About Us
Research in Newcomer Workplace Language (RNWL) is a research group founded by two Applied Linguistics professors at Carleton University, Eva Kartchava and Michael Rodgers, working to improve second/additional language instruction to newcomers to Canada. The Group’s initiation was the product of a collaboration with the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO), a local organization that provides comprehensive settlement and integration services to newcomers to the city, on developing an English language learning program for OCISO’s Refugee and Immigrant Supports to Employment (RAISE) clients with limited official language proficiency and work experience.
The RNWL team aims to develop a blended 10-module curriculum to cultivate the language skills needed for RAISE learners to succeed and maintain employment in the service sector. To this end, the Group has engaged in a number of projects and has worked with motivated graduate students (working on their Master or PhD degrees in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies) interested in contributing to the project and learning along the way. For more information about our work, please visit the “Outcomes” page, where you can learn about our current and past project-related publications and presentations.
This work has been supported by Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as well as the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI) and has also been profiled as part of the Carleton’s Here for Good campaign.
To learn more about our team, please visit the “Research Team” tab. If you are interested in lending your talents to the project, please don’t hesitate to reach out and connect with us.
Thanks for your interest in RNWL!