Language Arts

My research interests include: Language Art Education, Hermeneutics, Philosophy of Education, Poetry, History of Literacy, B.C. Literature and Contemporary Welsh Literature. My present research is being funded by a President’s Research Grant. The project is titled: Literacy Education and Endangered Languages: The Welsh and Canadian Experiences Compared.

Email: madocjo@sfu.ca

Selected Publications

Refereed Journals

Madoc-Jones. G. (2001, Fall). Practices, narratives and the telos of education. Accepted for publication in Prospero. Journal of New Thinking in Philosophy of Education.

Madoc-Jones, G, & Egan K. (2001, Spring). On the educational uses of fantasy. Accepted for publication in The Journal of the Imagination in Language Learning.

Non-Refereed Journals

Madoc-Jones, G. (1991). The utility of intrinsic worth: The graduation program and the challenge of liberal education. In Roland Case (Ed.), Educational perspectives: A critical analysis of British Columbia’s proposals for educational reform, Burnaby: SFU

Madoc-Jones. G. (1995). Sport: An authentic activity. Educators at Work. SFU.

Papers in preparation

Madoc-Jones. G.  Performatives and practice: Speech acts in teacher education.

J.L. Austin and J. Searles’ work on the importance of speech-acts is used to conceptualize certain aspects of teacher education, in particular the kinds of discourse that take place between student teachers and Faculty Associates.

Madoc-Jones. G. Giambattista Vico: Imagination, education and the teaching of poetry.

Vico’s work on imagination and education is reviewed with a view to providing a non-Romantic justification for the teaching of poetry based on its role as a form of social practice.

Madoc-Jones. G.  Play and education:  Oakeshott and Gadamer

The common themes of M. Oakeshott’s distinction between work and play and H-G. Gadamer’s characterization of play as structure are used to develop a notion of liberal education in general and the language arts in particular.

Madoc-Jones. G.   Narrative, metaphor and interpretation.: Ricoeur and the Language Arts.

A comprehensive review of Paul Ricoeur’s later work on narrative and metaphor is used to posit a rethinking of interpretive approaches to language arts education.

Madoc-Jones, G.  Allt y Rhedyn.  Dylan Thomas in Welsh:  A Translation of Fern Hill.

As part of a study of the relationship between a poet from Wales, who writes in English, the poetic features of the poem Fern Hill are investigated through the process of its translation into Welsh.

Snapshot of Conference Activity

• 2000: Performance as Interpretation. Presentation at the Far West and North West Philosophy of Education Societies Annual Conference, Vancouver.
• 1999: At the Mercy of Words: Dylan Thomas and the Welsh Poetic Tradition . Dylan Thomas Circle: Annual Dylan Thomas Lecture, Vancouver.
• 1998: The Necessity of the Poetic in the Linguistic Imagination, Presentation at the American Educational Research Association, Annual Conference, San Diego.
• 1997: The Necessity of the Poetic in the Educated Imagination,  Presentation at the Seventh International Conference on Thinking, Singapore.
• 1996: Hermeneutics and Teaching Literature, Presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English, North West Regional Conference, Vancouver.

Research and Development

• 2001-2003: Application currently under review for SSHRC New Scholar Grant entitled: Poetry, hermeneutics and language arts education: An inter-cultural study of policies and pedagogies. $94, 962.
• 2000-2002: SFU Presidents Research Grant. Literacy education and endangered languages: The Welsh and Canadian experiences compared. $9,135.

Service (partial list of activity since 1994)

Faculty

Member, Faculty Tenure Committee, Graduate Programs Committee, Professional Programs Committee

Chair. Curriculum Committee for Faculty Review Self-Study Document

Site Sponsor: Sunshine Coast Med. 2000

University

Member, Diamond University Club Board

Scholarly Community

Member, British Columbia Teachers of English Language Arts. Executive Member 2000/2001

Canadian Council of Teachers of English Language Arts

National Council of Teachers of English

Professional

Madoc-Jones, G.  Schools and the practice of educative teaching. School District #46. Plenary address to Annual Professional Conference. February, 2001

Madoc-Jones, G.  Cognitive tools for the English classroom. School District #35. Langley. February 2001

Graduate Student Supervision (since 1993)

Theses Completed

• 1 Ph.D. (committee member)
• 4 MEd (committee member)
• 13 MEd (Senior Supervisor)

Theses in Progress

• 1 Ph.D. (committee member)
• 1 MA (committee member)
• 2 MEd  (Senior Supervisor)