Browsing by Author "Callaghan, Tonya D."

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    Am I Being Framed to Fit? English as Additional Language Learners’ Critical Perspectives on Western Academic Cultural Representation in Textbooks
    (2024-04-29) Chen, Danni; Hanson, Aubrey J.; Bhowmik, Subrata; Callaghan, Tonya D.
    English for Additional Language (EAL) textbooks have traditionally served as a primary resource for language learners to receive language input. These textbooks help learners become acquainted with the linguistic aspects of the language, as well as the cultural elements inherent in the English language. However, it is important to note that the language used in EAL textbooks to represent cultures is not neutral and is socially constructed within complex power relations. This study critically examines how two EAL textbooks, used in Canadian higher education, use language to represent Western academic cultures. It also explores the extent to which learners' academic community interactions have been addressed. By conducting Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with EAL learners, this study explores the qualitative manner in which features of Western academic cultures are revered and legitimized in two EAL textbooks used in Canadian higher education. The findings show that the EAL textbooks, rooted in different ideologies such as standard language ideology and linguistic imperialism, promote the values, characteristics, and practices of the dominant Western academic culture as a skill set, while excluding other academic cultures and positioning learners as deficient. This study contributes to promoting critical language awareness in English language education and provides insights for teachers and students to question the ideology, norms, and values that are present in curriculum artifacts, such as language textbooks, in order to build a more inclusive and equal learning environment. Additionally, textbook designers and publishers could use the findings to inform future textbook iterations.
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    Authenticating and Legitimizing Transgender Identities Online: A Discourse Analysis
    (2019-08-26) West, Alyssa Megan Marie; Strong, Tom; Wada, Kaori; Spring, Erin; Callaghan, Tonya D.
    The number of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) individuals who are presenting for counselling is increasing, and yet counsellors feel unprepared and lack confidence working with gender-variant people, which has resulted in negative therapeutic experiences. Consistent with social-justice practice, knowledge of how clients understand themselves is necessary to ensure the outcomes of counselling (Arthur & Collins, 2010a). A key resource TGNC individuals are using to engage in identity exploration are online communities. In this research I applied Potter and Wetherell’s (1987) approach to discourse analysis to explore the talk and text of three such online communities. I identified that the participants made sense of their identity using three discourses: (a) felt sense, (b) authenticity, and (c) legitimacy. I discuss these findings within the context of the current social climate and existing literature regarding TGNC individual’s identity development. I offer suggestions for infusing this insight into trans-affirmative counselling practice(s) and discuss implications for future research.
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    Controversial Credits: Secondary Students’ Education on Heteronormativity
    (2018-04-11) Surette, Tanya Elaine; Callaghan, Tonya D.; Field, James C.; Lund, Darren E.
    In January of 2016, the Alberta Government launched new Guidelines for Best Practices: Creating Learning Environments That Respect Diverse Sexual Orientations, Gender Identities, and Gender Expressions (Alberta Education, 2016). This document was in response to the growing awareness of the ongoing oppression, marginalization, and discrimination affecting gender and sexually diverse children, youth, families, and faculty in schools across the province. These guidelines were met with a series of reactions, with much backlash and controversy erupting in Southern Alberta, which exemplified the ongoing homophobic and transphobic sentiments commonplace to many of the residents in this area. This study explores the experiences of secondary students in public secular schools related to the topic of gender and sexual diversity and the impact of the heteronormative discourse operating within their schools and community on their developing attitudes, identities, and emotional and mental well-being. I employed a multi-method qualitative research framework involving 1) critical discourse analysis of the documents from three courses where topics pertaining to gender and sexuality are most likely to occur; and 2) multiple in-depth semi-structured interviews with 6 secondary students. The central questions driving this study were: Are high school students’ perceptions of heteronormativity shaped by religious and secular aspects of the high school curriculum? If so, how? What practical insights can be applied to school policies and practices to inform more safe and inclusive school environments? To answer these questions, I drew upon critical theory and social justice scholars to explore how the forces of heteronormativity and privilege, particularly Christian privilege, are produced and reproduced in schools and how these forces maintain an ongoing oppressive and hostile school environment for gender and sexual minority students. The chief finding of this study is that, despite the efforts made through the recent release of the Guidelines for Best Practice (Alberta Education, 2016), gender and sexual minority youth are not experiencing a safe and inclusive school environment, with ongoing oppression experienced in multiple school spaces. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of participant-infused insights and wisdom for educators and educational leaders interested in creating more safe and inclusive learning environments.
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    Critical Understanding on Culture Teaching and Learning in English as a Second/Foreign Language Curriculum
    (2018-11-27) Guo, Fanrui; Callaghan, Tonya D.; Roy, Sylvie; Guo, Yan
    Most Chinese students who graduate with a college diploma or Bachelor degree have studied English as a foreign language for at least twelve years. However, many of them are still struggling with their performance, especially in the authentic English speaking context. As one of the Chinese students who study abroad, I realize there is a significant gap between the knowledge of English language that I have learned from textbooks and the practice in real life. This gap exists largely because I do not understand authentic English language cultures. The relation between languages and cultures is like that between body and spirit. Languages cannot exist alone without cultures just as body cannot move without spirit. Similarly, English language curriculum is a complex interplay between the language and the cultures. My aim is to investigate the understanding of culture instruction in English language textbooks and curriculum. In this study, I explore my stories of learning and teaching English as a foreign language in China by using autoethnographic approach. Furthermore, I also examine two textbook cases under critical and international comparative perspectives. One is the English textbooks for Grade 10 to Grade 12 in the Chinese public high schools, and the other is for ESL program Level 5 and Level 6 at the University of Calgary.
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    Fostering Intercultural Competencies in a Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada Program
    (2020-02-10) Amery, Erica Lynn; Roy, Sylvie, 1963 January 6-; Bhowmik, Subrata Kumar; Kawalilak, Colleen A.; Callaghan, Tonya D.
    This research aims to add to the scholarly discourse on the topic of fostering intercultural competencies (IC) in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) programs. This single qualitative case study explored how IC are perceived and fostered in a LINC program and sought to understand the challenges associated with fostering IC. The study’s data sources were: (a) Semi-structured interviews with program administrators, instructors, and students; (b) In-depth analysis of program documents, and (c) Field notes from classroom observations. Findings from the study indicated that students, instructors, and program administrators perceived IC as attitudes, skills, and knowledge. Social interactions were a significant finding; all three groups of participants perceived social interactions as IC. In addition, classroom and out of class activities offered opportunities to foster dialogue and increase cultural awareness, respect, and curiosity, but fostering IC was not a specific objective in the LINC program. The main challenge that students faced in fostering IC was language, while instructors and program administrators reported time, resources, and knowledge as challenges. Stakeholders in the LINC program, as well as researchers, and practitioners and policymakers of LINC programs may find these findings and recommendations useful in developing a curriculum that embeds intercultural education approaches.
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    Home-School Partnerships in Singapore's Special Education Schools: A Case Study
    (2020-07-07) Ang, Marilyn Swee Liang; Spencer, Brenda L.; Callaghan, Tonya D.; Hands, Catherine M.; Chua, Catherine Siew Kheng; Eaton, Sarah Elaine
    The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain a deeper understanding of the perceptions and experiences of parents of children with disabilities regarding home-school partnerships in special education (SPED) schools in Singapore. The research involved nine parent participants who had been involved in home-school partnership for more than seven years. Key findings revealed several factors facilitating a positive home-school partnership. These included the parents' beliefs, values, and cultures; the school leader and professionals' attributes, communication practices, and the perceptions of parents and their children; parental involvement opportunities in the school. Similarly, there were several factors that hindered a productive collaboration. They were parallel to the positive factors, but with the addition of the following: parents' perceived lack of knowledge and skills, constraints related to their time and work, differences between parents and the school about educational pathways and goals for students, time and location of individualized education plan meetings, and the absence of a national policy. These factors interacted and intersected with one another to depict the multi-dimensionality and complexity of home-school partnerships in the Singapore SPED context. Besides these, the findings also showed that there was a disconnect between the rhetoric and the practice of home-school partnerships in the Singapore special education schools. This disconnect could best be addressed by taking into consideration the beliefs, values, expectations, perceptions, and opinions of the SPED parents.
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    The Life and Politics of Passing: Gender, Professionalism and the Queer Teacher
    (2020-04-20) Anderson, Jamie Lyle; Callaghan, Tonya D.; Bridel, William; Hanson, Aubrey Jean
    There is a dearth of research that considers how discourses of professionalism intersect with gender and sexual diversity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) teachers in a Canadian context. The Alberta Teachers’ Association released its first resource aimed to support LGBTI teachers in early 2018, suggesting that gender and sexually diverse teachers are just starting to gain visibility within their professional organization. Through autoethnography, Institutional Ethnography, and Critical Discourse Analysis, this thesis examines how LGBTI teachers experience and perform their gender in response to conceptualizations of teacher professionalism that dictate queerness—particularly “visible” queerness—as contrarian to the neutral subjectivity that teachers are expected to uphold. With the growing relevance of queer-affirming spaces in school, such as Gay-Straight or Queer-Straight Alliances, it is necessary to examine possibilities of a queer professionalism and changing expectations for professional practice in queer spaces. LGBTI teachers in Alberta need more than recognition from their professional organization and this research begins to conceptualize a queer professionalism for teachers that breaks the bounds of heteronormativity in order to support and celebrate gender and sexual diversity broadly within Canadian schools.
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    Psychologists’ Practices in Supporting LGBTI Clients’ Self-Advocacy Skills
    (2023-09-18) Ibarra-Alexanderson, Luis Gerardo; Domene, Jose F.; Lacerda-Vandenborn, M. Elisa; Callaghan, Tonya D.
    Globally, Canada has been a leading country incorporating the social justice framework in psychological theory and practice, which includes supporting sexual minorities. In the past decades, researchers and clinicians have focused on addressing systemic barriers by advocating for their clients. More recently, the concept of self-advocacy has been included in ethical guidelines, encouraging professionals to promote in their practice empowering clients to speak on their own behalf. The present study explored how Canadian psychologists promote client self-advocacy skills development using the enhanced critical incident technique (ECIT), an exploratory qualitative research method. Specifically, this study explored the factors that facilitate and hinder psychologists in supporting clients in developing self-advocacy and what factors they wish had been present as they engaged in this work. The sample consisted of 9 psychologists located in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Data analysis conducted using established ECIT protocols yielded 373 critical incidents (CIs) and Wish List items (WL) that were organized into the following categories: (1) 13 helping CIs; (2) 8 hindering CIs; and (3) 6 WL. Findings suggest that self-advocacy can be developed in one-on-one counselling settings and through the therapeutical process. Additionally, the findings suggest that creating safe spaces within the counselling settings and outside communities influences the ability of LGBTI clients to speak on their own behalf. Implications for researchers, psychologists and other mental health professionals are provided.
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    School Leadership for Transgender Youth: A Case Study
    (2019-09) Barbor, B. Donald; Friesen, Sharon; Callaghan, Tonya D.; Simmons, Marlon; Wada, Kaori; Airton, Lee
    The purpose of this case study is to determine which school leadership practices positively impact transgender youth. Understanding the lived experience of an identified marginalized, vulnerable group in school, who have been impacted by school administrators’ actions and inactions, acts as a window into the relationship between the practice of school leadership and its impact upon a targeted marginalized group in public schools: the transgender student community. The study used qualitative case-study methodology and involved six participants in semi-structured interviews. The study participants attended one large urban high school and identified as members of the transgender community. The findings of this inquiry revealed that the transgender student community faces consistent and pervasive bullying, harassment and violence as aspects of their school experiences. In this study, all student participants described their experiences with current principal leadership practice as running along the continuum of offering minimal support and influence on behalf of the transgender student community to behaviours that contributed to further harm. Study participants indicated that their voices were rarely accessed to inform policy development in efforts to provide safety and support for the transgender student community. School experiences shared by study participants lead to an increased in anxiety and depression, contributed to their absenteeism from school and other social activity, and impacted their academic success in school. The study findings support that principal leaders’ professional learning must incorporate the development of the knowledge and attitudes reflective of a social justice perspective that allows them to understand and support all students, especially those most marginalized and vulnerable.
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    Transgender Women and the Male Gaze: Gender, the Body, and the Pressure to Conform
    (2020-04-16) Lefebvre, Danielle; Russell-Mayhew, Michelle; Kassan, Anusha; Callaghan, Tonya D.
    Transgender women may feel pressured to achieve certain societal standards for women that are largely created and reinforced by a society that prioritizes male perspectives. The male gaze, as it is termed, has been found to be associated with appearance anxiety, body shame, and insecurity for cisgender women. To date, the experience of the male gaze has not been examined exclusively with transgender women. It is a particularly important topic to explore as transgender women often face additional discrimination and pressure for being transgender. The current study aimed to answer the following research question: How does the male gaze influence the experiences of transgender women with their body? Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyze interviews with eleven transgender women. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) male gaze as potentially harmful and dehumanizing, (b) internalization of the male gaze, (c) male gaze as affirming, and (d) absence or rejection of the male gaze. Subthemes were also identified and explored. This research is significant for several reasons. Understanding the experiences of transgender women and the male gaze allows for more targeted interventions and guidance for mental health practice. On a larger scale, this study informs on advocacy, and challenges cultural expectations and stereotypes for transgender women, while emphasizing self-expression, authenticity, and acceptance.