UPEI Professor Appointed Scholar-in-Residence for Official Languages
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has recognized Dr. Miles Turnbull's expertise in French as a second language education (FSL). Dr. Turnbull is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island. The SSHRC peer-review adjudication committee recently selected him as one of two Virtual Scholars-in-Residence for Official Languages. These positions are supported under the Official Languages Research and Dissemination Program, a joint initiative with the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Dr. Turnbull will work through the Official Languages Support Programs Branch of Canadian Heritage to help advance research on minority community issues, second-language learning, and the promotion of linguistic duality to all Canadians. In the 2006-2007 academic year he will focus on three themes related to the socio-cultural and socio-political realities of French as a second language education in Canada.
He will work with Dr. Scott Kissau of Windsor, Ontario to examine issues related to males in FSL education. They will focus on understanding, recruiting, and retaining males in FSL studies. With Callie Mady, a doctoral candidate from the University of Toronto, Dr. Turnbull will also produce a research agenda and policy recommendations relating to the inclusion of new Canadians in FSL programs. The third component of his research will include a large-scale, pan-Canadian project examining school administrators' and guidance counsellors' perspectives on FSL education.
"This award is a considerable coup for Dr. Turnbull and for UPEI," says Dr. Graham Pike, UPEI Dean of Education "Miles is at the forefront of FSL scholarship in Canada and his expertise in this area has given a tremendous boost to French as a Second Language in the province."
For the past three years Dr. Turnbull has coordinated the Bachelor's Degree in Education with specialization in French Immersion program. This is offered at UPEI in collaboration with the Universitand#233; de Moncton. He will hold the SSHRC Scholar-in-Residence position for the 2006-2007 academic year.
