CIPTL Research Assistant Zoe Cober Awarded FRQSC Research Scholarship

We are delighted to announce that Zoe Cober, third year student at Bishop’s University’s School of Education, has been awarded the Bourse d’initiation à la recherche au 1er cycle from Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).  Zoe’s research project is titled Des voix qui comptent : Affirmer l'identité et promouvoir l'engagement scolaire chez les apprenants de l'anglais et du français langues additionnelles dans un cégep anglophone du Québec.

This project explores themes of voice and identity among CEGEP students and how language shapes a person’s sense of self and their ways of understanding. Drawing on plurilingualism, the project aims to explore how teachers can adopt an asset-oriented approach to students’ plurilingual and pluricultural competencies, positioning them not as deficits but rather as resources through which they can express their voice, agency and belonging.   

Her research project is built on a collaborative action research study that Dr. Sunny Lau conducted with pedagogical consultants and teachers from Champlain College, « Pédagogies plurilingues », funded by the Entente Canada-Québec (2025). The source project responds to Quebec's Law 14 which requires students at English CEGEPs to take either an additional French second language course or a program course in French, so many students have to navigate both English and French language learning needs. Zoe will help with data analysis of student interviews and the development of an inventory of plurilingual teaching strategies. 

Learn more about the Pédagogies plurilingues project here

Learn more about the Fonds de recherche du Québec here