Allyson Eamer
PhD
Associate Professor
Faculty of Education
Contact information
Education Building - Room 521
Downtown Oshawa
11 Simcoe Street North
Oshawa, ON
905.721.8668 ext. 3821
Dr. Allyson Eamer: Digital literacy and online language learning
Dr. Allyson Eamer's research interests include synchronous online language learning; language acquisition and identity negotiation; immersion education; ethnolinguistic vitality; and mother tongue education. She is also interested in how digital literacy supports self-directed learning, how cyber colonialism impacts distance education through the dominance of English on the web, and how corporate outsourcing has changed English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching.Bio
Dr. Eamer, joined Ontario Tech University in 2008, after teaching English as a Second Language and core French for nearly 20 years. She earned her doctorate in Applied Linguistics from York University, her Master of Education in Applied Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (U of T), her Bachelor of Education at York University, and her Bachelor of Psychology from U of T.
Linguistic diversity of one of Canada’s greatest and most undervalued assets, according to linguistic expert Allyson Eamer, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education. She is making strides to ensure educators and community leaders recognize multilingualism as a resource, rather than a deficit starting in elementary schools. Dr. Eamer was instrumental in launching Ontario Tech University’s new ESL school, which opened in January 2017 and the TESOL program which started in 2020.
In 2013, Dr. Eamer was named a Fellow of the Nantucket Project for her role in enabling indigenous elders to teach their languages online in the Plains Cree and Dene Nations. Her research is referenced in a high-profile bibliography of recommended reading by world-renowned linguist Dr. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. Passionate about mentoring language teachers, Dr. Eamer is also developing online courses to improve English skills among teachers and learners in other countries.
For more information:
Courses taught
Master of Education
- Authentic Assessment - EDUC 5305G
- Critical and Reflective Practice - EDUC 5004G
Research and expertise
- Bilingualism/multilingualism in families, schools and communities
- English language education
- Equitable access to higher education
- Ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics
- Indigenous language learning
- Language and multiculturalism
- Mother tongue maintenance in immigrant families
- Online language learning
- Additional languages spoken: French, Cantonese
- Eamer, A., Fernando, S., & King, A. E. (2017). Still on the Margins: Migration, English Language Learning, and Mental Health in Immigrant Psychiatric Patients. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 11(4), 190-202.
- Eamer, A. (2014). E-learning for Endangered Languages: What is the State of the Art?. In Conference Proceedings (Eds.) CALL Conference. Antwerp, Belgium: University of Belgium.
- Eamer, A., Hughes, J., & Morrison, L. J. (2014). Crossing cultural borders through Ning. Multicultural Education Review, 6(1), 49-78.
- Hughes, J., & Eamer, A. (2012). How does the use of digital media benefit adolescent English language learners in the English classroom. English in middle and secondary classrooms: Creative and critical advice from Canadian teacher educators, 57-62.
- Eamer, A. (2010, May). Language teaching across the digital divide. In International Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (pp. 36-41). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
- Eamer, A. (2008). Language, culture and identity negotiation: Three generations of three immigrant families in Toronto.
- Lotherington, H., & Eamer, A. (2008). Successful kids from immigrant families: An investigation of the complex multilingual worlds of 10-year-old gifted writers in suburban Toronto. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5(2), 100-121.
