Professor: Paola Uccelli
Semester: Fall 2025

Designed for researchers and practitioners, this course focuses on the pressing issues related to bilingual students’ language and literacy instruction, as well as policies guiding language and education at school. The term “bilingual” in this course is used to refer to students who have diverse and unequal experiences in more than one language, with a focus on those who speak or hear a language different from the societal language at home but who might receive bilingual or monolingual instruction at school. The course employs an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on sociocultural and educational theory and research to explore societal factors related to language, literacy, and academic achievement in the United States and in various international contexts. Together, we will examine questions related to the many modes of being bilingual/multilingual, the role of languages in society, and the impact of educational resources and policies on bilingual populations. The aims of this course are to investigate and understand how sociocultural contexts affect bilingual students’ learning and identities, why literacy plays a crucial role in academic achievement, and which instructional implications are supported by the latest research with bilingual learners. The ultimate goal is to prepare students to contribute to the field in research-informed, yet innovative, ways. This course is intended for students who anticipate working with linguistically diverse populations as practitioners, curriculum designers, educational leaders, policymakers, or researchers.

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