The existing literature on reading motivation primarily focuses on monolingual children and adolescents using quantitative approaches. To date, there is an absence of qualitative studies exploring bilingual college students' reading motivation that can provide details of participants' views, beliefs, and experiences related to reading motivation.…

The motivation of linguistically diverse young adults to learn Korean as a Foreign Language (KFL) was studied at a university on the US-Mexico border. This diglossic setting permitted a complex investigation of multiple elements, including L2-motivation theoretical attributes, exposure to Korean contemporary pop culture, and the linguistic and…

Common descriptions of articulatory requirements for production of the alveolar trill /r/ mainly focus on describing the configuration of the anterior portions of the tongue, while in contrast, the more posterior parts receive limited attention. Understanding how the posterior portions of the tongue move is vital for understanding speech motor…

At the southernmost tip of Texas, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) opened its doors on August 31, 2015 as a 'bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate' campus--the only one of its kind and at a scale never before attempted in the United States. This is a categorical achievement in the near 200 year-long quest for the educational…

Many students visit writing centers to become better writers in the English language. One issue of considerable debate is whether students visiting writing centers along the border should be assisted in Spanish or English. This pilot study examined writing center tutors' and students' perceptions of speaking Spanish at the writing center. Most…

Building on prior analyses of storytelling in migrant and transnational contexts (e.g. Baynham, 2014; De Fina, 2003; Haviland, 2005; Warriner, 2013), this article draws on research with "transfronterizo" (border-crossing) university students in South Texas to explore how transnational speakers use narrative to craft moral arguments in…

"Excelencia in Education" brings to a national audience evidence-based practices situated at higher education institutions and community-based organizations across the country that are intentionally serving Latino students. The 2023 "Examples of Excelencia: What Works for Latino Students in Higher Education" selection committee…

Spanish heritage language learners (SHLL) on the United States-Mexico border in Texas often select online classes for convenience. This qualitative investigation presents preliminary information on how these SHLLs view twenty online Spanish courses based on 391 course evaluations. The literature indicates a need to consider heritage languages…

Spanish-speaking and culturally sensitive social workers are in high demand throughout the country to work with Latino clients. Latinos currently represent about 11% of active social workers, limiting the capacity of social work to effectively address the needs of the Latino population. Despite this shortage, little attention has been paid to the…

The current study looks at whether bilinguals varying in language dominance show a processing advantage for idiomatic over non-idiomatic phrases and to what extent this effect is modulated by idiom transparency (i.e., the degree to which the idiom's figurative meaning can be inferred from its literal analysis) and cross-language similarity (i.e.,…

This case study analyzed data from an asynchronous written mediated exchange between a native speaker and nonnative speaker of English. Three methods of analysis-error analysis, propositional complexity (idea units), and qualitative analysis were used to analyze learner performance over time. The results from these methods were visualized and…

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) educate nearly two-thirds of the Hispanic/Latinx students who attend college. Yet little is known about the student populations they serve. Findings from two NSF-funded surveys completed with students at 14 HSIs in Texas and New Mexico in 2018 and four HSIs in TX in 2019 are presented. The combined sample was…

In this study, the authors examine the language practices of first- and second-year college students as they build disciplinary literacies within a cocurricular engineering leadership program. Conducted by two teacher educators and literacy/biliteracy researchers situated in the highly diverse U.S.-Mexico borderlands, the study examines the role…

This pilot study identifies some lexical aspects of the emerging writing skills in Spanish among receptive English/Spanish bilingual students with little or no exposure to formal study of the home language upon entering a Spanish Heritage Language Program at a large public university in the Southwestern United States. The 200+ essays analyzed in…

In this article, we demonstrate ways in which teachers, working within the context of rapidly changing demographics in our country, can create inclusive classroom environments that promote the development of engineering literacies and identities, particularly among bilingual students. We draw on our experience working with two projects funded by…