Melbourne, Australia.
This reports a study of a set of experienced rural Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary school teachers enrolled in a professional-development training program offered at a major Canadian university. The program’s purpose was to help the participants develop a deeper understanding of how to adapt alternative approaches to EFL pedagogy to local conditions.
Teachers in foreign English language teaching and learning contexts face diverse challenges such as large class sizes, low student motivation and limited classroom resources. English instruction in China has been dominated by teacher-fronted and grammar-focused pedagogy (Zhang & Li, 2014). These conditions have resulted in significant challenges in terms of the development of English oral proficiency and in overall classroom management. Although some jurisdictions (such as the Shanghai School District) in China have recently experimented with assessment techniques that are alternatives to the traditional Gaokao college and university entrance examinations, these changes have yet to be felt in rural China.
Data for this study was collected during the course of the program and after the participants had returned to China in the form of assignment collection, surveys and semi-structured interviews. The findings outline the challenges (and successes) these teachers had in adapting what they had learnt and how their time in Canada had affected their self-identity as professionals.
The data demonstrates that successful teacher training in this context requires carefully listening to participants so as to provide the theoretical knowledge and exposure to practical classroom treatment options so that they can exercise, in the interests of decolonialization, the agency to assess, appropriate, and apply what they see fit for their unique contexts.
The findings also demonstrate that teacher trainers have much to learn from the participants in professional development training. As I note below, the follow up research in China showed that the participants made sophisticated choices in view of local contexts and that these local contexts were important to understand.
This reports a study of a set of experienced rural Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) secondary school teachers enrolled in a professional-development training program offered at a major Canadian university. The program’s purpose was to help the participants develop a deeper understanding of how to adapt alternative approaches to EFL pedagogy to local conditions.
Teachers in foreign English language teaching and learning contexts face diverse challenges such as large class sizes, low student motivation and limited classroom resources. English instruction in China has been dominated by teacher-fronted and grammar-focused pedagogy (Zhang & Li, 2014). These conditions have resulted in significant challenges in terms of the development of English oral proficiency and in overall classroom management. Although some jurisdictions (such as the Shanghai School District) in China have recently experimented with assessment techniques that are alternatives to the traditional Gaokao college and university entrance examinations, these changes have yet to be felt in rural China.
Data for this study was collected during the course of the program and after the participants had returned to China in the form of assignment collection, surveys and semi-structured interviews. The findings outline the challenges (and successes) these teachers had in adapting what they had learnt and how their time in Canada had affected their self-identity as professionals.
The data demonstrates that successful teacher training in this context requires carefully listening to participants so as to provide the theoretical knowledge and exposure to practical classroom treatment options so that they can exercise, in the interests of decolonialization, the agency to assess, appropriate, and apply what they see fit for their unique contexts.
The findings also demonstrate that teacher trainers have much to learn from the participants in professional development training. As I note below, the follow up research in China showed that the participants made sophisticated choices in view of local contexts and that these local contexts were important to understand.
Deductive versus inductive teaching
Fleming, D. (2018). Deductive versus inductive teaching. TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. New York: TESOL, Wiley. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118784235
Fleming, D. (2018). Deductive versus inductive teaching. TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching. New York: TESOL, Wiley. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781118784235
compassionate_language_educator.docx | |
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From 2015 to 2018, groups of experienced English as a Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) teachers from rural and remote areas in Western Chinese provinces have taken part in three-month summer professional development projects at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. These teachers work on improving their communicative teaching practices and English language proficiency while living in Ottawa for the summer.
My purpose in this chapter is to explore how my experiences with general education teacher candidates in Canada have informed my work with these veteran Chinese teachers. Specifically, I describe how my debunking of the “native speaker fallacy” serves the cause of equity.
My purpose in this chapter is to explore how my experiences with general education teacher candidates in Canada have informed my work with these veteran Chinese teachers. Specifically, I describe how my debunking of the “native speaker fallacy” serves the cause of equity.
rethinking_the_genders_and_becoming_in_second_language_education.pdf | |
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Fleming, D. (2019). Rethinking the genders and becoming in Second Language Education. In Bangou, F., Waterhouse, M. & Fleming, D. (Eds.), Deterritorializing language, teaching, and learning: Deleuzo-Guattarian Perspectives on Second Language Education (pp.45-57). Rotterdam: Brill/Sense.
This chapter plays with the concept of becoming woman (Deleuze and Guattari, 1994) as a way of gaining a deeper understanding of the construction of gender for those immigrating to a new country who speak a second language. Nieto and Bode (2010), Norton (2000) and Vandrick (2015) have argued that the experience of immigrating to a new country as a second language learner is a significant disruption and reconstruction of one’s own subjectivity in ways that are unique. These changes occur in terms of one’s identity, culture, ethnicity, race, language, national allegiance, sexual orientation and other subject positions. As noted by Goulimari (1999), Colebrook (2000), Olkowski (2000) and Driscoll (2000), these concepts have had a productive, if controversial, relationship to the notion of the other, originally conceptualized in terms of gender by De Beauvoir (1949, 1972) and further developed by such feminist theorists as Irigary (1990) and Kristeva (2002). This chapter experiments with becoming woman through a reexamination of the data pertaining to gender in a study of adults learning English while negotiating sites of tension, conflict, and contradiction within their experiences of immigration. It will be argued that becoming woman has significant explanatory power in conceptualizing subjectivity in this context.
This chapter plays with the concept of becoming woman (Deleuze and Guattari, 1994) as a way of gaining a deeper understanding of the construction of gender for those immigrating to a new country who speak a second language. Nieto and Bode (2010), Norton (2000) and Vandrick (2015) have argued that the experience of immigrating to a new country as a second language learner is a significant disruption and reconstruction of one’s own subjectivity in ways that are unique. These changes occur in terms of one’s identity, culture, ethnicity, race, language, national allegiance, sexual orientation and other subject positions. As noted by Goulimari (1999), Colebrook (2000), Olkowski (2000) and Driscoll (2000), these concepts have had a productive, if controversial, relationship to the notion of the other, originally conceptualized in terms of gender by De Beauvoir (1949, 1972) and further developed by such feminist theorists as Irigary (1990) and Kristeva (2002). This chapter experiments with becoming woman through a reexamination of the data pertaining to gender in a study of adults learning English while negotiating sites of tension, conflict, and contradiction within their experiences of immigration. It will be argued that becoming woman has significant explanatory power in conceptualizing subjectivity in this context.
agencement_and_becoming.docx | |
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Fleming, D., Waterhouse, M., Bangou, F, & Bastien, M. (2017). Puissance, pouvoir and Deleuzian concepts of citizenship in schools. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15427587.2017.1365237
This article reports the novel use of the Deleuzian concepts of becoming and agencement in framing qualitative research on how youth from second language immigrant families conceptualize citizenship. Using secondary school classroom observations, document analysis and in-depth interviews, this study found that the participants exhibited a mixture of minoritarian and majoritarian conceptualizations. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of Deleuzian concepts in framing research and provide concrete suggestions on how teachers can help second language youth navigate the complex relationships between competing discourses on citizenship.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15427587.2017.1365237
This article reports the novel use of the Deleuzian concepts of becoming and agencement in framing qualitative research on how youth from second language immigrant families conceptualize citizenship. Using secondary school classroom observations, document analysis and in-depth interviews, this study found that the participants exhibited a mixture of minoritarian and majoritarian conceptualizations. The findings demonstrate the usefulness of Deleuzian concepts in framing research and provide concrete suggestions on how teachers can help second language youth navigate the complex relationships between competing discourses on citizenship.
canadian_bilingualism_multiculturalism_and_neo-liberal_imperatives.docx | |
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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
talking_back_to_sle_curriculum_control.docx | |
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Fleming, D. (2017). Talking back to second language education curriculum control: From nouns to verbs. In Herbert, C., Fook, N., Ibrahim, A. & Smith, A (Eds.), Internationalizing curriculum studies: Histories, environments and critiques (IAACS Manifesto Edited Edition) (pp.69-82). New Delhi: Palgrave Macmillan.
link to
https://education.uottawa.ca/en/research/educational-review
Romero, G. & Fleming, D. (2015). Volunteer second language English teaching experiences in a foreign country. Education Review, 4, 2, 28-33.
René, M. C. & Fleming, D. (2015). Understanding how the integration process of newcomer parents affects their children’s educational success. Education Review. 4, 2, 16-21.
https://education.uottawa.ca/en/research/educational-review
Romero, G. & Fleming, D. (2015). Volunteer second language English teaching experiences in a foreign country. Education Review, 4, 2, 28-33.
René, M. C. & Fleming, D. (2015). Understanding how the integration process of newcomer parents affects their children’s educational success. Education Review. 4, 2, 16-21.
link to
Broom, C., Di Mascio, A. & Fleming, D. (2016). Citizenship education in Canada: Past and present. In C.Broom (Ed.), Youth civic engagement in a globalized world: Citizen education in comparative perspectives (pp.15-36). New York: Palgrave, MacMillan.
Broom, C., Di Mascio, A. & Fleming, D. (2016). Citizenship education in Canada: Past and present. In C.Broom (Ed.), Youth civic engagement in a globalized world: Citizen education in comparative perspectives (pp.15-36). New York: Palgrave, MacMillan.
Formes ‘Racialisées’ de la Citoyenneté et les Canadian Language Benchmarks | |
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SLE, the Construction of Gendered Identity, and the Deleuzian Concept of Becoming Woman.pdf | |
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hidden curricula and a complicated conversation.pdf | |
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deductive and inductive approaches to teaching.docx | |
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citizenship_literacy_and_esl-_two_recent_studies and the CLB 2000/ 2012.docx | |
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citizenship_and_becoming.docx | |
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critical_citizenship_practices_in_esp_and_esl__programs.doc | |
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justice-orientated_citizenship_and the history of Cdn esl_and_literacy.docx | |
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racialized_forms_of_citizenship_and_the_canadian_language_benchmarks__.doc | |
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discordant_anthems.doc | |
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assessment_instruments_as_curriculum_guidelines.doc | |
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becoming citizens.doc | |
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autonomy_in_curriculum_decision-making.pdf | |
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blogging_for_effective_teacher_education_courses_in_esl.doc | |
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canadian_lessons_for_united_states_language_policy_and_planning.doc | |
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building_personal_and_nation-state_identities.pdf | |
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experiential_learning_and_task_design.pdf | |
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preservice teachers' beliefs about language.pdf | |
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adult_immigrant_esl_programs_in_canada-history_economics_and_identity.doc | |
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our_responsibilities_as_anti-racist_educators.pdf | |
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