Professor wins Fulbright for Her Work in Training Future Language Teachers
Dr. María Luisa Spicer-Escalante has earned a Fulbright Scholarship to Mexico for her expertise in preparing students to teach English as a foreign language. She is an associate professor in Spanish and linguistics.
In her new role as a Fulbright Scholar, María Luisa Spicer-Escalante will share her expertise in teaching English as a foreign language with colleagues at a university in Mexico as they work to create a new master’s program in applied linguistics.
Spicer-Escalante is an associate professor in linguistics and Spanish and co-director of the Master’s of Second Language Teaching Program, both in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University.
She has received the Fulbright-García Robles scholarship in Mexico. In that role, she will coordinate with the languages faculty at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH, or Autonomous University of Chiapas in Mexico). She travels to Mexico City in September for an orientation, with the bulk of her work taking place from January to May 2017.
The Fulbright Scholar Program, overseen by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, awards approximately 800 teaching and research grants each year. Fulbright awards, said Dean Joseph Ward of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, are “selected on the basis of their accomplishments and also on their potential to build long-lasting relationships internationally.” As such, the Fulbright is a “tremendous distinction in recognition of her programs.”
The organization has already recognized Spicer-Escalante’s expertise and experience in preparing students to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL and TEFL), naming her in 2013 as co-leader of an effort to provide such training to Iraqi scholars.
Indeed, the “Fulbrighter” has traveled the world to share her expertise. She taught a two-week graduate course for teachers of EFL at Northwest University for Nationalities, based in Lanzhou, China. This fall, she will visit Porto Alegre, Brazil, to teach EFL teachers at the Faculdade Unilasalle (LaSalle University).
At USU, Spicer-Escalante has developed curriculum for teaching language acquisition to non-native English speakers, an area that has been under-recognized, she said. She also assisted in the development of the dual immersion program in Utah’s public schools.
Related links:
- Maria Luisa Spicer-Escalante
- USU Department of Languages, Philosophy and Communication Studies
- USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Contact: Janelle Hyatt, Janelle.hyatt@usu.edu
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