Research Interests

I am a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education (Applied Linguistics) program at Concordia University, located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal), where I am training to become an applied critical sociophonologist.

I am interested in the sound of voices, specifically how the act of listening can open us to multiple perspectives: Are learners ‘hearing’ the whole picture of a language? Or is the classroom privileging certain voices over others? What is the cumulative effect on learners' perceptions of the target language?

Phonology tends to consider the act of listening as a primarily auditory experience, sensitive to input frequencies and mediated by neural processes. But what if the act of listening wasn't so disembodied?

My research aims to understand: (1) How learners navigate an environment bursting with dialectal and semiotic variation; and, (2) How this multi-modal perception can include sensitivity to the territories on which we use these languages on, Landguaging with the land.

Landguaging involves developing sensitivity to the territories where one’s language experiences occurred. The teaching and learning of imperial languages (e.g., English, French, Spanish) involves confronting the allochthonous (i.e.., non-Indigenous) nature of these linguistic practices, and the historical and current effects it has on autochthonous (i.e., Indigenous) peoples and ecosystems.

As an instructor of two colonial languages, I create inclusive linguistic pedagogies that are multi-modal and plurilingual, inviting learners to reflect on what it means to engage with learning English or French in “Canada”--a settler colonial state established by two European nations. This land-sensitizing curriculum enables learners to externalize English/French Canada's relationships with Indigenous and migrant peoples. It is hoped that through Landguaging, learners make informed decisions about how invested in the target language they wish to be.

Finally, my research is shaped by my experiences as a woman raising a future generation, while tending to the two generations before me. It is also informed by my particular identity, which was largely engineered by the colonizing actions of British imperialists on the lands of Abya Yala (South America/West Indies). The work is, therefore, personal to me.

My PhD is supervised by Walcir Cardoso with Diane Querrien and Mela Sarkar as committee members.

My research is funded by a doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture.

2016: M.A. Applied Linguistics, Concordia University (my thesis was completed under the supervision of Dr. Cardoso)

2013: Graduate Diploma in Teaching English as a second language, McGill University

2012: Certificate in French and theoretical linguistic studies, Concordia University

2005: Honours Bachelor of Arts in Literatures in English and Political Science, University of Toronto 

My specific research interests are:

  • Sociophonological aspects of dialect perception in language learning

  • Land-sensitive curriculum (ecopedagogy; ‘landguaging’) based in plurilingual and multi-modal methodologies

  • Direct Realist and Ecological models of embodied cognition, perception, and social interaction

  • High variability perceptual training methodologies and gamification practices

  • Decolonial principles, which include presenting the natural dialectal variations inherent in a given language and giving voice to the speech communities who speak them.

Current member

Previous affiliations

  • 2017 - Concordia University's Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology - Education Makers

News & Upcoming Conferences

2025

Chung, R., & Cardoso, W. (2025, March) Attuned to the chorus of colonial voices? Parlure Games: De/colonizing technology for imperial L2 classrooms. Accepted for Roundtable session at the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Denver, CO.

Cunningham, C., Chung, R., Georges, V., LaFontaine, J., MacDonald, R., Meunier, L., Personius, J., Ratt, T. J., Ross, C., Tourond-Bouvier, T., & Wawatie, E. (2025, March) Relationality in research: kākikē māna kākikē. Accepted for Colloquium Presentation at the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Denver, CO.

2024

Chung, R. & Cardoso, W. (2024, October 25). Parlure Games: Leaping outta the HVPT lab into the classroom. Accepted for paper presentation at the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics - CAAL/ACLA, online.

Chung, R. & dela Cruz, J. (2024, June 10). Landguaging the Plurilingual Classroom: Land-sensitizing exercises for inclusive futures. Workshop presentation at Plurilingualism in Education in the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University (Montreal, QC). The workshop can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/-xDrEOIRHBg?t=8091

Chung, R., dela Cruz, J., Gutierrez, A., Passi, A. & Burton, J. (2024, May 10). Conversations that Include: Workshopping Inclusive Pedagogies. Accepted for paper presentation at MonISLA Symposium in Emerging Perspectives in Language Research, Concordia University (Montreal, QC).

Presentation (2024, March 25). EmpowerGrad Workshop: Meeting the Neighbours. Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University (Montreal, QC). Discussion to assist current graduate students on how to to develop networks within the university community to develop future projects.

Chung, R. & dela Cruz, J. (2024). Pedagogies of inclusion must start from within: Landguaging teacher reflection and plurilingualism in the “L2” classroom. In A. Charity Hudley, C. Mallinson, & M. Bucholtz (Eds.), Inclusion in Linguistics (pp. 291-311). Oxford University Press. Downloadable Plurilingual Landguaging teaching template.