Informed by the ethnographically grounded insights drawing on discourse analytic perspectives, the study captures the voices of empowered student identities, illustrating how functional pedagogy may construct, challenge, and affirm identities of "vulnerable English language learners" (Ou & Gu, 2018) as identities of confident and competent text readers, writers and "mini researchers." This teacher research project was situated in multiple sections of an academic literacy course for first-year international students at a Canadian university. The students were engaged in conducting and reporting an empirically grounded discourse analytic research project informed by systemic functional linguistics over the term. Data was generated from interviews, student-written works and journals, and teacher-researcher field notes. Through this investigation, the study demonstrates how writing classes in higher education can serve as spaces that nurture the agentive voices in L2 students who strive to expand their sense-making choices and make those choices purposely, critically, and creatively.
The purpose of this study is to describe and compare the oral language support practices implemented by eight early childhood educators and eight preschool teachers for 4-year-olds in two distinct learning contexts: story time and free play. Video recordings were made of the participants, allowing for a detailed analysis of the practices used according to the typology of Girolametto et Weitzman (2002). Only practices that focus on children are observed frequently, while practices that promote conversation and enrich language are rarer.
The rise of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) has provoked critical questions about what it means to write and how to teach it. Research exploring writing pedagogy postgenAI reflects tensions between deep concerns and hopeful visions. This qualitative study explored the experiences of language and literacy educators (n=39) teaching writing in secondary and post-secondary contexts in Canada. These educators offered insights into the values and strategies underpinning their writing pedagogies and highlighted roles genAI could play as a coach or collaborator depending on instructional goals for learning to write or writing to learn. They also shared how their emerging approaches to teaching writing were influenced by other constituents in their pedagogical landscapes such as student needs, curriculum and assessment frameworks, and institutional policies on student use of AI. Understanding purposes for writing and the ecologies of different education environments opens space to consider the place of genAI in writing as a learning process. This study contributes a framework of instructional goals and a reflective 'landscapes' tool to support the agency of language and literacy educators to enact writing pedagogies that empower learners in different AI-mediated learning environments.
Older adults' literacy is of increasing concern based on the most recent International Adult Literacy Survey (OECD, 2024). In this paper, the authors apply critical policy analysis (Ball, 1993) and critical gerontology (Schmidt-Hertha et al., 2022) frameworks to examine two national Canadian policy texts, Skills for Success and ABC Life Literacy. The analysis suggests there is a glaring lack of recognition of older adults as literacy learners in these documents. There was evidence of narrowed definitions of literacy alongside stereotypical understandings of aging. The paper will be particularly relevant to policy makers and professionals that support older adults' literacy development.
This article aims to study the practices (indirect and direct) of seven teachers supporting the development of emergent writing in full-time 4-year-old kindergarteners from a plurilingual disadvantaged environment. Results from a semi-structured interview and observation with the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO, Smith et al., 2008) at the beginning of the school year show that they implement more indirect and direct teaching practices supporting oral language development, print awareness, and phonological awareness. Teachers mention adapting their teaching practices to children who do not speak French, even though this represents a challenge for them. These results provide a better understanding of the practices used in emergent writing in disadvantaged plurilingual schools.
