Mei French is an educational linguist. She is an Early Career Researcher and Lecturer with Education Futures at the University of South Australia, and a member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion.
Mei’s research focusses on education for multilingual learners in Australian schools and higher education. She has researched how multilingual high school students use their languages to support their learning and identity, and how these practices can be used to inform teaching and educational policy. Her research connects with teacher education in English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D), Languages education, and across all learning areas. Her current projects include supporting teacher action... Read more
About me
Mei French is an educational linguist. She is an Early Career Researcher and Lecturer with Education Futures at the University of South Australia, and a member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion.
Mei’s research focusses on education for multilingual learners in Australian schools and higher education. She has researched how multilingual high school students use their languages to support their learning and identity, and how these practices can be used to inform teaching and educational policy. Her research connects with teacher education in English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D), Languages education, and across all learning areas. Her current projects include supporting teacher action research in oral language for multilingual students, and developing and supporting approaches to bilingual teaching.
Mei is an experienced teacher and teacher educator in EAL/D and Languages. At a tertiary level, she has taught a range of courses in languages education, English language and linguistics. She has taught in high schools in South Australia and the ACT, including serving as a senior secondary curriculum leader in EAL/D. She has developed curriculum, resources and teacher professional learning around EAL/D, multilingual pedagogies and bilingual education for schools and systems across Australia. Mei has long been active in TESOL professional associations in SA and ACT.
About me
ATESOL ACT (Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Australian Capital Territory) Committee, 2018-2022
SA TESOL (South Australian association for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Committee, 2007-2017
Language Teachers SA member
About me
Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia
Graduate Certificate in Education (Catholic Education) University of South Australia
Bachelor of Education (Middle and Secondary) University of South Australia
Bachelor of Arts The University of Adelaide
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Chinese Bilingual Quality Assurance Framework Extension 1, SA Dept of Education & Children's Services, 27/06/2023 - 30/06/2024
Dialogic practice with multilingual learners of English, Adelaide Secondary School of English, 01/03/2023 - 30/04/2024
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2022 |
23
14
|
| 2020 |
Open access
|
| 2019 |
Open access
|
| 2018 |
Open access
3
|
| 2016 |
Open access
42
35
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2019 |
Open access
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
|
| 2018 |
Open access
3
|
| 2018 |
11
|
| 2017 |
5
|
| Year | Output |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
Open access
1
1
|
| 2023 |
Open access
2
|
| 2023 |
Open access
5
|
| 2022 |
23
14
|
| 2020 |
Open access
|
| 2020 |
Open access
|
| 2016 |
Open access
42
35
|
Sowton, C. (2022), ‘How can I use different languages in my teaching?’ [podcast] British Council TeachingEnglish – Episode 8. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/podcast https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/british-council-teachingenglish-episode-8-how-can-i-use-different-languages-my-teaching
Languages Professional Learning Program: Developing Literacy through Languages; Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdaFVJCF2gHPGVQGR42BOBolYJFRMOhBG
EAL advice on the Primary Literacy Teaching Toolkit
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/literacy-teaching-toolkit-map-v4.pdf
School’s in for Refugees – Teaching: EAL Practice https://sifr.foundationhouse.org.au/secondary-school/teaching/#eal-learner
External engagement & recognition
| Organisation | Country |
|---|---|
| Federal University of Southern Bahia | BRAZIL |
| Griffith University | AUSTRALIA |
| Macquarie University | AUSTRALIA |
| Melbourne Graduate School of Education | AUSTRALIA |
| Private Individual | UNITED KINGDOM |
| University of Auckland | NEW ZEALAND |
| University of Melbourne | AUSTRALIA |
| University of New South Wales | AUSTRALIA |
| University of South Australia | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
| Engagement/recognition | Year |
|---|---|
EALD Strategy Development Expert Advisory GroupCatholic Education South Australia |
2023 |
Keynote Presentation at International Symposium on Bilingualism 14: Multilingualism, Power and Agency in EducationMacquarie University |
2023 |
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
| Thesis title | Student status |
|---|---|
| 110000A - Southern Multilingualisms, Knowledges, and Decolonising Education | Current |
| A critique of language and literacy policy, planning and implementation in Australian remote education. | Current |
| Building community through faith-based language learning: a Southern sociolinguistics perspective | Current |
| How do Brazilian families seek to cultivate Brazilian Portuguese through the new generation in Australia? | Current |
| Investigating the recognition and valuing of Aboriginal students' cultures, knowledges, and linguistic repertoires in school programs | Current |
| An investigation of the potential of machine translation and post-editing to advance students' learning of Chinese and English languages in higher education | Completed |
