Search

We Are...Second Language & Multilingual Education

In the Second Language & Multilingual Education (L2ME) emphasis area, we focus on the education of multilingual learners. This involves teaching emergent bilingual learners in PreK-12 classrooms, teaching English as an additional language in international contexts, and teaching world languages (e.g., Spanish, German). In our research, we use qualitative, mixed method, and discourse analytic approaches to address multilingual education through sociocultural, cognitive, and critical theoretical frameworks. We focus on a number of specialized areas of inquiry, such as classroom interaction, classroom-based language assessment, historical and political dimensions of multilingual education, dialogic teaching, language and identity, teacher preparation for the instruction of emergent bilingual learners, and the development of teacher interculturality and global competence.

What We Do

  • Build familiarity with theoretical frameworks related to language and cultural learning

  • Cultivate critical language awareness by studying language variation and linguistic diversity

  • Develop research capabilities needed to conduct multilingual education research

  • Develop understandings of pedagogies that are culturally and linguistically sustaining in order to promote multilingualism

  • Support advocacy work with and for multilingual students and communities

Courses We Offer

  • Evaluating Schools Performances and Programs with English Language Learners

  • Foundations in Second Language Teaching

  • Language Policy for Multilingual Students: Language, Culture, Socioemotional, and Psychological Implications

  • Language, Culture, and the Classroom: Issues for Practitioners

  • Teaching Reading and Writing to English Learners K-12

Career Opportunities

L2ME graduates have found success in a variety of academic and professional settings, including positions at:

  • Advocacy organizations

  • K-12 school districts

  • Research-intensive universities 

  • Teaching-intensive universities 

Meet The Faculty