Paul J. Meighan-Chiblow, PhD Candidate in Educational Studies at McGill University, is the winner of the 2021 Multilingual Matters award. In the area of multilingual research, his work ranked highest among all graduate students who applied for the 2021 American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) virtual conference. The award will be presented at the AAAL conference in March 2021.
You can check out his presentation at the conference: (Re)viewing our relationships with the world: Foundations for decolonial and equitable English language learning. Here's the description of his presentation:
The mainstream ESL/EFL classroom can silence a rich tapestry of voices and identities through an imposition, either forced or covert, of a monolingual and monocultural learning environment. This paper contends that a more equitable and sustainable way to use language would be to question the dominant western, capitalistic worldview that informs ecologically and culturally destructive assumptions. This paper will conceptualize ways in which the “past”, “present” and “future” aspects of a learner can be more fully validated and embraced to foster a more decolonial, respectful and relational worldview in the ESL/EFL classroom. The “World (re)viewer” log is introduced to exemplify how heritage language pedagogy could be implemented in a way that (1) addresses the cognitive and linguistic imperialism of the colonial monolingual English classroom, (2) validates heritage, non-dominant knowledge systems and languages (such as those which are Indigenous), (3) fosters discussions and orientations for a more environmentally- and culturally- responsive sustainable future, and (4) promotes positive identity formation for all multilingual and multicultural learners.
Congratulations!
