Claire Ahn

Assistant Professor of Multiliteracies, Graduate Faculty

B.Ed. (University of Alberta)
MEd, PhD (University of British Columbia)

Dr. Claire Ahn is an Associate Professor of Multiliteracies. Broadly speaking, Dr. Ahn’s research focusses on how information is mediated across different platforms and how this affects people’s understanding of issues, events, and of people. Dr. Ahn also has over 20 years of teaching experience, including a decade of experience as a secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teacher, thus her research is strongly rooted in and considers secondary ELA curricula and pedagogical implications.

Dr. Ahn’s current projects include the following:

• How visual images and the genre of environmental documentary films affect viewers’ responses and awareness of issues
• Youth and ELA teacher experiences and perspectives in implementing social justice education (SSHRC IDG, PI)
  • Co-PI: Dr. Thashika Pillay
• Multiliteracy approaches to teaching, learning, and research about community and place using PhoneMe (New Frontiers Research Fund, Co-PI)
  • Co-PIs: Dr. Natalia Balyasnikova (York) and Dr. Kedrick James (UBC)
• Newcomer seniors and critical digital literacy skills (SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, PI)
  • Co-PI: Dr. Natalia Balyasnikova

Research Interests

• Multiliteracies/multimodality
• Narrative film and documentary film
• Visual literacy and visual rhetoric
• Genre and rhetorical genre studies
• Environmental literacy
• Secondary English Language Arts curriculum

Select Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Ahn, C., Balyasnikova, N., Horst, R., James, K., Morales, E., Takeda, Y., Yung, E. (2023). Enhancing relationality through poetic engagement with PhoneMe: Transmodal contexts and interpretive agency. Language and Literacy, 25(2), 57-83. https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29617 

Ahn, C. (2022). Documentary genre in environmental education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1822

Pillay, T., Ahn, C., Gyamerah, K., & Liu, S. (2022). Considering the role of social media: #BlackLivesMetter as a pedagogical intervention to decolonise curriculum. London Review of Education, 20 (1).

Searle, M., Ahn, C., Fels, L., & Carbone, K. (2021). Infusing creativity and care into assessment of transformative learning in teacher education. Journal of Transformative Education, 19(4), 339-365.

Ahn. C. (2021). Genre expectations and viewer reaction to Our Planet: Are audiences motivated to act more sustainably?. Language and Literacy, 23(1), 65-79.

Ahn, C. (2020). Considering the role of documentary media in environmental education. Journal of Canadian Curriculum Studies, 17(2), 67 – 79.

Ahn, C. & Leggo, C. (2019). Teachers in film: Always in process. The Canadian Journal of Education, 42(1), 117-137.

McKerracher, A., Sinner, A., Leggo, C., Hasbe-Ludt, E., Ahn, C., Rak, S. & Boschee, J. (2016). When is the Teacher? Reflections on social fiction, film, and life writing. Journal of Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 14(1), 92-107.

Accepted/Published Refereed Book Chapters

Peña, E., & Ahn, C. (In Press, 2023). Patterns of reality. Routledge companion to moving histories.

Ahn, C. & Peña, E. (2021). Reality as genre. In J. Ávila (ed.) Critical digital literacies: Boundary-crossing practices (pp. 13-34). Brill and Sense.

Other Publications

Ahn, C. (2021 January 19). Navigating an infodemic: Questions, considerations, and critical digital (visual) literacy education. School of Rubric.

Ahn, C. (2020 April 20). Engaging students in film analysis in ELA classrooms (and online!!). Facing History and Ourselves.

Ahn, C. (2019 February 4). How analyzing patterns helps students spot deceptive media. The Conversation.