Erika
Feinauer
Assistant Professor
Teacher Education, Department of
Education, David O. McKay School of
Download Vita
Office:
206K MCKB
Phone:
801-422-4543
Email:
erika_feinauer@byu.edu
Area of Discipline / Professional Expertise
- Bilingual/ESL education
- English as a second language instruction
- Literacy
- Multiculturalism and diversity
Research
- I am currently investigating student literacy outcomes in English and Spanish for students in a Spanish-English Dual Immersion Elementary school in Salt Lake City. I'm interested in measuring the factors that predict growth trajectories in literacy, over time, for the Spanish-dominant and the English-dominant students. I am looking specifically at student background, family & community influences and teacher and/or programmatic effects in this study.
- I am continuing my investigation of ethnic identity development in pre-adolescent minority language children, and the relationship between ethnic identity (and other social identities) and academic achievement. I am particularly interested in how the local linguistic and cultural ecology helps to shape identity development. My study focuses on the identity development for 75 5th-grade Latino students in Boston and Chicago, and on describing the school and neighborhood contexts as important milieus for this development.
- I am currently collaboration with Dr. Ray Graham and Dr. Erin Whiting to investigate parental involvement among Latino parents at a middle school in Provo. Using Survey methods, we are working with the school administration to discern how parents perceive their involvement and how the school can support and/or continue to promote parental involvement for these families.
In conjunction with the research project at a Provo middle school with Dr. Ray Graham and Dr. Erin Whiting, we are investigating student perceptions of their parents involvement in their education. We are also collecting data on student sense of self-efficacy, well-being, and ethnic identity. We are looking for ways to support the academic and social trajectories for language minority students in this school.
- Dr. Stefinee Pinnegar, Dr. Ray Graham and Dr. Ramona Cutri and I are looking at the implementation of professional development programs aimed at teachers serving ELL students. We are interested, specifically, in how the Teaching English Language Learners (TELL) programs operates differentially as a pre-service and in-service program. Our intent is to highlight the multiple ways in which a professional development program can be used to support effective training for teachers who teach English Language Learners.
Education
- Doctor of Education, Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2006
Affiliations
- Elementary Education - Primary
Experience
Professional
-
Post-doctoral Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science -- National Science Foundation, 2006-2007
-
Research Assistant, Center for Applied Linguistics -- National Literacy Panel, 2003-2004
Awards
-
Mentored Environment Grant, ORCA, 2009
-
McKay School of Education Research Grant, McKay School of Education, 2008
-
Mentored Environment Grant, ORCA, 2008
-
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2004
Languages
