Marie J. (Maria) Myers

PhD (Doctorat: Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg), MA, BA (Strasbourg)

Professor of Applied Linguistics/Language and Communication, Graduate Faculty

Research Interests

• Pragmatics in linguistics (including systems and complexity)
• Language and communication
• Language development (second and foreign languages)
• Pragmalinguistics and Sociopragmatics

Fields

Cognitive / Curriculum / Cultural studies

Bio

Over my career, I have been an active researcher, as well as an invited professor internationally. Most recently I obtained a best paper award for quality research at the Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) conference.

I came to Canada on a Canada Council Research grant (was recommended as in top 1% of Doctoral students at the University of Strasbourg: at Louis Pasteur, the scientific branch including dental and medical schools). I obtained my doctorate "Summa cum laude" in Psychology of language, communication and pedagogical intervention (Applied Linguistics).

Over my career, I have been an active researcher, as well as an invited professor internationally at very important venues (like Mcquarry University where I also taught a graduate course as part as ALI (Applied Linguistics Institute), at Malaya University (the most prestigious University in Malaysia), at University in Hong Kong (in Education where I participated in multilingual research traveling to different Chinese provinces), University of Bergen (Norway), Roma Tre, Suleyman Demirel University in Kazakhstan, Ho Chi Min University, to name a few, including universities in France (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales) where recently I was invited as an external PhD examiner (Université de Grenoble). I gave research workshops to University Professors of French of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for four years in a row.

I had several works published every year with over 150 refereed publications and over 200 refereed conference presentations.

I had membership in many important groups (AILA, IADA, ICEEPSY, BCES, CASLT, InPACT, WIARS...) and am invited to present papers, write articles, carry out reviews and be on editorial and organizing boards.

I am in constant demand as a reviewer of refereed work in my field and I have devoted my life to Queen's.

Last, but not least, I was closely involved with the second language learning and teaching community. I was selected to be on the Pan Canadian Review of Core French by the Canadian Association of Second Language Teaching as a member of the Language Syllabus. I was also involved throughout with the production of the Textbook series ‘Vive le Français’, used across schools in Canada, the US and internationally, for many years.

Recent Activities

• on-going research on intercultural sensitivity,
• 2 research contracts with Mouton De Gruyter on intercultural communication and language for content teaching (language use in science)
• Partnerships with Université Catholique de Paris colleague; University of Potchefsrom, South Africa.
• Faculty of languages, Suleyman Demirel University, Kazakhstan
• International consortium: Institut International de Recherche et Formation sur l'Éducation tout au long de la vie et le Développement Durable (REDFORD)

Books Published as Sole Author

(2004): Modalités d'apprentissage d'une langue seconde, DeBoeck (Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium)-Duculot (Paris).
(2014): Les nouveaux dans les écoles: comment aborder des situations de plus en plus complexes. Frank & Timme Verlag (Berlin)
(2014): Aspects innovants en insertion scolaire francophone, EUE (Editions Universitaires Européennes)

Major Research Funding 

SSHRC and Industry Canada, $2.4 million, a principal investigator within the EvNet Centre of Excellence, research on the evaluation of new technologies for second language learning

SSHRC, on Co-Housing

Ontario Ministry of Education, on the situation of newcomers to Ontario French Schools.