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This article attempts to provide ESL teachers, school administrators, and policymakers with a concise overview of what matters in promoting academic success among learners of English in Canadian schools. We review research focused on bilingual and biliteracy development, the nature of academic language, and the roles of societal power relations and identity negotiation in determining the academic achievement of English language learners (ELL). On the basis of this research, we propose the Literacy Engagement framework that identifies literacy engagement as a major determinant of literacy achievement for ELL and non-ELL students. In order to enable ELL students to engage with literacy, the framework highlights the importance of teachers scaffolding meaning, connecting with students’ lives, affirming student identities, and extending their awareness and knowledge of language across the curriculum. The application of the framework is illustrated with reference to the literacy and academic learning experiences of two ELL students in the Toronto area.

Participatory research in education provides an opportunity for university-based researchers to collaborate with teachers to develop understandings and to overcome the school-university and research-practice divides. Several studies illuminate the challenges inherent in conducting participatory research within the institutional context of schools, particularly in achieving a truly equitable research relationship. The purpose of this paper is to argue for a more pragmatic and dynamic view of equity and expertise between school-and university-based collaborators. Elaborating examples from a partnership with teachers at the elementary level, this paper illustrates the complex power dynamics that existed between university-and community-based stakeholders. It points to the need to work with and against existing power structures to co-create multiple and shifting positions of expertise that keep the learning communities open and alive for the promotion of transformative educational practices. IntroductionOver the past 15 years, educational research has responded to the growth of cultural and linguistic diversity, inquiring into how diversity is shaping curriculum, teaching and learning in school settings. However, nowhere is this knowledge richer than in the classroom and 'at the chalkface', as teachers respond on a daily basis to the changing needs of their students. Collaborative research with teachers working alongside university researchers in a sustained relationship has gained recognition and popularity in the field of education as it can generate in-depth understanding of the circumstances and conditions in classrooms, and bring to light the practices most critical to teachers' successes and struggles in their effort to support students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Focusing in particular on relationships, the purpose of this paper is to articulate the complexities inherent in participatory research processes and challenges in working towards equitable relations between school-and university-based co-researchers. Within institutionalised settings of the school and university, we argue that a pragmatic and dynamic view of equity and expertise can support the development of collaborative research relationships, and the enrichment of both teacher and researcher practices and understandings.

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the potential contribution of a multimodal approach to English language teaching and learning in the educational context. Collaborating with English as a second language (ESL) and classroom teachers to explore ways to improve pedagogy in multilingual, multicultural schools, the authors discovered many teachers who used the creation of multimodal texts as a core instructional strategy to go beyond basic approaches to language teaching and learning. In particular, these teachers used the creation of multimodal identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011) as a means to involve students in producing work that was culturally relevant, socially significant, and personally meaningful. To illustrate these possibilities, the article draws on examples of student‐ and teacher‐created multimodal texts that were showcased at a regional conference for ESL teachers in Ontario in 2012 and 2014. Through interviews with students and teachers, the authors found that students actively used multimodal resources to represent and articulate personal narratives of themselves, their communities, and their language learning experiences. These narratives reflect students not only as language learners but also, more powerfully, as plurilingual subjects with voice and agency. The authors conclude by reflecting on the potential for plurilingual multimodal production in the English language classroom as a form of teaching for social justice.

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