Research Interests

I completed my doctoral studies in the Department of Education (Applied Linguistics) program at Concordia University, located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal), where I trained as 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 this 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 learning can include sensitivity to the territories on which we use our languages, a process that I describe as Landguaging. Since I am an instructor of two colonial languages (English and French), I explore their allochthonous (i.e., non-Indigenous) nature, and provide space to discuss the historical and current effects they have on autochthonous (i.e., Indigenous) peoples and ecosystems. To accomplish this, I design pedagogies that involve plurilingual techniques and multi-modal activities that allow learners to make connections between their language practices and the land(s) upon which these experiences take place, building relationships with the land.

Finally, my research is shaped by my experiences of raising a future generation, while tending to the two generations before me—I am grateful to be in the middle. 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). This work is personal to me.

My research was funded by a doctoral scholarship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture and the Bourse aux doctorant(e)s en sciences de l’éducation Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur. For a more formal overview, please consult my Academic CV.

2025: PhD Education (Applied Linguistics), Concordia University: Repairing Socioecological Relationships: Landguaging the Imperial L2 Classroom

2016: M.A. Applied Linguistics, Concordia University: Can Anglophone learners aurally distinguish between the passé composé and imparfait in French?

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:

  • Land-sensitive curriculum (ecopedagogy) based on plurilingual and multi-modal approaches (ecolinguistics)

  • Critical ecological computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and teaching

  • Sociophonological and multimodal aspects of dialect perception using high variability phonetic training methodologies

  • Critical and inclusive pedagogies using land-based and arts-based approaches

Current Research Affiliation

News & Upcoming Conferences

2026

Chung, R. & Cardoso, W. (2026, May). Landguaging the Imperial Classroom: Critical Ecopedagogies for Plurilingual Speaking Practices. Canadian Association for Applied Linguistics.

Chung, R. (2026, March 17). Landguaging imperialism through L2 teacher-reflection art [Webinar]. For REEAL seminar.

Chung, R. (2026). Landguaging. The SHIFT Journal: Letters for Communing with Home. https://www.concordia.ca/about/shift/journal/20260/love-letters-communing.html#rhonda-chung