Idalia Nunez Cortez

Email Experts Profile

Assistant Professor, Curriculum & Instruction

Contact

idalian@illinois.edu

399 Education Building
(mail code 708)
Champaign (UIUC Campus Mail), IL 61820

Topics

literacy Pre-service Teachers multilingualism Language Practices Bilingual Students surveillance Literacy Practices Dual Language Language Ideology Critical Language Awareness

Biography

Dr. Nuñez is an Assistant Professor with a specialization in Bilingual/ESL (English as a second language) Education. Her interests include: exploring Spanish-English translanguaging, bilingualism, and biliteracy; linguistic equity in educational settings; and bilingual/ESL pre-and in-service teacher education, identity, and agency. Her research focuses on recognizing the everyday cultural and linguistic resources of students of color, specifically from Latinx communities. Her work is guided by a sociocultural perspective that acknowledges the cultural contributions and knowledge that students, families, and communities of color bring into schools that can leverage academic learning. Furthermore, her research is grounded on the premise that an understanding of these everyday practices can inform and advance curricular and instructional developments that counter subtractive schooling approaches that continue to marginalize students and communities of color. Her work has been published in journals such as Language Arts, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, and Journal of Latinos and Education. She has also received the 2023 Early Career Scholar Award from AERA Language and Social Processes SIG.

Key Professional Appointments

Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Research & Service

Dr. Nuñez’s research interests include: exploring translanguaging, bilingualism, and biliteracy; linguistic equity in educational settings; and bilingual/ESL pre- and in-service teacher education, identity, and agency. Her research focuses on recognizing the everyday cultural and linguistic resources of students of color, specifically from Latinx communities. Her work is guided by a sociocultural perspective which acknowledges the cultural contributions and knowledge that students, families, and communities of color bring into schools that can be used to leverage academic learning. Her research is grounded on the premise that an understanding of these everyday practices can inform and advance curricular and instructional developments that counter subtractive schooling approaches that continue to marginalize students and communities of color.
Dr. Nuñez’s current research projects include:
(1) Exploring ways Latinx transnational bilingual children navigate spaces through translanguaging
(2) Exploring home and community language and literacy practices of Latinx transnational families on and beyond the U.S.-México borderlands
(3) Exploring the bilingual and biliterate identities of preservice teachers

Publications

Nuñez, I., Zhang, J., Hernandez Farias, D., & Becerra, M. E. (2023). “They are. Bilingual.”: Manifestations of bilanguaging love in a dual language bilingual classroom. Bilingual Research Journal, 46(1-2), 47-63. link >

Nunez, I., & Gareía-Mateus, S. (2022). Interrogating our Interpretations and Positionalities: Chicanx Researchers as Scholar Activists in Solidarity with our Communities. In S. May, & B. Caldas (Eds.), Critical Ethnography, Language, Race/ism and Education (pp. 108-122). Multilingual Matters.

Nuñez, I. (2022). ‘Siento que el inglés esta tumbando mi español’: A transfronteriza child’s embodied critical language awareness. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(7), 2608-2620. link >

Degollado, E. D., Nuñez, I., & Romero, M. A. (2021). Border literacies: A critical literacy framework from Nepantla. In J. Z. Pandya, R. A. Mora, J. H. Alford, N. A. Golden, & R. S. de Roock (Eds.), The Handbook of Critical Literacies (pp. 456-464). Routledge. link >

Espinoza, K., Nuñez, I., & Degollado, E. D. (2021). “This is What My Kids See Every Day”: Bilingual Pre-service Teachers Embracing Funds of Knowledge through Border Thinking Pedagogy. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 20(1), 4-17. link >

Nuñez, I. (2021). “Because We Have to Speak English at School”: Transfronterizx Children Translanguaging Identity to Cross the Academic Border. Research in the Teaching of English, 56(1), 10-32.

Nuñez, I. (2021). Collective (Re)constructions of Linguistic Surveillance at Home: Transfronterizx Families as Cultural and Linguistic Guardians. Equity and Excellence in Education, 54(3), 238-251. link >

Nuñez, I., Villarreal, D. A., DeJulio, S., Harvey, R., & Cardenas Curiel, L. (2021). Sustaining Bilingual–Biliterate Identities: Latinx Preservice Teachers’ Narrative Representations of Bilingualism and Biliteracy Across Time and Space. Journal of Teacher Education, 72(4), 419-430. link >

Nuñez, I. (2021). Testimonios of Momentos: Reading and Trusting my Embodied Epistemology. Educational Studies - AESA, 57(3), 310-321. link >

Nuñez, I., & Urrieta, L. (2021). Transfronterizo Children’s Literacies of Surveillance and the Cultural Production of Border Crossing Identities on the U.S.–Mexico Border. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 52(1), 21-41. link >

The Literacy Futurisms Collective-in-the-Making, Abril-Gonzalez, P., Aguilera, E., Linares, R., Nightengale-Lee, B., Nunez Cortez, I., Nyachae, T., Rusoja, A., & Templeton, T. (2021). “We Believe in Collective Magic”: Honoring the Past to Reclaim the Future(s) of Literacy Research. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, 70(1), 428-447. link >

Cervantes-Soon, C. G., Degollado, E. D., & Nuñez, I. (2020). The Black and Brown Search for Agency: African American and Latinx Children’s Plight to Bilingualism in a Two-Way Dual Language Program. In Bilingualism for All?: Raciolinguistic Perspectives on Dual Language Education in the United States (pp. 199-219). Channel View Publications.

Mccarthey, S. J., Nuñez, I., & Lee, C. (2020). Translanguaging Across Contexts. In M. Dressman, & R. W. Sadler (Eds.), The Handbook of Informal Language Learning (pp. 349-367). Wiley-Blackwell. link >

Nuñez, I., & Espinoza, K. (2019). Bilingual pre-service teachers’ initial experiences: Language ideologies in practice. Journal of Latinos and Education, 18(3), 228-242. link >

Nuñez, I. (2019). “Le Hacemos La Lucha”: Learning from Madres Mexicanas’ Multimodal Approaches to Raising Bilingual, Biliterate Children. Language Arts, 97(1), 7-16.

Nuñez, I., & Palmer, D. (2017). Who will be bilingual? A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Spanish-English Bilingual Pair. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 14(4), 294-319. link >

Espinoza, K., & Nuñez, I. (2016). Review: J. Menard-Warwick's English Language Teachers on the Discursive Faultlines: Identities, Ideologies and Pedagogies. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 15(2), 134-136. link >

Worthy, J., Nuñez, I., & Espinoza, K. (2016). “Wow, I get to choose now!” Bilingualism and biliteracy development from childhood to young adulthood. Bilingual Research Journal, 39(1), 20-34. link >

Raskauskas, J., Behrends, A., & Nuñez, I. (2015). Review: D. Rodríguez, A. Carrasquillo, and K. S. Lee's The Bilingual Advantage: Promoting Academic Development, Biliteracy, and Native Language in the Classroom . Bilingual Research Journal, 38(3), 357-360. link >

Courses

CI 446: Culture in the Classroom (CI 446) Explores cultural, political, and social factors that affect learning and teaching. Introduces students to the fields of educational anthropology and multicultural education and to the application of cultural information to curriculum development and classroom practice. The 3-hour undergraduate version and 4-hour graduate version meet the Cross-Cultural Studies for Teaching Limited-English-Proficient Students requirement for Bilingual and/or ESL Teaching Approval or Endorsement from the Illinois State Board of Education.

CI 477: Bilingual/ESL Methods & Materials (CI 477) Focuses on bilingual and English-as-a-second language (ESL) curriculum development and instruction for bilingual and second-language learners (K-12) in a variety of language and program settings. Emphasizes bilingual and ESL materials selection and development, bilingual and ESL literacy instruction, bilingual and ESL content area instruction, and sheltered English instruction. Issues related to second-language acquisition, cultural and linguistic diversity, and parental and community involvement are reviewed.

CI 509: Curriculum Research (CI 509) Reviews the principal methodologies used in research on curriculum problems and guides students through the process of working with data in response to research questions; emphasizes qualitative data collection tools and techniques (e.g., surveys, interviews, observations) as well as various theoretical and methodological approaches (e.g., case study, grounded theory, ethnography); emphasizes conceptual and practical problems.

CI 578: Biliteracy Development of Young Children (CI 578) Helps students understand the language and literacy development of young bilinguals. Students will develop an understanding of the issues in biliteracy research, explore the diversity of research topics and perspectives in biliteracy research, and learn to think and write critically about research on early biliteracy development.