# positions[].organizations[].parent[].label
School of Education and Human Development

# overview
I specialize in bilingual education (2-language instruction) and biliteracy development, particularly for Hispanic, English learners (ELs)/emergent bilinguals (EBs). My research focuses on three areas: biliteracy (STEM) discourse development in adults (teachers) and children, professional identity formation in pre-service bilingual education teachers (teacher candidates), and mentor/instructional coaching for early career teachers. Methodological articles that I have published include: (1) primers for health professionals--practitioner research (action research) and collaborative, analytical autoethnography (CAAE); (2) and a methodological quality scale (the Methodological Quality Questionnaire [MQQ]) for systematic reviews published in Sage Open, an open access journal.

Additionally, I have worked on transdisciplinary teams as an expert in issues related to second language acquisition, bilingualism, biliteracy, and teacher professional development. My ongoing collaborations with social work and health promotion researchers have produced several publications, such as evaluations of health literacy assessment instruments translated for limited English proficient (LEP) adults and comparisons of machine versus human translations. As a result, I am now looking at natural language processing (machine language) as a tool to increase content area literacy for ELs/EBs.

Currently, I am completing a research study, funded by Texas A&M Presidential Transformational Learning Grant ("Health Literacy Page-by-Page: Incorporating Graphic Novelettes into Stem Inquiry Lessons"), on the use of graphic novelettes by pre-service teachers as a STEM curricular resource.

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
St. Thomas University - (Miami Gardens, Florida, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
Texas A&M University - (College Station, Texas, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
The University of Texas at Austin - (Austin, Texas, United States)

# educationAndTraining[].organization.label
University of Wisconsin - Madison - (Madison, Wisconsin, United States)

# publications[].label
Investigating the Role of School-Based Extracurricular Activity Participation in Adolescents Learning Outcomes: A Propensity Score Method

# publications[].publisher
Canadian Center of Science and Education

# publications[].label
Negotiating diversity: an empirical investigation into family, school and student factors influencing New Zealand adolescents' science literacy

# publications[].label
A Case Study of Novice Bilingual Education Teachers Conducting Action Research and Diffusing Teaching Innovations

# publications[].label
A Collaborative and Poetic Self-Study of Transformative Learning, Professional Identity, and Teaching in Academe

# publications[].label
Assessing Health Literacy Among Chinese Speakers in the U.S. with Limited English Proficiency.

# publications[].label
Latino Maternal Literacy Beliefs and Practices Mediating Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Education Effects in Predicting Child Receptive Vocabulary

# publications[].label
Machine or Human? Evaluating the Quality of a Language Translation Mobile App for Diabetes Education Material.

# publications[].label
Impact of participation in extra-curricular activities during college on graduate employability: an empirical study of graduates of Taiwanese business schools

# publications[].label
Theory in Health Promotion Research and Practice: Thinking outside the Box

# publications[].label
The Accountability Culture: a Systematic Review of High-Stakes Testing and English Learners in the United States During No Child Left Behind

# publications[].label
Shared academic values: testing a model of the association between Hong Kong parents' and adolescents' perception of the general value of science and scientific literacy

# publications[].label
Autoethnography in action research for health education practitioners

# publications[].label
Blending Health Literacy With an English as a Second Language Curriculum: A Systematic Literature Review.

# publications[].label
Detecting Misspecified Multilevel Structural Equation Models with Common Fit Indices: AMonte Carlo Study.

# publications[].label
The Impact of Intraclass Correlation on the Effectiveness of Level-Specific Fit Indices in Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling: A Monte Carlo Study.

# publications[].label
Assessing Quality in Systematic Literature Reviews: A Study of Novice Rater Training

# publications[].label
Evaluating the Accuracy of Google Translate for Diabetes Education Material.

# publications[].label
A Rare Family: Exploring Genetic Literacy in an Online Support Group

# publications[].label
Navigating the shift to online learning: student experiences of inclusivity, efficiency, and study efforts in Chile

# publications[].label
High-Stakes Reading Assessment and English Oral Language Development: A Study of Third Grade English Language Learners in a Texas School District

# streetAddress
Texas A&M University; Educational Psychology Department/Bilingual Education-ESL Division; 608 Harrington Tower MS 4225

# organizations[]
School of Education and Human Development

# schools[]
School of Education and Human Development