PhD Oral Exam - Rhonda Chung, Education

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

This two-manuscript dissertation explores how two imperial and non-Indigenous languages in Canada (English and French) can resist replicating monolingual and colonial traditions though plurilingual pedagogies and online tools. In Chapter 1, an overview of the ecolinguistic framework that all chapters are rooted in is presented. It explores how multimodal and plurilingual activities build learners’ relationships to their nested macro- to micro-sized socioecosystems. This framework is then extended to a discussion of ecological technologies and pedagogies.

Chapter 2 (Manuscript A) focuses on the struggles that language learners experience when engaging with speakers of different language varieties. This difficulty is often explained by a lack of exposure to sociophonetic variability in classroom materials with the emphasis instead on teaching the (usually invariable) standard variety. Focusing on the French second language (FSL) context, our understanding of sociophonetic variation in the classroom comes primarily from textbook studies; little empirical evidence has quantified the amount and kind of social speech markers (e.g., age, gender, race, region, native speaker status) found in FSL audiovisual curriculum. Using a comparative case study, this chapter examines the audiovisual materials of two FSL classroom contexts: the university and the government sponsored francisation course. Interviews and questionnaires elicited FSL instructors’ criteria for selecting materials, and their experiences with and attitude towards including social speech marker variation in their curriculum. Additionally, audiovisual materials from each instructor collected over a semester were categorized and analysed by five social speech markers and clip length. Results showed that instructors held positive viewpoints towards including variation; however, audiovisual materials from both settings were invariant across the markers of age, race, region, native speaker status and sourced mostly from mass media. Specifically, the materials excluded elderly, adolescent, children, racialized, non-native speakers and varieties from regions other than Quebec. Suggestions for incorporating more varied materials in the curriculum are highlighted and form the basis of the second manuscript.

To address the lack of variation found in the imperial L2 curriculum in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 (Manuscript B) introduces Parlure Games, a computer-assisted language-learning tool that promotes exposure to and interaction with those speakers absent from audiovisual materials (e.g., elderly, racialized) using non-mass media and online mapping. Parlure Games has three teaching goals: exposure to sociophonetic variation, development of plurilingual competencies, and opportunities to visualize and critically discuss imperialism’s territorial expansionism. Following a four-level chronological framework, Manuscript B reports on the first three stages: (1) the development of Parlure Games in alignment with high variability phonetic training (HVPT) methods; (2) an exploration of its pedagogical affordances based on ecolinguistic principles; and (3) its suitability for achieving the three teaching goals, as evaluated through the Technology Assessment Model-2 (TAM2). While the first two levels are conceptual and design-oriented in scope, the third is empirical: Drawing on TAM-2-informed data, seventeen undergraduate TESL teacher candidates rated Parlure Games highly, suggesting strong adoption intentions. Based on these findings and user feedback, we provide a revised model for the tool’s in-classroom implementation, preparing it for deployment for the final stage of the adopted chronological framework.

In the final chapter, the main findings of each manuscript are reviewed, and the value of plurilingual ecolinguistic tools for enhancing the teaching and learning of imperial languages ecologically is reaffirmed. The studies’ limitations are outlined, followed by a set of plurilingual ecopedagogical, Landguaging activities that address the entanglement of language and land in imperial language teaching contexts, repairing imperialism’s sociecological relationship with land.