Deleuzian Experimentations in Canadian Immigrant Language Education: Research,Practice,and Policy

Abstract

Undertaking Deleuzean experimentations in educational research requires a transformation of what it is to do research. After describing one such becoming, this article considers the potentialities of Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT), which draws on concepts created by Deleuze and Deleuze and Guattari, for thinking differently about policy and practice in a federally-funded adult immigrant language program in Canada. A rhizoanalytic cartography of vignettes selected from a qualitative study conducted in two immigrant language classrooms focuses on teacher and student perceptions of being and becoming-Canadian in a multicultural context. Viewed through the lens of MLT, this rhizoanalysis suggests that there is much more going on in the program than its mandate to ‘orient newcomers to the Canadian way of life’ might imply. The article goes on to discuss potential lines of flight in adult immigrant language programs for the transformation of policy and practice.

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