P. Zitlali Morales

    Email Address: zitlali@uic.edu
    College: Education Department: Curriculum and Instruction
    Secondary Department: Latin American and Latino Studies
    Title: Associate Professor
    Office: 3234 Phone: 3129968144
    Webpage: https://education.uic.edu/profiles/p-zitlali-morales/
    Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes

    Research Interest:
    Dr. Morales examines the language practices of Latin@ youth and linguistic interactions of students and teachers in bilingual classrooms. She views language acquisition from a sociocultural perspective as participants learning to use language through the use of cultural practices, and specializes in additive models of language acquisition for emergent bilinguals. Her current research focuses on preparing teachers to meet their multilingual students' needs by leveraging the language and cultural knowledge that students bring to the classroom. Other research projects include exploring the learner identities of linguistic minority students in Spanish-English dual immersion programs and studying how language ideologies affect the context of schooling for immigrant students and multilingual learners. Dr. Morales is co-PI of a National Science Foundation funded project, “Literacy and New Communication Technologies in Contexts of Transnational Migration” studying the digital literacy practices and transnational ties of immigrant youth.

    Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 2

    Qualifications of a Student:
    Proficiency in Spanish desirable but not required
    Work would be most interesting for students interested in pursuing majors in education, anthropology, Latin American and Latino Studies, or sociolinguistics

    Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
    Transcribing audiorecorded interviews

    Return to Curriculum and Instruction list

    Return to Departments list