Advancing Agency in Language Education

SSHRC-funded project exploring language teachers’ agency through plurilingual, action-oriented, and technology-mediated approaches.

AALE Toolkit

About the Project

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AALE is a collaborative cross-Canadian research project aiming to support language teacher and student agency in the design, use, and implementation of action-oriented, technology-mediated, and plurilingual pedagogies.

This project is a collaboration among the University of Toronto, York University, University of Ottawa, and McGill University, and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

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AALE at a Glance

Provinces
Linguistically Diverse Areas
Languages
+
Participants
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Project Background

The LINCDIRE Project

Our project originated from The LINCDIRE (The LINguistic and Cultural DIversity REinvented (https://www.lincdireproject.org/) project, which developed and piloted an innovative pedagogical framework embedding an action-oriented, technology-mediated, and plurilingual approach. This approach was structured around real-life scenarios and supported by an interactive website and an online portfolio e-portfolio with reflective and interactive self-assessment tools. 

LINCDIRE Results

The LINCDIRE results confirmed that the pedagogical resources developed encouraged plurilingual attitudes and behaviour, learner engagement, and action-oriented, collaborative language learning. The data also provided evidence that some teachers were able to develop a sense of agency and openness towards innovative approaches to pedagogy.

Advancing Agency in Language Education (AALE)

One of the LINCDIRE projects’ findings was that, while some teachers developed a sense of agency and openness towards innovative pedagogies, others were more hesitant and tended to rely on traditional activities driven by decontextualized grammar and vocabulary in a monolingual perspective. Investigating this critical issue in collaboration with teachers is the main goal of the project Advancing Agency in Language Education (AALE). We aim to further understanding of the nature of teacher agency, within specific teaching and sociopolitical contexts, to inform effective strategies and modalities for professional development. 

AALE Draws from Three Pillars

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Plurilingualism

values learners’ linguistic/cultural resources

Technology-mediated learning

fosters agency and collaboration at the same time; allows flexible learner/teacher roles

Action-oriented approach

focuses on realistic, meaningful and transferable language use that promotes engaging, collaborative and non-linear learning activity.

The Project Aims to…

Examine the interplay between teacher beliefs, knowledge, context and practice in relation to the adoption of plurilingual, action-oriented, technology-mediated pedagogies;
Collaborate with teachers to design teacher-centered professional development strategies & resources (e.g., pedagogical toolkit) to facilitate and sustain pedagogical innovation;
Evaluate the capacity of the toolkit to initiate and sustain language teaching innovation in different contexts and language teaching traditions.