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Globalization and English-language predominance situate English teachers as increasingly influential mediators of both language and culture. In the iconic multicultural hub of Ontario, Canada, teachers work within a causal nexus of social theories of language, the information and communication technologies revolution, and unprecedented global interdependency. Changes in English curriculum reflect these trends, from references to “global citizenship,” to stress on “intercultural communication,” “cultural sensitivity,” and Information and Communication Technology (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007). Delegated gatekeepers of both linguistic and critical literacies, and facing new questions about the purposes and priorities of their discipline, Ontario English teachers must negotiate the divide between an inherited curriculum and the impacts of sociocultural transformation on changing literacy needs. To contribute to a professional dialogue about teaching English in a multicultural society and global age, this thesis presents findings from interviews with fifteen Ontario secondary English teachers. The focal question, “How is English changing?” introduces a range of pressing issues, such as: displacing the canon, practicing intercultural communication, balancing a democratic discourse, or “common culture,” with respect for diverse values, and managing opposing views and resistance to English curriculum change. The data reveal how English teachers across levels of experience occupy contrasting positions on the curriculum change debate. In part, this can be explained in terms of epistemological orientations. The participants represent three categories: Adaptation, Applied Research / Collaborative Inquiry, and Activism, each by turn more geared toward reconceptualizing English for social diversity and global consciousness. Beyond these classifications, the teachers reflect dissonant perceptions, sometimes personal ambivalence, on the changing role of text choice, and written and oral dialogue in the English classroom. From passionate defenses of Shakespeare, to radical measures to revamp book lists for cultural relevance, to remarkable illustrations of curriculum linked with global consciousness and civic action, the responses of the English teachers delineate zones of difficulty, change, and possibility. They help, too, to catch sight of a new horizon: the English classroom as a space for “cultural conversation” (Applebee, 1994) where canon- and teacher-centred dialogue give way to intertextual (Bakhtin, 1981; Kristeva, 1980) and intercultural (R. Young, 1996) transactions.

Cette recherche avait pour objectif d’analyser les évaluations de programmes d’études en langues de spécialité de 1er cycle universitaire afin de dégager les enjeux et la pertinence de ces formations. Trois questions de recherche sont poursuivies : • Quels établissements d’enseignement supérieur canadiens offrent des programmes d’études professionnalisant intégrant des compétences langagières sur objectifs spécifiques et le savoir-faire professionnel? • Compte tenu de la nature et de la fonction des programmes et des cours de langues de spécialité au sein des établissements d’enseignement supérieur, - quels sont les enjeux principaux ? - quelles sont les recommandations les plus fréquentes dans les rapports des évaluateurs externes ? L’analyse révèle que les enjeux principaux sont l’apport des formations aux besoins d’emploi ; la correspondance aux besoins des bénéficiaires ; l’évaluation systématique et justifiée lors de la prise de décisions ; la révision, mise à jour et évaluation systématique des programmes ; la collaboration interdisciplinaire et interuniversitaire ; l’enseignement des compétences langagières de la discipline professionnelle sous-jacente ; l’enseignement de la perspective interculturelle ; l’objectif constitutif ou instrumental de l’acquisition des langues ; la professionnalisation de la discipline au lieu de la fonction « service » ; la promotion de programmes, de collaborations et d’échanges internationaux ; l’intégration des TIC ; et la certification en langue de spécialité. Les évaluateurs externes recommandent la modernisation et la réorganisation des cours, la mise sur pied des collaborations, l’amélioration des formules et de l’offre des échanges internationaux, l’élaboration des stratégies pour étudier et planifier le lancement des initiatives, la promotion des bénéfices des connaissances langagières auprès des autres disciplines et facultés, la création des stratégies de révision de programme, et la mise en place des dispositifs pour profiter de nouvelles ressources technologiques. Ainsi, dans un premier temps, les résultats permettent d’apporter à la didactique des langues un éclairage sur la valeur de la fonction formative des mécanismes d’évaluation de programme. Dans un deuxième temps, ils apportent aux praticiens un éclairage sur la qualité, la pertinence et les enjeux des formations en langue de spécialité et un éclairage sur l’importance et l’impact des pratiques évaluatives sur les décisions prises. / This study was designed to analyse undergraduate programme reviews of languages for specific purposes (LSP) in order to discover the stakes and the pertinence of this training offered at Canadian institutions of higher learning. The three research questions are: • Which Canadian institutions of higher learning offer curricula integrating competences in LSP and professional know-how? • Taking into account the nature and function of LSP programs and courses within higher education, what are the major stakes? • What are the most frequent recommendations found in the external reviewers’ program assessments, taking into account the nature and function of LSP programs and courses? The analysis revealed that the most important stakes in providing quality, pertinent training in LSP are contribution of course content to professional training; correspondence to the needs of the learners; systematic programme evaluation including proof for decision-making; systematic programme revision, updating and evaluation; interdisciplinary and interuniversity collaboration; teaching language competences related to the underlying professional discipline; teaching intercultural perspectives; constitutive or instrumental objective of language acquisition; professionalization of the discipline rather than the “service” function; promoting programmes, collaborations and international exchanges; integrating information and communication technologies; and providing learners with opportunities for formal language certification in LSP. The external evaluators recommended modernising and reorganising courses, setting up collaborations, improving international exchanges and methods for promoting them, elaborating strategies for studying and implementing initiatives, promoting the benefits of language study to other disciplines and faculties, creating strategies for programme revision, and formulating plans of action to take advantage of new technological resources. These findings therefore shed light on the value of the formative function of curriculum evaluation mechanisms for the field of language teaching and on the stakes involved for teaching practitioners in providing quality, pertinent LSP training. They also shed light on the importance and the impact of evaluation practices on decision-making.

This classroom ethnography documents the developing critical literacy pedagogy of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructor over the course of several terms. My research, which involved extensive collaboration with the EAP instructor, explores how specific classroom practices and discourses are enacted and mediated through dialogic intertextualities, material objects, and social actions that frame representations about language, literacy, and what Lefebvre (1988) called “le quotidien” – the everyday, and how these affect the students’ meaning-making potential in specific ways. It also traces the contours (and detours) of the instructor’s classroom practices after the researcher’s mediation in the form of collaborative inquiries on functional grammar and critical literacy, and the effects of these classroom practices on making meaning in her EAP classes. I consider several issues from an integrated theory and practice perspective. Because of an urgent need to understand the students’ practices and epistemologies as they engage in ever newer forms of multimodal text productions, I contend that EAP classroom practices must be reshaped to facilitate more (inter)active engagements of the multimodal texts that saturate students’ lives, both inside the class and outside. Related to this, I highlight in my classroom data what actually counts as the ‘critical’ or the ‘uncritical’ in this EAP classroom and argue why these distinctions matter. Lastly, I suggest ways in which the role of a critical multiliteracies education in EAP can meet the pragmatic needs of both students and teachers. My research contributes to a much-needed dialogue between critically oriented researchers and practitioners in the field of TESOL/Applied Linguistics by bridging the gap between theory and practice. The lessons learned from this collaborative classroom praxis point to concrete ways to help EAP teachers and students utilize their meaning-making potential. This involves equipping them with an expanded social semiotic tool-kit that can enable them to not only meet their immediate academic needs, but also help create a more active and possibly transformative role in the social constructions of discourse, language, and society. This doctoral dissertation has implications for those who are involved in EAP teaching and research, curriculum planning, teacher training, and student needs assessment.

This study addresses the topic of class consciousness and the radical educator. Using the theory of revolutionary critical pedagogy and Marxist humanism I examine the impact of formative experience and class consciousness on my own radical praxis across three continents. The methodology of auto/biography is used to interrogate my own life history. I excavate my own formative experience in Scotland, Canada and my radical praxis as a human rights educator in Ghana West Africa. The study is particularly interested in the possibility of a radical educator transgressing across race, whiteness and gender while working in Ghana, West Africa. Chapter One begins by discussing the theory of revolutionary critical pedagogy, Marxist humanism and theories of the self. Chapter Two assesses the methodology of auto/biography,research methods and an introduction to formative experience. Chapter Three, Four and Five contain excavation sites from Scotland, Canada and Ghana with accompanying analysis. Chapter Six concludes with a summary of research findings.

This classroom ethnography documents the developing critical literacy pedagogy of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructor over the course of several terms. My research, which involved extensive collaboration with the EAP instructor, explores how specific classroom practices and discourses are enacted and mediated through dialogic intertextualities, material objects, and social actions that frame representations about language, literacy, and what Lefebvre (1988) called “le quotidien” – the everyday, and how these affect the students’ meaning-making potential in specific ways. It also traces the contours (and detours) of the instructor’s classroom practices after the researcher’s mediation in the form of collaborative inquiries on functional grammar and critical literacy, and the effects of these classroom practices on making meaning in her EAP classes. I consider several issues from an integrated theory and practice perspective. Because of an urgent need to understand the students’ practices and epistemologies as they engage in ever newer forms of multimodal text productions, I contend that EAP classroom practices must be reshaped to facilitate more (inter)active engagements of the multimodal texts that saturate students’ lives, both inside the class and outside. Related to this, I highlight in my classroom data what actually counts as the ‘critical’ or the ‘uncritical’ in this EAP classroom and argue why these distinctions matter. Lastly, I suggest ways in which the role of a critical multiliteracies education in EAP can meet the pragmatic needs of both students and teachers. My research contributes to a much-needed dialogue between critically oriented researchers and practitioners in the field of TESOL/Applied Linguistics by bridging the gap between theory and practice. The lessons learned from this collaborative classroom praxis point to concrete ways to help EAP teachers and students utilize their meaning-making potential. This involves equipping them with an expanded social semiotic tool-kit that can enable them to not only meet their immediate academic needs, but also help create a more active and possibly transformative role in the social constructions of discourse, language, and society. This doctoral dissertation has implications for those who are involved in EAP teaching and research, curriculum planning, teacher training, and student needs assessment.

This study addresses the topic of class consciousness and the radical educator. Using the theory of revolutionary critical pedagogy and Marxist humanism I examine the impact of formative experience and class consciousness on my own radical praxis across three continents. The methodology of auto/biography is used to interrogate my own life history. I excavate my own formative experience in Scotland, Canada and my radical praxis as a human rights educator in Ghana West Africa. The study is particularly interested in the possibility of a radical educator transgressing across race, whiteness and gender while working in Ghana, West Africa. Chapter One begins by discussing the theory of revolutionary critical pedagogy, Marxist humanism and theories of the self. Chapter Two assesses the methodology of auto/biography,research methods and an introduction to formative experience. Chapter Three, Four and Five contain excavation sites from Scotland, Canada and Ghana with accompanying analysis. Chapter Six concludes with a summary of research findings.

Achieving equitable opportunities to learn has been recognized as an important issue in multilingual content classrooms. However, partially because mathematics is conceptualized as a language-free subject, there is limited research examining linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this research is to identify linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms in a Canadian multilingual urban elementary school, where English was the main instructional language. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory, this study focuses on two aspects of learning: externalization, which emphasizes learners’ creation of new cultural artifacts and new contexts to apply the given artifacts, and internalization, which emphasizes learners’ acquisition of preexisting cultural artifacts. In this ethnographic study, I examined the activity systems of participatory action research (PAR) with the activity system of regular mathematics lessons. Within these activity systems, I focused on newly-arrived English language learners’ (ELLs) participation. Specifically, I examined the range of opportunities to learn afforded to students in the two activity systems and identified how focal ELLs accessed these opportunities to learn. In the activity system of PAR, which emphasized externalization, students conducted research and presented their conclusions in order to implement changes in their school environment. All students, however, did not participate equally. Specifically, the focal ELLs were not able to access these opportunities to learn as a result of group dynamics, marginalized social identities, and other students’ perceptions of their linguistic ability. In the activity system of regular mathematics lessons, which emphasized internalization, the teacher organized lessons in ways that allowed focal ELLs to receive extra support and resources to reach the curriculum expectations. These mathematics lessons allowed focal ELLs to increase their participation through mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and explanations with a variety of resources including visual representations. A critical examination of the interactions revealed that focal ELLs’ opportunities to learn were expanded or limited depending upon classroom configurations. Furthermore, this research suggests that students’ social identities serve as both a medium and a product of learning. These results have valuable implications for developing inclusive classroom practices and curriculum in multilingual content classrooms.

Achieving equitable opportunities to learn has been recognized as an important issue in multilingual content classrooms. However, partially because mathematics is conceptualized as a language-free subject, there is limited research examining linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this research is to identify linguistic minority students’ opportunities to learn in mathematics classrooms in a Canadian multilingual urban elementary school, where English was the main instructional language. Drawing on cultural historical activity theory, this study focuses on two aspects of learning: externalization, which emphasizes learners’ creation of new cultural artifacts and new contexts to apply the given artifacts, and internalization, which emphasizes learners’ acquisition of preexisting cultural artifacts. In this ethnographic study, I examined the activity systems of participatory action research (PAR) with the activity system of regular mathematics lessons. Within these activity systems, I focused on newly-arrived English language learners’ (ELLs) participation. Specifically, I examined the range of opportunities to learn afforded to students in the two activity systems and identified how focal ELLs accessed these opportunities to learn. In the activity system of PAR, which emphasized externalization, students conducted research and presented their conclusions in order to implement changes in their school environment. All students, however, did not participate equally. Specifically, the focal ELLs were not able to access these opportunities to learn as a result of group dynamics, marginalized social identities, and other students’ perceptions of their linguistic ability. In the activity system of regular mathematics lessons, which emphasized internalization, the teacher organized lessons in ways that allowed focal ELLs to receive extra support and resources to reach the curriculum expectations. These mathematics lessons allowed focal ELLs to increase their participation through mathematical reasoning, problem solving, and explanations with a variety of resources including visual representations. A critical examination of the interactions revealed that focal ELLs’ opportunities to learn were expanded or limited depending upon classroom configurations. Furthermore, this research suggests that students’ social identities serve as both a medium and a product of learning. These results have valuable implications for developing inclusive classroom practices and curriculum in multilingual content classrooms.

Cette recherche avait pour objectif d’analyser les évaluations de programmes d’études en langues de spécialité de 1er cycle universitaire afin de dégager les enjeux et la pertinence de ces formations. Trois questions de recherche sont poursuivies : • Quels établissements d’enseignement supérieur canadiens offrent des programmes d’études professionnalisant intégrant des compétences langagières sur objectifs spécifiques et le savoir-faire professionnel? • Compte tenu de la nature et de la fonction des programmes et des cours de langues de spécialité au sein des établissements d’enseignement supérieur, - quels sont les enjeux principaux ? - quelles sont les recommandations les plus fréquentes dans les rapports des évaluateurs externes ? L’analyse révèle que les enjeux principaux sont l’apport des formations aux besoins d’emploi ; la correspondance aux besoins des bénéficiaires ; l’évaluation systématique et justifiée lors de la prise de décisions ; la révision, mise à jour et évaluation systématique des programmes ; la collaboration interdisciplinaire et interuniversitaire ; l’enseignement des compétences langagières de la discipline professionnelle sous-jacente ; l’enseignement de la perspective interculturelle ; l’objectif constitutif ou instrumental de l’acquisition des langues ; la professionnalisation de la discipline au lieu de la fonction « service » ; la promotion de programmes, de collaborations et d’échanges internationaux ; l’intégration des TIC ; et la certification en langue de spécialité. Les évaluateurs externes recommandent la modernisation et la réorganisation des cours, la mise sur pied des collaborations, l’amélioration des formules et de l’offre des échanges internationaux, l’élaboration des stratégies pour étudier et planifier le lancement des initiatives, la promotion des bénéfices des connaissances langagières auprès des autres disciplines et facultés, la création des stratégies de révision de programme, et la mise en place des dispositifs pour profiter de nouvelles ressources technologiques. Ainsi, dans un premier temps, les résultats permettent d’apporter à la didactique des langues un éclairage sur la valeur de la fonction formative des mécanismes d’évaluation de programme. Dans un deuxième temps, ils apportent aux praticiens un éclairage sur la qualité, la pertinence et les enjeux des formations en langue de spécialité et un éclairage sur l’importance et l’impact des pratiques évaluatives sur les décisions prises. / This study was designed to analyse undergraduate programme reviews of languages for specific purposes (LSP) in order to discover the stakes and the pertinence of this training offered at Canadian institutions of higher learning. The three research questions are: • Which Canadian institutions of higher learning offer curricula integrating competences in LSP and professional know-how? • Taking into account the nature and function of LSP programs and courses within higher education, what are the major stakes? • What are the most frequent recommendations found in the external reviewers’ program assessments, taking into account the nature and function of LSP programs and courses? The analysis revealed that the most important stakes in providing quality, pertinent training in LSP are contribution of course content to professional training; correspondence to the needs of the learners; systematic programme evaluation including proof for decision-making; systematic programme revision, updating and evaluation; interdisciplinary and interuniversity collaboration; teaching language competences related to the underlying professional discipline; teaching intercultural perspectives; constitutive or instrumental objective of language acquisition; professionalization of the discipline rather than the “service” function; promoting programmes, collaborations and international exchanges; integrating information and communication technologies; and providing learners with opportunities for formal language certification in LSP. The external evaluators recommended modernising and reorganising courses, setting up collaborations, improving international exchanges and methods for promoting them, elaborating strategies for studying and implementing initiatives, promoting the benefits of language study to other disciplines and faculties, creating strategies for programme revision, and formulating plans of action to take advantage of new technological resources. These findings therefore shed light on the value of the formative function of curriculum evaluation mechanisms for the field of language teaching and on the stakes involved for teaching practitioners in providing quality, pertinent LSP training. They also shed light on the importance and the impact of evaluation practices on decision-making.