Members

Chair

Amy Pace, Assistant Professor, Speech and Hearing Sciences

Amy Pace, CCC-SLP, is an Assistant Professor in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Pace’s research focuses on language acquisition and development in children from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, with emphasis on parent-child interaction and evidence-based methods for assessment and intervention in dual language learners. Visit the Child Language Lab website for more information.

Committee members

Angélica Amezcua, Assistant Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Studies | Director, Center for Spanish Heritage Learning

My work is in and outside the classroom towards reclaiming and promoting the use of Spanish in a society with low ethnolinguistics vitality. My current research examines how university Spanish heritage language courses can play a role in promoting the use of Spanish in the United States, counteracting the devaluation of minority languages, and contributing to narrow the Latinx student achievement gap.

Paul Aoki, Director, Language Learning Center

Michele Anciaux Aoki, Affiliate Lecturer, Slavic Languages and Literature

My work focuses on International Education in Seattle Public Schools, Dual Language Immersion, Heritage Language Learning and Teaching, and Less Commonly Taught Languages. I volunteer on the WAFLT Testing Team supporting WAFLT Custom Testing for World Language Competency-Based Credit Testing and the Seal of Biliteracy, and I serve on the Global Seal of Biliteracy Board of Advisors.

Emily M. Bender, Professor, Linguistics

My research area is computational linguistics. I work on multilingual grammar engineering, computational semantics, language variation, and ethics in natural language processing.

Ana Fernández Dobao, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Studies (CMTRL Chair)

My research explores second language learning processes in the classroom. I am currently working on a project that analyzes the acquisition of the minority language by heritage and second language child learners in a Spanish/English dual immersion setting. Visit my website for more information.

Maria Gillman, Principal Lecturer, Spanish and Portuguese Studies

Julia Herschensohn, Professor Emerita, Linguistics

My research explores the nature of morphology learning in second language acquisition, through an examination of adult and child L2 French and Spanish learners, particularly those in a dual immersion setting.

Russell Hugo, Assistant Director, Language Learning Center

Chan Lü, Associate Professor, Asian Languages and Literature

Phillip Markley, Lecturer (part-time), Spanish and Portuguese Studies; Teaching Associate, College of Education

Naja Ferjan Ramirez, Research Scientist, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) | Assistant Professor, Linguistics

I study language learning in the first 5 years of life, with a focus on children with diverse language backgrounds and on those mastering more than one language. I conduct behavioral and brain studies in the laboratory, and intervention research in formal and informal learning environments.

Renee Shank, Teaching Associate, College of Education