Subject-to-Change: Sociomaterial Explorations of French as a Second Language Teacher Practice and Technology

Abstract

This dissertation takes up myriad theories and concepts from the umbrella of sociomaterialism to explore and experiment with technology in Core French as a Second Language (FSL). Drawing upon a 10-month study with five Core French teachers, this study broadly engages questions around what is produced when Core French teachers ‘do’ their professional practice. More specifically, the research-assemblage attended to the flows of actors and activity that (were) co-produced (by) these becomings. Guided by the methodological toolkits of Action Research and Actor-Network Theory, I worked with each teacher individually in discussing problems of practice, observing, and co-developing (and sometimes co-leading) lesson plans involving technology integration. I spent two to four days per month with each teacher. I collected artifacts from the classrooms, as well as files related to the lesson plans. Additionally, I completed up to three semi-structured interviews. The three articles which form the empirical body of this dissertation provide actor-network mappings and discussions of particular data events from the study. These data entry points are possible lines to think differently about the intricacies of becoming a Core FSL teacher in day-to-day practice, and the ways in which these educators are constantly (re)shaped in relation with the material, human, and affective elements that circulate in and beyond their classrooms. I offer several vignettes as empirical examples that extend insights into how the status of Core FSL, the material components of the school, and the teachers’ practice are co-constituted. I offer these explorations as avenues to think with in order to disrupt existing understandings and suggest how (re)imagining FSL teaching from a sociomaterial perspective might produce different engagements and interventions in these spaces. As stakeholders, I suggest it is time to consider what (else) might become in Core FSL?