Guillaume Gentil
Professor
School of Linguistics and Language Studies
Carleton University
Canada
Biography
My current research interests in second language writing and biliteracy development in professional and postsecondary settings originated from my academic literacy experiences in France, the USA, and Canada. As a student of biology and agricultural sciences (M. Sc. in plant pathology, Institut National Agronomique, Paris; 16-month research internship, University of Wisconsin Madison), and then a student of applied linguistics (M.A. and Ph.D. in second language education, McGill University, Montréal; postdoctoral internship with Alister Cumming, University of Toronto), I experienced firsthand the challenges of bilingual academic writers who must shuttle back and forth between languages and discourse communities, writing in one language while reading in another, and alternating the language of composing while negotiating divided linguistic loyalties. This interest has resulted in several case studies and institutional ethnographies of academic and professional biliteracy over the last ten years with a threefold focus on multilingual writers’ motivations for biliteracy, individual and institutional strategies for biliteracy, and ways to design enabling contexts for biliteracy.
Research Interest
Professional and Academic Biliteracy Second Language Writing Languages for Specific Purposes Corpus Linguistics for Language, Writing, and Discourse Studies Identity and Language Learning.
Publications
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Gentil, G. & Séror, J. (2014). “Canada has two official languages—or does it? Case studies of Canadian scholars’ language choices and practices in disseminating knowledge.†Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 13(1),17-30.
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Gentil, G. (2014). Will ESL writing teachers lose their jobs in the age of highly accurate computer-assisted translation? Contact Magazine (TESOL Ontario Newsletter), 40(4),31-34.
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Gentil, G. (in press). Multilingualism as a writing resource. In J. Liontas (Ed). The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, Liontas, J. (Vol. Teaching Writing, co-edited by D. Belcher & A. Hirvela). New York: Wiley.
