Critical Sociolinguist
Chair (2024-2025), TESOL International Bilingual-Multilingual Interest Section
Member, Belonging, Identity, Language, and Diversity (BILD) Research Group, McGill University
[email protected]
I am a Scottish Gaelic critical sociolinguist. As a first-generation scholar and speaker of English, French, Italian, Spanish, and the endangered Indigenous language Scottish Gaelic, I advocate for more inclusive and equitable multilingual education, particularly for endangered, minoritized, and Indigenous language speakers. My research introduced the term Colonialingualism—defined as the privileging of dominant colonial languages, knowledges, and neoliberal valorizations of diversity in education and policy—in Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education Journal in 2022. My work focuses on addressing colonialingualism in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) through transepistemic education and pedagogies for multilingualism, multiliteracies, and language reclamation. Currently, I serve as Chair (2024-2025) for the TESOL International Association Bilingual-Multilingual Education Interest Section.
My doctoral research (2021-2023), funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and The International Research Foundation for English Language Teaching, explored how digital and online technologies can support community-led Indigenous language reclamation and revitalization processes. I introduce and explore the TEK-nology (Traditional Ecological Knowledge and technology) language and knowledge acquisition approach with my married family’s Anishinaabe community in Robinson Huron Treaty territory (Northern Ontario, Canada). The TEK-nology project identifies (1) the impacts of centering Indigenous and ecocentric worldviews in technology, language learning, and teaching; (2) how we can develop and co-create technology-enabled, culturally, and environmentally responsive pedagogies; and (3) the implications of decolonizing language education for Indigenous languages and dominant languages with colonial legacies, such as English. In particular, the empirical research contributes to the applied linguistics field by illustrating key differences between second language acquisition and Indigenous language acquisition, such as the relationship between language, culture, and land.
Areas of Interest
- Colonialingualism
- Transepistemic education
- Multilingual TESOL
Representative Scholarly Publications
Meighan, P. J. (2023). “What is language for us?”: Community-based Anishinaabemowin language planning using TEK-nology. Language Policy, 22(2), 223-253. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-023-09656-5
Meighan, P. J. (2023). Transepistemic English language teaching for sustainable futures. ELT Journal, 77(3), 294-304. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccad004
Meighan, P. J. (2022). Dùthchas, a Scottish Gaelic methodology to guide self-decolonization and conceptualize a kincentric and relational approach to community-led research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221142451
Meighan, P. J. (2022). Colonialingualism: Colonial legacies, imperial mindsets, and inequitable practices in English language education. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 17(2), 146-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2022.2082406
Meighan, P. J. (2021). Decolonizing the digital landscape: The role of technology in Indigenous language revitalization. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(3), 397-405. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801211037672
Chiblow, S., & Meighan, P. J. (2021). Language is land, land is language: The importance of Indigenous languages. Human Geography, 15(2), 206-210. https://doi.org/10.1177/19427786211022899
Meighan, P. J. (2020). Decolonizing English: A proposal for implementing alternative ways of knowing and being in education. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 15(2), 77-83. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2020.1783228
Representative Popular Publications
Meighan, P. J. (2023, Nov 6). Tìr is teanga (Land and language): Language as sensory energy. BILD blog post.
Bella Caledonia. (2023, July 19). Languages do not “die”, they are persecuted: A Scottish Gael’s perspective on language “loss”.
Rising Voices. (2022, Sept 20). Q&A with Paul Meighan-Chiblow, Scottish Gaelic language activist.
Meighan, P. J. (2021, Oct 10). (Un)learning cognitive and linguistic imperialism in English: Towards transepistemic language education. BILD blog post.
More Information
Paul Meighan website
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