2nd Annual Meeting, Seattle 2010
Title: Intergenerational curricula, multimodal communication, and identity options: Findings from a study
of an IG art program as a basis for a study of IG singing curricula
Author: Zheng Zhang & Rachel Heydon (Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario, London,
Ontario)
Introduction
This poster reports on those aspects of a qualitative case study of an intergenerational (IG) art curriculum
that could be relevant for the development of an IG singing curriculum. The goal of the research is to
understand the constituents of successful IG curricula such that they can create expansive communication
learning opportunities and identity options for young children and older adults. The study found that when
compared to the adults, children’s communication and identity options are less restricted, and IG curricula
could address the need to keep these opportunities and options open throughout the life span through
measures such as sustained, meaningful IG programs that focus on supporting participants’ facility with a
variety of communicational modes and media. The findings of the art study are now being transferred to a
study of the development and implementation of IG singing curricula which is making inquiries into at
least three areas of IG singing programming: Intrapersonal characteristics: what is the relationship between
communication options, interests, identity options, and their connection to young children’s and older
adults’ well-being in the context of IG singing curricula?; Interpersonal factors: how are reciprocal
relationships forged in and through IG singing curricula?; Systemic features: what structural, organizational
supports are necessary for successful IG singing curricula, and how are larger social Discourses instantiated
(and perhaps disrupted) within IG song and curricula?
Bios
Zheng Zhang, in 1999, started teaching English at a locally renowned international school and at the
Central South University, China while doing his M.A. study in applied linguistics. In June 2002, Zheng
started working as a full-time English teacher at Shanghai University of Electric Power and was granted
several professional awards afterwards. Drawing on his teaching experiences, he also coauthored several
books related to English literacy development. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Western
Ontario. He’s research interests include biliteracy development, multiliteracies, transnational education,
and family literacy programs for immigrant families. He’s previous research findings have been
disseminated in the forms of journal articles and presentations at peer-reviewed conferences (e.g., Zhang,
submitted, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2009, 2008a, 2008b).
Rachel Heydon, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario, is a former
special education/literacy teacher. She coordinates the pre-service elementary language arts program and
teaches graduate courses in curriculum theory and literacy. Her interests include language and literacy
teaching, learning, and policy (particularly in regard to young children and other persons who are
minoritized), intergenerational learning, disability studies, the development of curricula and educational
and social policies that can lead to the improvement of children’s lives, and the development of curricula to
support critically reflective teacher development. These interests are all firmly rooted in critical theory with
its goal of emancipation. She has published two books, Early Childhood Curricula and the DePathologizing of Children (with Luigi Iannacci) and Constructing Meaning: Balancing the Elementary
Language Arts (with Joyce Bainbridge and Grace Malicky), and published in a number of international
journals including the Journal of Curriculum Studies, the Journal of Early Childhood Research, and
Teaching and Teacher Education.