Current Research Project

 

2009-2012: Mulitple Literacies and becoming citizen: Putting different knowledges to work in different ways. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Standard Grant (SSHRC). Masny, Ibrahim, Fleming, Bangou.

 

Mulitple Literacies and becoming citizen:

Putting different knowledges to work in different ways

Immigration and literacies, specifically pop culture and Information and Communication technologies (ICT), are often intertwined. The objective of this project is to understand how they intersect in becoming-citizen. The current concept of literacies developed in Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT) (Masny 2006, 2008) examines the connection of dominant discourses (programs and policies, and discourses of a normed society) to counter-discourses of citizenship articulated in school and at home. MLT allows us to study the grand narrative of citizenship as a territory bound to a nation in order to deterritorialize citizenship through MLT and reterritorialize citizenship as becoming-citizen.

Twenty percent of people living in Canada are foreign-born (Statistics Canada, 2006) and this percentage will increase as profiles of Canadian communities change. As immigrants arrive to Canada, they gravitate towards French or English-language communities (Floch, 2003). Current immigration in Ontario is largely from Africa, South East Asia, and the Middle East. Meanwhile, multidirectional capacities of new media, promoted by innovations in ICT, foster greater globalization and effective transnational movements; complicating the inclusion of immigrants into nation-states and existing participatory structures. More research should focus on how the newcomer opting for English or French as the lingua franca is positioned in this era of globalization and transnational movements and their bidirectional relationship with pop culture and ICT, multiple literacies (Block 2007, Falk, 2000; Kumaravadivelu, 2008; Mathews, 2000; Morgan & Ramanathan, 2005; Pennycook, 2007). Moreover, in French minority language communities, there is little research on racial and linguistic diversity (Gallant & Denis, 2008; Gerin-Lajoie & Jacquet, 2008; Ibrahim, 2008; Madibbo & Maury, 2002; Chambon et al., 2001). Accordingly, our focus is on (1) immigrant families and their children attending French and English language schools as they interact with literacies, pop culture and ICT, in becoming-citizen at school and at home; (2) how the interaction between literacies and becoming-citizen might fundamentally shift, for all Canadians. For immigrant youth living in a world where ICT and pop culture prevail, how are multiple literacies in the context of dominant/counter-discourses in school and at home performed in becoming-citizen; (3) how such literacies contribute to transforming language communities, English and French; and (4) what the implications are for federal immigration policies, citizenship programs, and provincial educational programs, curriculum, and classroom practices.

Our research team will conduct this study in Ottawa, a city with one of the largest immigrant populations in English language schools in Canada. A qualitative case study over a three-year period focuses on 8 families whose children/students range in age from 13 to 15 years old and attend English-language schools. Both female and male students will be selected. The data collection includes (1) observations in class and at home, (2) interviews with parents, students, and teachers, and (3) artifacts (policy documents, Facebook,…). Artifacts, such as policy documents and curriculum, constitute dominant discourses on being-Canadian and Canadian citizenship. We maintain that it is through these documents that host communities are constructed and impacted by immigration and citizenship. Applying MLT, the results highlight how dominant discourses and counter-discursive readings shape becoming-citizen; how becoming-citizen is performed through literacies, manifested as pop culture and ICT in school and at home; and the ways immigrant youth contribute to de/reterritorializing the grand narrative of citizenship. This has social and educational implications for all Canadian citizens. This study demonstrates the analytic usefulness of MLT and adds to the research on how citizenship is performed through multiple literacies in both language communities in school and at home. With youth invested in pop culture and ICT, how do these literacies shape conceptualization and perception of becoming-citizen? This project, one in a series that builds on the current findings of this study, exposes the complexity of MLT and processes involved in becoming-citizen and thus can inform and transform citizenship and immigration policies, school practices and curriculum.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2010-2012: Immigrant Families & Multiple Literacies: Policy, classroom, and community connections across Australia and Canada. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, International Opportunities Fund (SSHRC). Masny, Cole.

 

Immigrant Families & Multiple Literacies: Policy, classroom, and community connections across Australia and Canada

by Diana Masny & David R. Cole

This project is multidimensional; focusing on adolescents' and adults' uses and perceptions of first and second language literacies and how these literacies interrelate in reading, reading the world, and self. We want to know how school-based literacies that the child and adult bring home interrelate with home-based (heritage/community) literacy. This project stems from one just completed by Masny (2005-2008). By working with families in the home, we aim to gain insights into the complexity of literacies (personal critical, and community) in every day contexts. This Canadian-Australian project is intended to inform and transform educational and immigration programs in Canada and will contribute to transnational knowledge mobilization in language and literacies education in immigrant populations.

The objectives of this project are to (1) study how immigrant families (adults and their adolescents) learn a second language and literacy, (2) examine how learning a second language and literacy interrelates with their first (heritage/community) language and literacy in the context of school and home, (3) ascertain the impact of the interplay between first and second languages and literacies on how adults and adolescents read, read the world, and self within a Multiple Literacies Theory framework, and (4) examine Australian language and literacy education policies, programs, and curricula in light of the Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT).

The research questions are as follows:
(1) How do immigrant families (adults and their adolescent children) learn a second language and literacy?
(2) What is the interrelationship of the first language and literacy with the second language and literacy in the context of the school and home?
(3) How does this interrelationship impact adults and adolescents who operate with more than one language and literacy system?
(4) Through the analytical lens of MLT, how are language and literacy positioned in policies, program, curricula, and resource documents in both adult and adolescent English as a Second Language (ESL) programs? How do these documents frame reading, reading the world, and self?

This qualitative study, which will be conducted in Australia, combines logs, home observations, interviews, viewing, reflections, open-ended interviews, and documents from home and school (Scheurich, 1997). Four families will be selected with adults attending ESL classes, while adolescents are enrolled in an ESL program at school. The rationale for choosing adolescents is to focus on an age group that is not often foregrounded in family literacy research. In addition, literacy issues are critical as adolescents are closer to entering college/university and the workforce. The home language of the participants is either Arabic or Mandarin, the two largest immigration language groups in Australia.

Through our research, we aim to demonstrate that Multiple Literacies Theory developed by Masny (2001, 2006, 2009) constitutes a new development in literacy paradigms as a response to contemporary literacy challenges: globalization, multilingualism, and digital knowledge economies. The fundamental importance of the application is therefore to provide a coherent articulation of this approach that may be henceforth used for policy development, curriculum innovation, and pedagogy in Canada and Australia. It will also serve as a theoretical platform for new research in education in Canada and Australia. Both countries share similar educational issues in terms of immigration and literacy. This project will act to clarify a new theoretical approach to underpin research in these areas.