PhD student, Language and Literacies Education Fellow
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
[email protected]

Read Mingyi’s November 2022 Spotlight on Language, Culture and Justice.

I am a first-year PhD student in the Language and Literacies Education program at OISE/UofT. During my MA degree at OISE, I explored how Western influence had affected Chinese doctoral students’ understanding of the West before they came to Canada, as well as their decision to select Canada as the destination to advance their academic careers.

Although my MA thesis focused on the cultural awareness and identity development of a specific group of students who came to Canada as youth, I am always aware of the vital role of language education in shaping students’ understanding of their culture and identities, as well as how language education can perpetuate stereotypes and deficit thinking toward marginalized students. Language is always a carrier of culture.

Recent scholarship has found that the implementation of language education policy can negatively impact marginalized communities and Indigenous people through promoting and maintaining white supremacy within policy discourse. In my doctoral study, I am interested in looking at the intersection of language education policy and linguistic hierarchization in Canada, more specifically the racial and linguistic hierarchization within policy discourse.

Publications

• Li, M (2022). Anti-Asian Racism at the University of Toronto. Asian Canadian Education
  Network (ACENet).
• Luu, K.N., Reid, M., Kang, P., Brittain, P., Li, M., Deki, K. (in press). Asian educators’ experiences during COVID-19: How the surge in anti-Asian hate impacted Asian Canadian teachers and leaders. Asian Canadian Educators Network (ACENet).
• Deki, K., Reid, M., Luu, K.N., Brittain, P. and Li, M. (in press). Examining Canadian universities’ official responses to the Atlanta murders that targeted Asian women. Asian Canadian Educators Network (ACENet).
• Li, M., Luu, K.N., Reid., M., Kang, P., Brittain, P. and Deki, K. (in press). Chinese international high school students’ lived experiences in their homestays. Asian Canadian Educators Network (ACENet).