Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Katrina (Ekaterina) is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Her research focuses on the digital literacies of children and adults from refugee and migrant backgrounds. It investigates the ways in which these groups use digital technologies in English as an Additional Language (EAL) for life, learning and employment, and explores how these experiences can be used to enhance educational policies and pedagogies for digital literacies in EAL/TESOL settings. Katrina's research projects in EAL contexts have examined innovative teaching and learning with technologies, in-service and pre-service teachers’ experience with digital literacies, teaching online and leadership for change during the Covid-19 pandemic, generative AI and technology use in communities from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Somali, Vietnam, Iraq and China as they settle in Australia. She is a recipient of more than $800,000 AUD in research funding successfully delivering national projects.
Katrina publishes in the field of digital literacies and TESOL and she is the author of Digital Literacies: EAL Teachers' Guide. She has provided expert advice to the government regarding digital literacies in the EAL curriculum in schools and the AMEP (Adult Migrant English Program) sector. In 2021-2022, Katrina led the development and implementation of the AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide (PDF downloads). Katrina is a recipient of a number of professional awards.
Katrina started her career in education as a school teacher in Belarus. Before moving to Australia, she taught English and Spanish in a variety of contexts from primary to tertiary education. She teaches in the Faculty's teacher education undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
Katrina's full profile can be found at the Digital Education Research Group website
Research interests
Digital literacies /new literacies
The use of digital technologies in language education including TESOL
Generative AI
Multimodality and digital multimodal composing
Refugee and migrant communities
Strengths-based practices and technology
Sociocultural theories of language, technology and education
Visual research methodology
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research area keywords
- Digital/new literacies
- Literacy Studies
- TESOL
- Digital technologies
- English as an Additional Language (EAL)
- Migrants and refugees
- Generative AI
- Digital multimodal composing
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Harnessing generative AI: Understanding the needs of the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program
Tour, K., Henderson, M., Creely, E., Waterhouse, P. & Barnes, M.
1/10/23 → 30/04/24
Project: Research
-
AMEP Digital Literacies Framework and Guide: Supporting Pedagogies for Digital Literacies in the Adult EAL Contexts
Tour, K., Creely, E., Waterhouse, P. & Henderson, M.
26/05/21 → 30/06/22
Project: Research
-
Home Languages in the English Classroom: Working with Multilingual Texts
Turner, M., Keary, A. & Tour, K.
17/05/21 → 30/07/22
Project: Research
-
Learning through languages: Plurilingual pedagogy in the English classroom
Turner, M., Keary, A. & Tour, K.
Department of Education (Victoria)
13/03/20 → 1/09/22
Project: Research
-
Delivery of EMI Professional Learning Course for Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
Bonar, G., Tour, K., Bright, D. & Dang, K.
14/10/19 → 25/10/19
Project: Consultancy
-
Bringing plurilingual strategies into linguistically diverse classrooms: affordances of digital multimodal composing
Tour, E., Turner, M., Keary, A. & Tran-Dang, K. L., 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: Language and Education. 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Creating a reason to read: coaching strategies that support teachers to establish reading as a professional practice
Sawatzki, C., Tour, E. & Marangio, K., 2023, In: The Australian Educational Researcher. 50, p. 1197-1215 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Empowering English as an Additional Language students through digital multimodal composing
Barnes, M. & Tour, E., May 2023, In: Literacy. 57, 2, p. 106-119 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Giving voice to mothers from refugee backgrounds: their agentic roles in children’s learning
Barnes, M. & Tour, K., 2023, The Power of Voice in Transforming Multilingual Societies. Gspandl, J., Korb, C., Heiling, A. & Erling, E. J. (eds.). 1st ed. Bristol UK: Multilingual Matters, p. 96-112 17 p. (Critical Language and Literacy Studies; vol. 29).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (Book) › Research › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Home language literacy practices: learning opportunities for primary EAL students
Turner, M., Keary, A. & Tour, E., 2023, In: The Australian Educational Researcher. 50, p. 1513-1531 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)
Prizes
-
ACTA Conference Scholarship
Tour, Katrina (Recipient), 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Australian Postgraduate Award (2010)
Tour, Katrina (Recipient), 2010
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Best Paper Award
Tour, Katrina (Recipient), Creely, Ed (Recipient) & Waterhouse, Peter (Recipient), 1 Jun 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Dean's Award for Programs that Enhance learning (2016)
Tour, Katrina (Recipient), 22 Nov 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Excellence in Teaching Award (2003)
Tour, Katrina (Recipient), 2003
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities
-
Digital Technologies Advocacy Group (Australian Council of TESOL Associations)
Katrina Tour (Chair/ Co-Chair)
2023Activity: External Academic Engagement › Professional association or peak discipline body
-
International Symposium "Digital Empowerment and Refugee Settlement"
Katrina Tour (Keynote/plenary speaker)
13 Apr 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
-
International Undergraduate Conference on English Education (IUCEE 2023)
Katrina Tour (Keynote/plenary speaker)
23 May 2023 → 24 May 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
-
VicTESOL Symposium 2023
Katrina Tour (Invited speaker)
2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
-
Digital Literacies in EAL Special Interest Group (SIG)
Katrina Tour (Chair/ Co-Chair)
2023Activity: External Academic Engagement › Professional association or peak discipline body
Press/Media
-
Settling in digital Australia
Katrina Tour, Michael Henderson, Edwin Creely, Peter Waterhouse & Xuan Pham
1/03/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Article/Feature
-
Five ideas for parents with young children in lockdown
17/08/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Article/Feature
-
How to help your kids with homework (without doing it for them)
Melissa Barnes & Katrina Tour
24/01/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Article/Feature
-
How school-family-community partnerships strengthen learning in culturally diverse schools
Melissa Barnes, Katrina Tour & Robyn Babaeff
2/12/19
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Article/Feature
-
DER’s response to proposed changes in the Victorian EAL Curriculum
29/08/19
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment