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Biography
My current research interests in languages for specific purposes and professional bilingualism and biliteracy originated from my experiences as a biologist and agricultural engineer ("ingénieur agronome "). As a student of biotechnological and agricultural sciences at France's Institut National Agronomique, I enrolled in German, Spanish, and English language courses, and became aware of the difficulty for native language teachers trained in literature and translation to address the specific language needs of engineering and science students. As I completed a master's degree in plant pathology in France and then conducted molecular biology research in the US, I also became aware of the importance and the difficulty for francophone science students to learn how to read and write in their discipline in both English and French. I thus began to nurture the idea that I could complement my science education with training in applied linguistics in order to develop an expertise in the teaching and learning of English for science and engineering. As a result, I enrolled in graduate studies in second language education at McGill University in Montréal in 1996.
Early in my MA program, I took particular interest in English for Specific Purposes for insights into the teaching of scientific and professional writing. However, I soon realized the importance of drawing on other fields such as L2 writing, L1 composition and rhetoric, bilingual education, language teaching, literacies studies, technical and written communication, and socio-cultural theory in order to understand how scientists and other professionals learn to write and communicate in both their first and their second languages for professional purposes. My graduate research work in the Faculty of Education at McGill University and my postdoctoral work at the Modern Language Centre, OISE/University of Toronto focused on the development of academic biliteracy within university contexts in Québec, Ontario, and France. More recently, I have become interested in the development of professional bilingualism and biliteracy in workplace contexts such as federal departments within the National Capital Region. My current research aims to identify the second language needs of federal employees and the conditions for second language use and retention in the federal workplace after language training. I hope that the research findings will help improve the design of language-training programs and work environments conducive to the use of both official languages for written and oral professional communication in the public service.
Research Interests
- Professional and Academic Biliteracy
- Second Language Writing
- Languages for Specific Purposes
- Identity and Language Learning.
Current Research Project
Professional Bilingualism and Biliteracy: The Contexts and Practices of Bilingual Communication in the Canadian Public Service, G. Gentil Principal Investigator, SSHRC Standard Grant, 2005-2008, $91,336 and SSHRC Institutional Grant, $7,000.
Course(s)
Fall 2008
- Language, Identity, and Canadian Nation Building, FYSM 1612A (Fall/Winter)
- Bilingualism, LALS 2704A
Winter 2009
- Language, Identity, and Canadian Nation Building, FYSM 1612A (Fall/Winter)
- Languages for Specific Purposes, LALS 4208A/LALS 5208W
Recent Publications
Gentil, G. (2006). EAP and technical writing without borders: The impact of departmentalization on the teaching and learning of writing in a first and second language. In P. Matsuda, C. Ortmeier-Hooper, and X. You (Eds.), The politics of second language writing, pp. 147-167, West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press.
Gentil, G. (2006). Variations in goals and activities for multilingual writing. In A. Cumming (Ed.), Goals for academic writing: ESL students and their instructors, 142-156, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Zhou, A., Busch, M, Gentil, G., Eouanzoui, K, and Cumming, A. (2006). Students' Goals for ESL and University Courses. In A. Cumming (Ed.), Goals for Writing in University: English as a Second Language Students and Their Instructors (pp. 29-49). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gentil, G. (2005). Commitments to academic biliteracy: Case studies of francophone university writers. Written Communication, 22, 421-471.
Recent Conference Papers
Gentil, G., Bigras, J., & O’Connor, M. (2008, August). Professional bilingualism and biliteracy: The contexts and practices of bilingual communication in the Canadian public service. Paper to be presented in B. Apfelbaum, & M. Meyers (Co-Chairs), Multilingualism in the workplace. Research Network Symposium conducted at the 15th World Congress of Applied Linguistics, Essen, Germany.
Gentil, G., Bigras, J., & O’Connor, M. (2008, June). Maintien de l’acquis en langue seconde dans la fonction publique du Canada : vieille question, nouvelle donne? Paper to be presented at the Colloquium Bilingualism in a plurilingual Canada/Le bilinguisme au sein d'un Canada plurilingue, Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI), University of Ottawa
Gentil, G., Bigras, J., & O’Connor, M. (2008, June). Language Retention in the Canadian Public Service: Old issue, new insights? Paper to be presented at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics, Vancouver.
Gentil, G., Bigras, J., & O’Connor, M. (2008, March). Process or post-process pedagogies? Insights from a Learner Needs Analysis of Second Language Writers. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Washington DC.
Recent Graduate Supervisions
MA Thesis. Maureen O'Connor. Title: French immersion and core French graduates in post-secondary French: How does their past education affect their current experiences? (completed June 2007)
MA Research Essay. Michael Ryan. Title: The role of English language education conferences in the spread of global English: A nexus analysis (completed May 2007)
MA Research Essay. Amanda Juby. Title: Through the lens of activity theory: the roles of administrators, teachers and students in the integration of computers into the language classroom (completed June 2006)
MA Research Essay Pam McLeod. Title: The Efficacy of Traditional or Communicative Approaches in Teaching English for Specific Purposes: A Case Study in Aviation English (completed June 2006)
MA Research Essay (LALS 5908) Mohammed Ali Al-Alawi. Title: Are two heads better than one? Multi-theoretic case studies of two Omani ESL graduate students in a collaborative academic writing course (completed January 2006)
Memberships
- American Association of Applied Linguistics
- Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics
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