About
24
Publications
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Introduction
Dr. Paul Meighan is a Gael sociolinguist, educator, and researcher.
His work explores relationships between language, land, and identity through Indigenous language revitalization, multilingual pedagogies, and Indigenous knowledge systems.
Research: Colonialingualism | Transepistemic Education | Indigenous & Multilingual Pedagogies.
Website: www.paulmeighan.com
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2020 - April 2020
July 2019 - September 2019
January 2017 - present
The TEFL Academy
Position
- TESOL teacher trainer and assessor
Education
September 2019 - June 2023
May 2017 - May 2019
September 2008 - June 2009
Publications
Publications (24)
Translanguaging and plurilingual approaches in English Language Education (ELE) have been important for envisaging more equitable language education. However, the languages implemented in translanguaging or plurilingual classrooms predominantly reflect the knowledge and belief systems of dominant, nation-state, "official", and/or colonial languages...
Indigenous communities worldwide face threats to their linguistic and epistemic heritage with the unabated spread of dominant colonial languages and global monocultures, such as English and the neoliberal, imperialistic worldview. There is considerable strain on the relatively few Elders and speakers of Indigenous languages to maintain cultures and...
A researcher’s worldview shapes the research methodology, design, and ensuing relationship with participants and the local environment. Western research has traditionally been carried out on, rather than in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and has largely been conducted through eurocentric and ethnocentric knowledge systems, methods, values, a...
Language planning and policy (LPP), as a field of research, emerged to solve the
“problem” of multilingualism in newly independent nation-states. LPP’s principal
emphasis was the reproduction of one-state, one-language policies. Indigenous languages
were systematically erased through top-down, colonial medium-of-instruction
policies, such as in Can...
Land is not a commodity, and dominant western society is unsustainable. Examples of unsustainability include severance of peoples from lands and waters; separation of peoples from centers of decision-making; and dispossession of the lands, and traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). IPLCs at the frontlines of th...
Language revitalization efforts worldwide aim to reverse the decline of languages endangered and threatened by ongoing colonialism, imperialism, and assimilatory processes. Literacy practices play a role in these efforts, but their effectiveness depends on their alignment with the specific language community's context, needs, and goals. Western lit...
Due to colonialism and imperialism, Indigenous languages and communities worldwide have been subjected to genocide; colonial government policies and legislation entrenched in linguistic imperialism, epistemological and cognitive supremacy; and ongoing practices of linguicide and historicide. As a result, studies estimate one language is "lost" ever...
In 2016, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues reported that 40%, or 2680, of the world’s languages were at risk of extinction. Research estimates that one language is “lost” every 1-3 months (Bromham et al. 2022), most of them Indigenous languages. However, languages do not disappear, become extinct, or die “naturally”. Although...
We wish to amplify the voices and practices of TESOL and applied linguistics scholars and teachers who have been historically marginalized, and whose perspectives and contributions have been systematically overlooked or undervalued. These voices and practices are crucial in reshaping the field and challenging the entrenched inequalities that persis...
Colonialingualism is the privileging of dominant colonial languages, knowledges, and neoliberal valorizations of diversity. The benefits of multilingualism are widely accepted and encouraged. Translanguaging and plurilingual approaches have been important for envisaging more equitable (language) education and policy and have received much attention...
Colonialingualism is the privileging of dominant colonial languages, knowledges, and neoliberal valorizations of diversity. The benefits of multilingualism are widely accepted and encouraged. Translanguaging and plurilingual approaches have been important for envisaging more equitable (language) education and policy and have received much attention...
Chan eil cànanan a’ bàsachadh neo a dhol à bith “gu nàdarra”. Tha cànanan ann an cunnart is fo bhagairt air sgàth structaran sòisio-poilitigeach neo-chothromach, pròiseasan fòirneartach is leth-bhreitheach, agus ann an iomadh cùis, sgrìos-cinnidh. Anns a’ phàipear seo, tha mi ag amas air sùil a thoirt air cuid de na h-adhbharan airson call is cruai...
This manuscript-based thesis explores the role and impact of relational technology, strength-based language education, and community-led language planning and policy research in a pilot project to support Indigenous language revitalization and reclamation processes.
Following an Indigenous research paradigm and decolonizing methodologies, this the...
Technology is not neutral; it is an extension of a knowledge system. A fundamental issue in discussing the role of technology in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is identifying if that knowledge system perpetuates social inequities, linguistic/cognitive imperialism, and white supremacy. With the advance of globalization, larg...
There is a relationship between language and the environment. Languages shape worldviews, inform behaviours, and are not disconnected from local political, sociocultural, and ecological contexts. English has an enduring colonial, imperialist, and assimilationist legacy and can be easily delinked from context, culture, and place. In this article, I...
One common goal for Indigenous language revitalization (ILR) initiatives is to promote intergenerational language transmission and use at home. Could technology assist in ILR? This paper will illustrate and give examples of how technology in relation, or relational technology, can facilitate formal, informal, and self-directed/-determined forms of...
The mainstream English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) classroom can silence a rich tapestry of voices and identities through an imposition, either forced or covert, of a monolingual and monocultural learning environment. This pedagogy-oriented chapter will conceptualize how the “past”, “present”, and “future” aspects of a learner can be mor...
In this brief article, I propose the potential of transepistemic language education in increasingly globalised contexts to enable more equitable and culturally vitalizing English language teaching (ELT). Tranepistemic language education is a way of learning, teaching, knowing, and being which enables respectful and non-hierarchical knowledge co-cre...
Due to colonization and imperialism, Indigenous languages continue to be threatened and endangered. Resources to learn Indigenous languages are often severely limited, such as a lack of trained or proficient teachers. Materials which follow external standards or Western pedagogies may not meet the needs of the local community. One common goal for I...
This collaborative opinion piece, written from the authors’ personal perspectives (Anishinaabe and Gàidheal) on Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) and Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic language), discusses the importance of maintaining and revitalizing Indigenous languages, particularly in these times of climate and humanitarian crises. The authors will gi...
There is a need to decolonize English in order to reframe our relationships with fellow beings and our environment. English can frame water or oil as infinite, uncountable nouns , a tree as an inanimate, unconscious being, traditional and respected territories as wasteland, and animals as wildlife. With the current climate crisis, we know that thes...
English is an international language and has considerable power in many socio-political and socioeconomic spheres. Some argue that the spread of English is a natural phenomenon and a unifying factor in a globalized economy (Crystal 2003). English use has also spread into the digital, online world as the preferred medium to facilitate intercultural...
This short personal and critical educator perspective on a current issue in TESOL discusses why the “past”, heritage languages (i.e., languages other than the dominant standard, English), and the “future”, technology, should be fully embraced and validated in the present-day monolingual ESL/EFL classroom. First, an explanation of what a heritage la...
