Invited Colloquia
A Needed Shift in Language Education: Action Rather than Perfection
A Needed Shift in Language Education: Action Rather than Perfection
Brian North is a researcher and consultant to the Council of Europe. After developing the levels and descriptors for the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), he co-authored the CEFR and prototype European Language Portfolio. Recent projects include the CEFR Companion Volume, a study of CEFR use in Canada and Switzerland and alignment of the Canadian Language Benchmarks and CEFR.
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Enrica Piccardo is a Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Education at OISE – University of Toronto and the Head of the Centre for Educational research in Languages and Literacies. She has extensive experience international in second/foreign language education research, teacher development and teaching of multiple languages. A collaborator with the Council of Europe (CoE) since 2008 and co-author of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Companion Volume (2018), she has coordinated various international research projects both in Canada and in Europe. Her research includes language teaching approaches and curricula, multi/plurilingualism, creativity and complexity in language education, and assessment.
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Kristin Snoddon is Associate Professor with the School of Early Childhood Studies, Ryerson University. Her research and professional experience includes collaborative work with deaf communities in developing sign language and early literacy programming for young deaf children and their parents. Her recent research has focused on developing a parent American Sign Language curriculum that is aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Additionally, she analyzes policy issues related to inclusive education, sign language rights and acquisition planning for ASL.
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Before moving to Quebec, Dr. Diane Querrien taught French as a foreign language (FLE) in Brittany (France) to learners of all ages. Subsequently, she started working with young migrants and developed an interest in the training of French teachers. She then completed her thesis with a focus on training teachers working with multilingual students in school settings in Quebec. She is currently the Director of a Graduate program in Didactics and Applied Linguistics for FSL Teaching at Concordia University. Her research focuses on the initiatives of the regional school communities to support the development of French among multilingual students, as well as the teaching of French as a second/foreign language in higher education, and FSL teacher education.
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Mirela Cherciov completed her PhD at the Department of French Studies, University of Toronto. Her thesis, partly supported by SSHRC and OGS grants, focused on the sociolinguistic factors linked to L1 attrition in adult immigrants. Her current research topics of interest include - in addition to issues related to language maintenance, attrition, and development across the lifespan - plurilingual approaches to language teaching and learning, translanguaging, Dynamic Systems Theory and language dominance shift, classroom-based research, integration of learning strategies in FSL, French for academic and specific purposes, experiential learning, interdisciplinary approaches to language learning, cognition and emotion. She has taught various applied linguistics, didactics and FSL courses at the University of Toronto, Brock University, York University – Glendon Bilingual Campus as well as worked in curriculum design and teaching for a plurilingual heritage school in Toronto. She is currently teaching methodology and didactics for teaching reading to FSL students in a minority language context at St. George Campus, University of Toronto.
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Danielle Hunter is a FSL teacher with the Durham District School Board. During her 19 years as an educator, she has taught in both the secondary and elementary panels, served as Safe Schools facilitator, and has contributed in a variety of ways to second language education. Danielle has co-authored multiple published resources on the Action-Oriented Approach and the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB). Danielle co-presented at the Council of Europe, and contributed to an international publication by the Council of Europe. She was part of the provincial writing team for the revised FSL Ontario Curriculum. Danielle holds a MEd from the University of Toronto, and is a provincial mediator for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF).
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Mary Grantham O’Brien is a Professor of German in the School and Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on the perception and production of second language speech and listener reactions to non-native speech. She is ultimately interested in the extent to which second language learners are able to use what they have learned to successfully communicate both in- and outside of the classroom.
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