Leah Shepard-Carey, a doctoral student in second language education and elementary education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was one of four recipients of the 2018 TESOL research mini-grants  from the TESOL International Association, which works to advance teaching English to speakers of other languages. Each year,  the organization awards $2500 for applicants who are currently working on research or would like to start research projects that are aligned with the TESOL Research Agenda.

Shepard-Carey’s research seeks to explore the implementation of multilingual strategies and the surrounding classroom discourse that emerge from a teacher and researcher collaboration during reading time in an elementary school setting. Her research chips away at the larger problem of how emergent multilingual elementary students are framed as lacking skills and understanding instead of the “diversity of skills and experiences they bring to their understanding of texts.”

Shepard-Carey became interested in English language instruction after she spent several years teaching emergent multilingual students in Minnesota. Her research interests include literacy learning of these students and how teachers can support their learning effectively.

Learn more about PhD programs in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.