Dr. Angelica Galante’sĚýresearch on plurilingual instruction has the potential to increase student engagement among immigrant students and their Canadian-born counterparts.Ěý
The is pleased to honour Dr. Angelica Galante – Assistant Professor at Ŕ¦°óSMÉçÇř’s Faculty of Education – as the PhD-level category recipient of the 2019 Award for Early Career Research in Education. This prestigious award recognizes Dr. Galante’s exceptional leadership in exploring and showcasing teacher professional development opportunities and practical classroom practices that engage students from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds in learning about different languages and cultures.
“Plurilingual pedagogy, although still in its early years in Canada, is much needed particularly because of the rapid change in demographics with many students from immigrant, refugee, and international backgrounds becoming ever more present in our schools,” explains Dr. Angelica Galante. “While both researchers and educators have known for at over two decades that valuing students’ languages, cultures, and identities sparks a great sense of pride and engagement among students, educators are consistently facing roadblocks in how to practically leverage students’ home languages and their unique cultures in the classroom.”
As an emerging scholar and Director ofĚýŔ¦°óSMÉçÇř’s Plurilingual Lab, Dr. Galante has mobilized research nationally to raise awareness about the important need to shift language pedagogy and policy in Canada away from one-language classroom approaches, which do little to support and validate students who wish to learn one of Canada’s official languages, an Indigenous language, or a heritage language. Dr. Galante has also launched theĚý“Breaking the Invisible Wall”Ěýwebsite to equip educators to learn about research on plurilingualism,ĚýobserveĚýprojects developed by language students, and explore pedagogical resources that can be used in the classroom.
“Many students in our classrooms speak multiple languages at home, which is a great opportunity for creating classroom activities where students can share these languages with each other while also learning new languages,” says Dr. Heather Kanuka, Chair of the EdCan Network Awards Committee and Full Professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education. “Dr. Angelica Galante’s research does not simply remain on paper, but rather has true potential to impact beyond academia in ways that encourage more educators to reap the benefits of multilingual activities within their classrooms.”
Read original post .
Ěý
