Iliana Alanís

• Doctor of Education
• The University of Texas at San Antonio

This article focuses on elements of successful sociocultural inclusion and linguistic participation in a bilingual dual-language preschool for Latinx children. It presents a subset of findings from a three-year qualitative research project in which Latinx critical race theory and a translanguaging framework were used to illuminate critical intersec...

Digital media has transformed how we interact with each other, how we stay connected, and how we learn about the world around us. Digital media has also changed the teacher's role from knowledge provider to facilitator. Teachers however, continue to struggle with technology and curricula integration as a vehicle for engaging young learners with aca...

Despite calls for an increase in diversity and equity in early childhood classrooms, preschool teachers sometimes struggle to effectively address race in their classrooms, leaving young children to try to make sense of it themselves. Therefore, in this qualitative study, researchers examined how race issues were manifested in the play of young Blac...

Discussion and examples of distributing leadership in two-way immersion K-8 schools.

Purpose Oftentimes, attempts at culturally relevant early childhood practices are limited to diverse materials in the physical environment. The purpose of this study is to document the culturally relevant teaching practices, specifically for African American children, within a culturally diverse preschool classroom with a Black teacher. Design/met...

Changing demographics have led to a need for dual language teachers to adjust their pedagogy to best meet the needs of second language learners in dual language programs. However, the development of linguistic and cognitive skills for dual language learners continues to challenge early childhood teachers (Martinez, 2010; García & Kleifgen, 2010). W...

Using Latino critcal race theory as a lens, this qualitative study explored ways in which young children’s translanguaging practices informed the design of culturally relevant socio dramatic spaces in a bilingual early childhood classroom located along the Texas/Mexico border in South Texas. The authors identified aspects of language development th...

Digital media has transformed how we interact with each other, how we stay connected, and how we learn about the world around us. Digital media has also changed the teacher's role from knowledge provider to facilitator (Lee, 2006). Teachers however, continue to struggle with technology and curricula integration as a vehicle for engaging young learn...

This study explores ways in which university science courses can be infused with opportunities for pre-service teachers to design studentstudent interactions that promote language development and content mastery. Participants included bilingual pre-service teachers enrolled in an elementary science approaches course and its school-based fieldwork c...

The rapid technological changes that have occurred in recent years have become critical for the academic and professional success of novice teachers. This study illuminates the use of digital autonarratives as social transformative pedagogy. The process of telling ones’ story—and in the case of our participants, the process of defining and redefini...

The rapid technological changes that have occurred in recent years have become critical for the academic and professional success of novice teachers. This study illuminates the use of digital autonarratives as social transformative pedagogy. The process of telling ones’ story—and in the case of our participants, the process of defining and redefini...

Professional development, which results in sustained transformative change, requires that teachers engage in critical reflection regarding teaching practices. In this study, a group of five bilingual and generalist early childhood teachers engaged in a journey in which they elected to try to reconstruct their beliefs and practices about teaching an...

Meeting the academic needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students requires new perspectives on behalf of school leaders. Using the concept of the border epistemology of school leadership, this case study reveals the work of one ‘borderlander’ in a dual‐language school. Telling her story through self‐reflection, the voices of her teachers...

As informed by scholarship on transformative leadership, cultural work in educational leadership, and preK–20 collaborations, this article draws from a qualitative research project between a university that is a Hispanic-serving institution and an elementary school located in a Latino/a area. We examine the perspectives of a Latino principal and a...

In order to create more diverse communities and greater social justice in academia, a group of Chicana/Latina junior faculty at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) established a research collaborative, Research for the Educational Advancement of Latin@s (REAL). Using a co-operative inquiry and dialogical epistemology, we document how REAL is an ag...

The promise of dual language education has spurred a movement in the field of bilingual education to shift from remedial programs to enrichment forms of bilingual education. Although research supports the effectiveness of such programs, many programs do not maintain their level of implementation and quickly revert to their original remedial form. T...

Describes student outcomes following the first year of implementation of an early reading intervention project designed to improve the first language literacy in first grade English language learners (ELLs). Results indicate steady improvement in reading levels and support providing ELLs with interventions that use an intensive, systematic, cultura...

This study examines a variety of student outcomes in the area of linguistic and academic development and determines whether students enrolled in a two-way bilingual program for a minimum of three years are achieving academically. Participants were native Spanish-speaking and native English-speaking fifth-grade students of Mexican origin. The findin...

There is no educational intervention that has been shown to be less effective than retention. Nonetheless, many teachers and school administrators use it, not in the best interest of the child and/or the child's family, but to serve their own needs in the accountability system. This article presents a border research study on South Texas elementary...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-223). Photocopy.