I am interested in English as an Additional Language (EAL) in the workplace and how we can support that in classrooms. I use a language socialization framework to understand how newcomers engage in self directed language learning in the workplace.  

On this page, you will find links to my academic and non academic articles. I welcome all comments, suggestions, ideas and conversation on this subject.

kwiebe01@mail.ubc.ca

Self taught: a case study of successful strategies, practices, and affordances used by newcomers engaged in English as an additional language learning in the workplace

In recent years, British Columbia has welcomed more newcomers than ever before (Mendicino, 2019). British Columbia’s newcomers, many of whom speak English as an additional language (EAL), bring valuable skills, training, and experience to the Canadian workplace. These workspaces become places of ad lib, self-directed EAL learning. The new EAL skills acquired within the workplace, in turn complement and build on the resources newcomers already bring, to the benefit of coworkers, employers, and the community. Understanding and supporting self-driven EAL learning facilitates newcomers realizing their potential in a new place. This qualitative case study (Duff & Anderson, 2015) used a series of interviews and a focus group to look at the successful self driven language learning strategies, practices, and tools used by newcomers as they learn EAL in the workplace. Following an additional language socialization framework (Duff, 2007; Duff & Talmy, 2011), data collected suggested that sympathetic interlocutors play a key role in workplace language learning through direct and indirect support, correction, and language learning synthesis. Further, interlocutors…

Unsellable: Toward (Re)construction of Global Citizenship Education Outside of Neoliberal Discourses

Global Citizenship Education (GCE) is a form of curricular learning that aims to create a way of thinking about people and the planet in terms of betterment and equality. This study examines selected bodies of GCE research and situates emerging themes around national conversations which appear as public comments on a major media source. The study finds themes of inconsistent conceptualizations, neoliberalism, power, voices, transformation, and valuation. It argues that GCE should focus on identity formation centred around Indigenous understandings of the web of interconnectedness. In this way, knowledge co-production, responsibility, and larger loyalties are brought to bear on balancing the whole environment.

Task Time, Clock Time, COVID and the EAL Classroom

…I witness (and experience) workplace interruptions daily through Zoom. Observers’ reactions range between humour, boredom and concern depending on the situation. However, the most significant reaction I observe is from the person who is being interrupted. Homesphere interruptions into the virtual workplace are unpredictable and powerful events that influence the teacher’s ability to focus and connect. Over the past seven months, I have witnessed exasperation, annoyance and dismay as a result…  

Holistic Classrooms, Community Engagement and the Wired Window

…WE ALL HOPE that COVID is a temporary driver, but based on virtual “coffee” conversations, educators believe that online EAL education is here to stay. That means it is time to start gathering in key elements of the classroom which were left behind in the rush. One tool in the box of EAL education which has not survived the leap from real to virtual, is local community involvement, a core feature of holistic education…

Reunion: A Virtual Classroom Becomes a Reconnection Space During the COVID Crisis

IN MARAVALLE, a community on the outskirts of Mexico City, Rodrigo Cervassi’s* roles as both an English Language Teacher and an MA student in Distance Education have placed him at the centre of a busy online teaching schedule. I recently participated in one of his online classes…

Edu(va)cation: Hunting for Boundaries in the Birthplace of English Language Education

I ATTENDED the Oxford University English Language Teachers’ Summer Seminar (ELTSS) in August 2019. For two weeks students live the Oxford University experience, navigate new geographies and friendships and study the practice of teaching English as an additional language (EAL). There were 69 students in this year’s cohort, coming from countries as diverse as the UAE, India, Bangladesh, Russia, China, Macau, Japan, Inner Mongolia, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Peru, Chile and Mexico…