海角社区

Education professor and expert on plurilingualism honoured by President and Vice-Chancellor, Deep Saini

Since 2013, 海角社区 has honoured 30 early-career researchers who have distinguished themselves by their exceptional contributions to research through the President鈥檚 Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researchers. This year, Angelica Galante, Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education in the Faculty of Education, is honoured with the prize. Professors S茅bastien Jodoin (Faculty of Law), and Jianyu Li (Faculty of Engineering) are also winners.

"These three exceptional emerging scholars exhibit a remarkable record of research and teaching accomplishments, proving themselves as leaders in their field now and into the future," said Deep Saini, Principal and Vice-Chancellor. "Their dedication and talent in addressing vital issues inspires us all."

Administered by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, the prize, which includes a monetary award, honours individuals across all disciplines.

Angelica Galante: Creating an inclusive language-learning experience

Since joining 海角社区 in 2019, Galante has worked at the forefront of research in applied linguistics, including linguistic discrimination and justice, and exploring new ways to learn and maintain languages.

In a multicultural country such as Canada, many people speak more than one or two languages, particularly in major metropolitan areas such as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. Yet Galante鈥檚 research has demonstrated that multilingual speakers are rarely able to use all the languages they speak in all contexts. For example, while switching between languages at home and work is a part of everyday life for many, some spaces restrict linguistic practices to one language only, often English or French. Even for those who speak more than one or two languages, learning a new language, including one or both of Canada鈥檚 official languages can be a challenge. To address this issue, Galante is exploring how educators can create a language-learning experience that acknowledges their students鈥� linguistic backgrounds.

鈥淩eceiving the President's Prize is a humbling recognition of the many years of hard work to bridge the linguistic divide between English and French in Canada," says Galante, who speaks Portuguese, Spanish, English, French and Italian. 鈥淏y moving towards plurilingual education, people can learn languages more easily, maintain their plural identities, and classes can be more inclusive.鈥�

New methods and approaches to applied linguistics

Galante鈥檚 work is changing the way second languages are taught nationally and internationally. As an academic, Galante's research has demonstrated that people learn languages more easily when they also learn about the related cultures, traditions, behaviours, and beliefs 鈥� a concept known as plurilingualism. Plurilingualism can make language education more inclusive by not only teaching people to speak the language but also educating them about how languages are used across cultures.

In addition to her research activities, Galante is the Founder and Director of the Plurilingual Lab at 海角社区, a hub for research in pedagogy, professional development, and equity, diversity and inclusion in plurilingual education.

She also serves as the President of the , which was successful in their bid to bring the Association internationale de linguistique appliqu茅e (AILA) conference to Canada in 2027.

Impacting the next generation of educators

As an early-career researcher, Galante has shown a strong record of research projects and funding. Her work is published in top-tier international journals, and her research and expertise are showcased at international teacher associations, such as The International Association for Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and in the media.

In addition to pedagogical research, she has designed and validated the Plurilingual and Pluricultural Competence (PPC) scale, a new quantitative method that measures diverse language practices among multilingual populations. Her innovative work is advancing educational research in areas of equity, diversity and inclusion, and anti-discriminatory practices.

鈥淚 hope my work can amplify the voices of linguistically and culturally marginalized populations in Canada and work towards legitimizing their multi/plurilingual practices,鈥� shares Galante.

Galante will be honoured at the Faculty of Education Convocation ceremony on May 30.