The objective of the present study is to analyze word-initial voice onset time (VOT) in the context of code-switching (CS). More specifically, this study combines research methods from sociolinguistics and phonetics to investigate how 32 heritage Spanish speakers (HSSs) of Mexican descent, living in Indiana, produce VOT for /p t k/ in word-initial…

Within the past few decades, notable contributions have been made in heritage language education research that continued to gain ground in language pedagogy and teaching practices (e.g., Davila, 2017; Valdes, 2000; Fishman, 2001; Kelleher, 2010; Polinsky & Kagan 2007). This dissertation is guided by translanguaging and social identity, two…

In the context of language diversity in schools, this research underscores the persistence of monolingual academic standards despite linguistic variety. Bilingual education, historically intertwined with sociopolitical agendas aligning with dominant societal power structures, necessitates a paradigm shift. Bilingual educators must empower students…

Bilinguals are able to compose expressions across their languages with seeming ease. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as "code-switching," has challenged both theoretical models in linguistics as well as neurobiological models of language processing. And yet, our models of the bilingual brain and the language processing mechanism…

This is an ethnographic case study that explores and examines the translanguaging practices of three bilingual teachers in a rural elementary school in deep south Texas. Translanguaging guides this analysis. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without…

Translanguaging research among multilingual students has received considerable attention across different contexts of practice. The most robust contexts in translanguaging research have been the classroom contexts between teacher and students. This study examined the affordances of translanguaging spaces "between class sessions" in…

This dissertation study investigates the translanguaging interactions among teachers and students who share a common non-English language and what these exchanges might entail. It finds that multilinguals often hesitate to bring out their non-English languages in academic settings as they fear it (translanguging) may result in othering them in…

This qualitative study examined four Belizean primary teachers' multilingual pedagogies in language arts instruction. The research question, what multilingual pedagogies did Belizean primary teachers use in the Language Arts classrooms guides this multiple case study. Using a thematic analysis in the data analysis process results in the…

With an increase in multilingual learners in U.S. public schools, there is an imperative to understand the language practices, ideologies, and pedagogies within culturally and linguistically sustaining heritage language programs inside schools. Building on principles of translanguaging as a theory of practical language (Garcia, 2009; Li, 2018),…

Code-switching has been studied from different approaches, ranging from syntactical, sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, phonetically and many others. One key area that phonetic studies have explore has been the production of VOT in Spanish-English bilinguals due to the differences across the languages. To understand how bilinguals co-activate…

This dissertation presents findings from a qualitative interview based study that examines the language ideological stances of former bilingual educators who now serve as school counselors. Data was collected through interviews, artifact analysis, member checks, and analytical memos with a total of ten participants. The study revealed the majority…

Increasingly, speakers of minoritized languages around the world are becoming uprooted due to economic pressures, political forces, and environmental destabilization. As communities leave their traditional homelands, they often experience accelerated language shift. Although youth are in a critical position to further transmit their languages to…

This dissertation investigates how bilinguals use their two grammars to comprehend written intra-sentential codeswitches. I focus on adjective/noun constructions in Spanish and English where I manipulate the congruence of grammatical word order in the two languages across the codeswitch boundary. This allows me to test three codeswitching…

At schools in the Unites States, English-centric hegemonic policies often hinder emergent bilingual students from fully applying their linguistic skills to read non-fiction texts. This phenomenon necessitates investigation into how culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) can be utilized to support fifth-grade bilingual students' understanding of…

Many phenomena in psycholinguistics have been studied using artificial paradigms due to laboratory limitations. Code-switching may be one of the phenomena experimentally studied with the most egregious disregard for the environment it appears in and purposes it serves. Our research group has emphasized the necessity of introducing these factors…