Checking in With Emma Chen, PhD Candidate
If you’ve been following along with Debbie Pushor’s work in the parent engagement space for a while now, you’re likely familiar with her body of work, some of her recent events and initiatives, and many of the concepts that she explores. Though, what you may not know, is that Debbie has a vast community of graduate students, past and present, who are doing expectational work in the parent engagement. Moving forward, we’ll be providing updates on these passionate academics and educators and what they are up to. We’re going to kick it off with Emma Chen.
A Bit About Emma’s Work
Emma Chen is a PhD candidate and sessional lecturer in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Pushor is Emma’s PhD supervisor and colleague in the parent engagement space. Engaging in narrative inquiry methodology, Emma’s research focuses on immigrant parent knowledge in heritage language education in home and community settings. She strives to bring multilingual families’ language and practices to the centre of language teaching and learning. Emma’s work is shared in (inter)national conferences, including AAAL, AERA, CSSE, and NABE. She has published peer-reviewed articles in the LEARNing Landscapes and International Journal of Multicultural Education, and a chapter in an edited book (Springer Nature).
Recent Awards
Research Excellence in Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, Law or Education
Organization: Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), University of Saskatchewan
This award honours a graduate student who has made significant impacts in the field of humanities, arts, social sciences, law or education and who has produced outstanding research results throughout their course of study. The awarded graduate student must be a favourable member in the research community, exemplify scholarly achievements, and have contributed to positive collaborations amongst researchers and the community.
The Martha Allexsaht-Snider Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Multilingual and Transnational Education
Organization: Society of Professors of Education
Martha Allexsaht-Snider, in whose tribute the award is named, is an Emerita Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Georgia. She has led efforts to support international and multilingual emerging scholars throughout her lengthy career. This award is given to doctoral students for outstanding achievements in promoting multilingual and transnational education.
SSHRC Doctoral Grant
Emma has also been awarded an SSHRC doctoral grant. This is a huge achievement! The SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships support high-calibre students engaged in doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities. This support allows scholars to fully focus on their doctoral studies, to seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields, and to contribute to the Canadian research ecosystem during and beyond the tenure of their awards.
Other Recent Happenings
Article in “The Conversation”
“Immigrant families had to fend for themselves during online schooling,” published in April 2022, is a critical conversation at a critical time. Read the full article here.
AERA conference presentation in San Diego - April 23rd, 2022
Title: Parents in the Classroom: A Narrative Inquiry Into a Pre-Kindergarten Teacher's Translanguaging Pedagogy
Abstract: This study explores the benefits of “translanguaging” (Baker, 2001, p. 281) in a prekindergarten classroom. Positioning herself as a learner first, the teacher learns from parents through rich dialogue during home visits, and invites them to join in the classroom, bringing their home language alongside the English instructional language. With narrative inquiry methodology, we unpack the dialogue between and among the teacher and parents, and analyze how the language development of the newcomer children is enhanced when teaching and learning are seen through a translanguaging lens and when parent knowledge (Pushor, 2015a) is valued. Offering immigrant parents a place on the school landscape opens up untapped teaching and learning resources to maximize newcomer children’s language learning outcomes.
Early Learning and Childcare Conference 2022: Metis Nation Saskatchewan - April 30th, 2022
Title: Languages Grow in Stories
Abstract: This session focused on how stories and storytelling help develop young children’s language skills. Telling stories is a natural human endeavour that most children over 2 years old find interesting, fun, and familiar. It is a great starting point for early year educators to work with these young children to grow their language and literacy skills. The audience was engaged in the exploration of the relationship between “developing a sense of storytelling in early learning environment (formal and informal)” and “the developmental characteristics of young children’s emergent literacy. There were multiple ways of storytelling and storyacting introduced through interactive activities in Emma’s session.
A Word From Debbie
“It is such a joy to work with Emma! Professionally, she is a committed, passionate, and incredibly hard working doctoral candidate - as evidenced by her productivity and success. Personally, she is a warm, generous, and funny human being. Emma is the mother of two beautiful children, Molly and Luna, who she refers to as her co-researchers! Through working with Emma, I am growing in my understanding of immigrant parent knowledge and of “translanguaging,” of how parents and families support their children in developing a rich and integrated language repertoire comprised of both languages working together. Emma’s research is so important in foregrounding the depth and breadth of parent knowledge and in promoting ALL parents and families as strength-based.”
