Research

Selected Research

Research Projects

This project focuses on social justice topics across languages and cultures. It seeks to explore how the study of languages helps learners to understand social justice issues, how these issues inform world-language study, and how social justice pedagogy equips students with the skills and knowledge to actively participate in academic, professional, and civic life. It promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and access across languages and cultures and examines how language can contribute to marginalization and empowerment.

This project addresses educational challenges students face as they transition from high school to university and offers more language-awareness, linguistically supported language learning experience. The online training provides students with tools to analyze the core building blocks of each language, enabling them to grasp core linguistic concepts and use them as resources in the language classroom. Our educational tool covers how languages function and are learned as well as how to integrate knowledge from earlier acquired languages to facilitate language learning. The project also assesses the effectiveness of developed training.

Research Assistants: W. Lindinger, E. Langlois

Supported by: AVPA Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grant.

The Fundamentals of Language and Language Learning is an online mini course developed at the School of Languages and Literatures (University of Guelph). The 10-15 hours of asynchronous autonomous work equip students with a toolbox for effective language learning in a second/foreign language classroom. Students explore how languages are structured, function, change, interconnected with each other and how they could use this knowledge for faster, easier, more effective, and more sustainable language learning. The mini course empowers the second/foreign language learner through activating earlier acquired languages and by applying fundamentals of linguistics into the process of language learning.

Co-Investigator: L. Smeets

Collaborators: E.-A. Cominetti, P. Rodriguez-Mata, W. Lindinger, N. Duarte, D. March

Supported by: SSHRC Institutional Grants and Learning Enhancement Fund.

This project examines the role of machine translation (DeepL) and online dictionaries (Word Reference, Linguee) in second language learning in a Canadian classroom. Do these tools belong to the language classroom? How to manage their use? How to use this technology as a pedagogical tool without compromising academic performance? How to train students and faculty to use machine tools effectively? This is one of the first studies investigating the pedagogical use of neuronal machine translator DeepL in FSL in Canadian classroom.

Research Assistant: C. Costaris

This project explores the application of genre-based approaches (face-to-face and online) in FSL Canadian classrooms.

Co-Investigators: M.-E. Lebel, U. Viswanathan

Research Assistants: A. Rosner, E. Dashko, D. Vuckovic

Supported by: Ontario Human Capital Research and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF) and Junior Faculty Fund.

Digital Projects

This project was developed as an open education resource in collaboration with a former University of Guelph Master’s student. This resource is used in French courses in the department of French Studies (SOLAL) and is, more generally, open to be used by any institution and instructor.

Co-Investigator: C. Costaris

Online Dictionaries Training: Linguee [Open Resource].

This project was developed as an open education resource in collaboration with a former University of Guelph Master’s student. This resource is used in French courses in the department of French Studies (SOLAL) and is, more generally, open to be used by any institution and instructor.

Co-Investigator: C. Costaris

Machine Translation Training Workshop: DeepL [Open Resource].