Dr. Robert LeBlanc


Dr. Robert Jean LeBlanc is Assistant Professor of ELA/Literacy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge. A former high school English teacher, he holds a B.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of Saskatchewan and an MA in Education and Society from McGill University. In 2016, he earned his PhD in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania and his work with Catholic immigrant youth in Philadelphia went on to receive the Outstanding Dissertation award from the AERA Catholic Education SIG. 

As an ethnographer of literacy in classrooms and communities, his research addresses the everyday language and literacies of marginalized youth—their robust cultural and linguistic practices, often unrecognized by policy—and how these interact with the official literacy policies and practices of schools and English classrooms. Through close analysis of talk and text, Robert’s work examines the strategic means by which youth mobilize a range of linguistic, community, and institutional resources to navigate challenging school contexts, notably by drawing on their community resources and literacy practices. His work has appeared in journals such as Linguistics & Education, Research in the Teaching of English, Written Communication, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Journal of Catholic Education, Language Arts, International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, and English Journal.