ResearchInterests

Awards and Media Timeline

The research I have done over the years has important implications for communities both within and beyond the academy. For this reason, I strive to contribute to debates in a wide variety of contexts, drawing on diverse media, including video, radio, television, newspaper, and Web 2.0, starting my own YouTube channel in October 2013. This has enabled me to engage a wide audience, both locally and internationally. The summaries and links below are selective highlights of my academic and public engagement from the present time to 2000. My commitment to public dialogue is captured in the UBC Faculty of Education's Community Engagement website, which is regularly updated.

October, 2017: UBC Great Supervisor.
September 8, 2017: Bonny Norton on Nigeria's TVC: Literacy in Africa.
August, 2017: Punjabi among top three immigrant languages in Canada, Hindustan Times.
November, 2016: Royal Society of Canada YouTube Presentation: The African Storybook in the Digital Age.
June, 2016: How Digital Open Source Platforms Can Transform Learning.
March, 2016: TESOL Award for Distinguished Research (co-recipient with Ron Darvin).
November, 2015: British Council YouTube Interview on language and identity.
May, 2015: Digital stories could hold the key to multilingual literacy for African children.
September, 2014: Saide newsletter on the African Storybook summit at UBC in June, 2014.
On June 26, 2014: I organized an African Storybook Summit on the UBC campus, which included a wide range of stakeholders from both the public and academic community, locally and globally. The event was publicized in Vancouver's Georgia Straight newspaper: "Project brings digital books to African kids". Georgia Straight, June 26, 2014, p. 16, which is available online and in print.
June, 2014. At the ASP summit held at UBC, I invited the Project Director, Tessa Welch, to give a keynote address now on my YouTube channel
June 6, 2014: Launch of African Storybook Project. The interactive website of the African Storybook Project was launched in June 2014. I am a member of the team and the Research Advisor.
April, 2014. Bonny Norton's African Storybook Tribute to Jim Cummins at Celebrating Linguistic Diversity Conference, Toronto.
March 19, 2014: An interview with me on the African Storybook Project was published in UBC Reports, which includes a feature YouTube interview.
February 6, 2014: I gave a UBC talk at the Peter Wall Institute, which is on YouTube: "The African Storybook Project: What questions for research?"
December 10, 2013: With the publication of the 2nd ed. of Identity and Language Learning, I gave a Multilingual Matters blog interview..
October 2013: Peter Wall Colloquium Abroad on the African Storybook Project in Stellenbosch, South Africa. I created my own YouTube channel to engage the wider public. The first video to be uploaded was on this colloquium.
Fall, 2013: As a 2013/2014 Distinguished Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute, I was interviewed for the Wall Papers for the article "Language practices in classroom can help motivate students, says Institute scholar".
March 10, 2013: Georgia State University webinar for Global Conversations in Literacy "Identity, Investment, and Multilingual Literacy (in a Digital World)".
January, 17, 2013: After Jodie Foster's Golden Globe award, I published a letter in the Vancouver Sun, arguing that sexual orientation is only one aspect of identity, and that the recognition of multiple identities is educationally important.
October 24, 2012: When the 2011 Stats Canada census data became public on October 24, 2012, I was interviewed by Mark Forsythe on BC Alamanac, and engaged in a half-hour question and answer session on the importance of multilingualism to Canada and the global community.
April 2012, Awarded Fellow of the American Education Research Assiciation (AERA).
On December 27, 2010, I was interviewed for the Non Native English Speakers in TESOL "NNEST of the Month" blog.
April, 2010 Inaugural Senior Research Leadership Award, Second Language Research SIG, American Educational Research Association (AERA).
April, 2009: UBC Reports article: Ugandan students advance digital literacy
April, 2009: My 2009 plenary address at the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL): YouTube or MP4 Video (414 MB) or Flash Video (157 MB)
November, 2008: I uploaded Penina poem on YouTube.
2007. At the AAAL conference, I was interviewed by Eton Churchill for a Pearson Podcast.
In 2006, my plenary address at the SIL "Research Seminar on Language and Education in East Africa" was covered in an international media release.
*May, 2003 I was given a UBC Killam Teaching Prize award.
June, 2002: Interview with Japanese journal "The Language Teacher"; Churchill, E. (2002, June), "Interview with Bonny Norton", The Language Teacher, 26(6), 3-5.
2001: "Bonny Norton's new ideas about foreign language learning", Foreign Language Teaching Abroad, 4, 14-17 (2001).
In 2000, I had many interviews with radio, television and print journalists based on my research with Archie comics. I include a sample radio interview on CBC National Radio's, "As It Happens", on April 12, 2000; a print article by Dedyna, K. (2000, November 27). Read 'em and reap. in the Times Colonist, Victoria, BC, p. C1; and a University Affairs article: Editors. (2001, January). Analysing Archie. University Affairs. Ottawa: Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, p. 7.
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