How can digital technologies support EAL learners?

Describe your project and why you chose this topic

My project explores teachers’ digital technology practices to support English as an Additional Language (EAL) students’ learning in Victorian schools. I chose this topic because it brings together my two main research interests: EAL education and education technology (EdTech). As a multilingual language user and educator, EAL education has always been near and dear to my heart. My linguistic and cultural trajectories have been a huge part of my personal and teacher identity, especially now as an international doctoral student living in Australia. I have also felt drawn to EdTech as an ever-evolving field, which has become embedded into my everyday practices as a student and teacher. So naturally, I was invested in researching the intersection of these two fields to explore how teachers use digital technologies to support EAL students’ learning in the Victorian schooling context.

What are you hoping to achieve?

I hope that my research helps to shed light on the complexity of teachers’ digital technology practices with EAL students. Rather than focusing on practices developed as part of researcher-led or collaborative interventions, as is often the case in EdTech research, my study explores teachers’ self-reported everyday practices. The insights generated from my study contribute to a nuanced understanding of how teachers’ support for EAL students via digital tools is often negotiated within intersecting and often competing demands of mainstream schooling.

Other than academic publications, I aim to translate my thesis into formats that are more publicly accessible to educators (e.g., infographics, professional learning sessions, reports to teacher associations). I hope that my research could support teachers across Victoria and other multilingual and multicultural contexts in reflectively examining their own assumptions about language and literacy, technology, EAL students, and working conditions in Australian schools.

How has your experience with your supervisors been?

I am beyond grateful to be under the guidance of Professor Julianne Lynch and Associate Professor Michiko Weinmann. Since day one, they have provided me with unwavering academic and emotional support. They bring complementary perspectives to my topic and offer valuable guidance every step of the way while also giving me the agency and confidence to tread my own path. With every conversation we’ve had and every writing draft I’ve shared with them, I feel like I’ve grown a bit more as a researcher. During some of the more stressful periods of my PhD, they have often reminded me to take a breather and look after my wellbeing. Last year, I was very lucky to work as a contract-based supervisor for a research unit and I found myself drawing on their supervision in the way I supported my own students. Their supervision has shaped not only how I approach my research, but also the kind of educator I hope to become.

How have you managed juggling study, work and life?

What has been working for me so far is treating the PhD as a full-time job. I am incredibly lucky to have the support of my family and my friends and to have started this journey at a phase in my life where I can dedicate myself to research, work, and building my life here in Australia. All of these things have made juggling work-life balance so much more manageable.

What has been a highlight of your PhD?

A highlight of my PhD has been participating in my faculty’s 3MT last year. I donned my Vietnamese traditional costume called “áo dài” as I felt it spoke to my research at a personal level. Standing there in my “áo dài” and sharing my research, I was incredibly proud of my roots and of being able to bring that part of myself into my PhD journey. I intend to carry that joy and pride I find in my multicultural identity into everything I do – my research, my teaching, and my life outside of academia.